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Teaching/Teacher Education: Review teacher training programs, teacher certification processes, and approved professional development opportunities and align with the Universal Education framework, using the framework to inform, guide and support teaching practices. Policy: Guide development of education law and regulations; evaluate educational policy initiatives and decisions at state, regional/ISD and local levels; and set standards for quality education throughout the state. Tie education program funding or other financial incentives to compliance with Universal Education vision and principles. Individual Learning Plans: Establish Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) for all students; guide course and program planning for students. Parents/Family: Empower parents, support more family involvement in education, enhance diversity in schools, support more meaningful community involvement, and provide a lens for parents selecting a school or district. Administrative: Help schools develop a local school vision and school culture, support the school improvement process, and serve as a benchmark for quality education for each and every student. * Potential applications listed were taken from the February 2005 field survey of Universal Education Vision and Principles. ** A Glossary of Terms for Universal Education is included with the online version of this document, located at www.michigan.gov/mde . This brochure was printed in April 2006, 5,000 times, at a per piece cost of 0.09 cents. Potential Applications * of Universal Education ** State Board of Education Kathleen N. Straus, President John C. Austin, Vice President Carolyn L. Curtin, Secretary Marianne Yared McGuire, Treasurer Nancy Danhof, NASBE Delegate Elizabeth W. BauerReginald M. Turner Eileen Lappin Weiser Ex-Officio Jennifer M. Granholm, Governor Michael P. Flanagan, Superintendent ofPublic Instruction STATEMENT OF COMPLIANCE WITH FEDERAL LAW The Michigan Department of Education complies with all Federal laws and regulations prohibiting discrimination and with all requirements of the U.S. Department of Education. This document is in the public domain and may be copied for further distribution when proper credit is given. For further information or inquiries about this project, contact the Michigan Department of Education, P.O. Box 30008, Lansing, Michigan 48909. If you need assistance making this publication accessible for a person with a visual impairment, please contact the Center for Educational Networking (CEN) at (800) 593-9146. Universal Education Public education’s responsibility to each student in every educational setting with support from all stakeholders LP1.93774 5/9/06 11:53 AM Page 1 VISION of Universal Education INTRODUCTION: Every individual’s success is important to our society. Each person deserves and needs a concerned, accepting educational community that values diversity and provides a comprehensive system of individual supports from birth to adulthood. Universal Education removes barriers, provides flexible and responsive supports, and facilitates life- long learning for all. The principles of Universal Education reflect the beliefs that in order to support the learning of all in achieving desired educational outcomes, there must be: A learning community A learning environment Culture Resources Adult and student learning Learners in all of their diversity come from a variety of backgrounds and life situations that may pose barriers to their access to, experience with, and progress in public education. WHO: The Learning Community Universal Education: Builds a community that values diversity among all stakeholders and students, birth through adulthood. Engages broad-based working partnerships in removing all barriers that interfere, impede and/or prohibit access to the full range of learning opportunities. Recognizes and supports the critical, essential roles that families/primary caregivers, in all of their diversity, play in the development and education of their children. Necessitates involvement of a broad base of stakeholders that influence public policy and practice. WHAT: The Learning Environment The Learning Culture… Universal Education: Creates a safe and accepting learning environment in partnership with families and community characterized by mutual support, respect, and responsibility. Is guided by a commitment to educational excellence, democracy and social justice (equity) to create a sense of belonging. Honors the rights of all students to learn together. Supports and facilitates learning for all from birth through adulthood, including those who may be disenfranchised or marginalized, inhibiting in some way their achievement of individual education outcomes. Learning Resources… Universal Education: Assures access to resources and provides support for teachers and students. Provides resources to create flexible instruction and learning environments designed for all learners, building on strengths, needs and interests. Supports policies and practices to prevent learning problems stemming from physical, environmental, social, and emotional factors. Promotes leadership among stakeholder groups that guides continuous instructional improvement. HOW: Adult and Student Learning: Ensures effective educator pre-service and ongoing professional development. Implements effective instructional practices which align with individual learning styles, interests, and strengths, moving the student from the edge of competence forward. Uses student performance and growth data to design, implement, evaluate, and adjust instruction, school environment, and professional development. Ensures that students will be assessed based on growth in addition to broad, standardized tests or benchmarks of achievement. The cover graphic identifies: Educational settings. Educational stakeholders. Factors affecting today’s learners from birth to adulthood. In October 2005, the State Board of Education approved the Vision and Principles of Universal Education as a framework and foundation for policy development by the State Board, the Department of Education, and local and intermediate school districts. The principles of Universal Education reflect the beliefs that each person deserves and needs a concerned, accepting educational community that values diversity and provides a comprehensive system of individual supports from birth to adulthood. PRINCIPLES of Universal Education LP1.93774 4/21/06 9:25 AM Page 2 UNIVERSAL EDUCATION GLOSSARY OF TERMS February 2006 Academically Advanced and Accelerated: individuals who are intellectually gifted, outstanding in school achievement, who show (or have the potential for showing) an exceptional level of performance in one or more areas of study or human endeavor; typically determined on the basis of school performance, test scores, and/or exhibited behavior. Advocacy Groups and Organizations: groups and organizations which support a particular educational cause or issue, proposal, policy position, or specific group or population of learners; includes those groups and organizations advocating for particular social issues, specific health or handicapping conditions, racial/ethnic/ language groups, and religious sects. Agency/Court Placements: juvenile homes, juvenile detention facilities, residential youth placement facilities, substance abuse centers, county jails, psychiatric hospitals, or other medical facilities which house pupils and provide a state-approved education program curriculum. Alternative Education: K-12 educational programs that vary in delivery from traditional kindergarten through twelfth grade settings. May vary in size of classes, grade levels instructed, graded vs. non-graded classrooms, pace of instruction, teacher-pupil ratio or style of instruction. Business and Community Organizations: business or organization in a community that is affected by the quality of the schools and learners in that community; includes non-profit organizations, retail stores and operations, corporations; faith-based groups and organizations, human service agencies, service clubs and groups, and other organizations operating within an identified geographic area. Community: neighborhoods, churches/synagogues/temples, faith-based groups and organizations, schools, businesses, government agencies, community groups and organizations, and service groups and organizations within close proximity of each other. Court Involved: infants through youth that are abused or neglected, placed in state-funded institutions or child care facilities for specialized treatment, as wards of the court, juvenile offenders sentenced as adults, truant students, overseas adoptees, and emancipated youth. It also includes former residents of such placements who are now placed in community settings other than at home. Universal Education Glossary Page 2 Criminal and Juvenile Justice Systems: agencies, courts and other systems which deal with juvenile or adult offenders, care of minor children and custody issues. Disability: infants through youth with one or more physical, mental, or cognitive impairments that substantially limit one or more of the major life activities and impacts learning. Includes autism spectrum disorders; mild, moderate and severe cognitive impairments; early childhood developmental delays; mild, moderate and severe emotional impairments; hearing impairments; specific learning disabilities; physical impairments and other health impairments; speech and language impairments; traumatic brain injuries; visual impairments; and severe multiple impairments. Dropout: students who leave school (typically high school) before earning or receiving a diploma or who drop out to get a General Equivalency Development (GED) Certificate. Educational Organizations and Associations: professional associations, unions, societies and organizations pertaining to topics, issues, and/or particular populations or groups in education; includes teachers, administrators and others employed in the field of education; includes local, state, regional or national levels. Educational Settings: sites where learners receive their primary formal education or instruction; represented on the Universal Education graphic by old-fashioned school houses. Educational Stakeholders: Stakeholders are considered to be all individuals, groups or organizations with an interest or concern related to the education of infants through youth; represented on the Universal Education graphic by buildings with rooftops. Emotional and Mental Health: infants through youth with diagnosed or undiagnosed emotional or mental health issues and conditions, such as anxiety disorders, depression, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, severe behavioral disorders, or severe family dysfunction. English Language Learners: children through young adults whose first or native language is other than English; whose ability to understand, speak, write or read the English language is limited. Includes those who live in a family or community where English is not the dominant language, children of migrant workers, and refugee children/children from refugee families. (Refugee children are those whose parents fled their country of origin because of fear of persecution or on the basis of race, religion, nationality or political opinion.) Universal Education Glossary Page 3 Executive Branch of Government: the branch of government charged with executing or carrying out the laws and appointing officials, formulating and instituting policy; includes the State Board of Education and the Michigan Department of Education at the State level. Factors Affecting Learners: factors affecting today’s learners (male and female, birth to 26) which may lead to learners being disenfranchise and marginalized, inhibiting in some way their achievement of individual education outcomes; represented by oval shapes on the Universal Education graphic. Family: parents, guardians, siblings, kinship caregivers, foster parents, and extended family members who provide the daily care of infants, toddlers, children, and/or youth. Includes related and unrelated individuals who provide for the daily needs of these infants, toddlers, children and youth. Foster Care: infants through youth who are removed from parental custody temporarily or permanently, and placed in the custody of state-appointed/ authorized foster care families/parents. Gender Identity and Expression: a person’s self-identified sense of being male or female (or neither or both). Gender identity refers to how people think about and express their gender; may or may not correspond with their biological sex; not synonymous with sexual orientation. (This definition was adapted and reprinted with permission from T.E.A.C.H. Toronto (Teens Educating And Confronting Homophobia), quoted from the resource guide A Silent Crisis: Creating Safe Schools for Sexual Minority Youth – Educational Issues of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, & Questioning Youth .) Home Schools: a school in which parents teach their children an academic curriculum at home instead of sending them out to a public or private school. Homelessness: infants through youth that lack a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence (as defined in the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, within the No Child Left Behind Act). This includes those whose primary nighttime residence is either a shelter for homeless people, a shelter for runaway youth, a shelter for victims of domestic violence; those who sleep at the home of a relative or friend because of loss of housing or similar situation; those who stay in a motel or welfare hotel; those who sleep in a car, tent, park, abandoned building or other place not ordinarily used as sleeping accommodations for human beings; and unaccompanied youth (See U for definition of “unaccompanied youth”), and youth in transition (See Y for definition of “youth in transition”). Human Services System: the Department of Human Services, the state agency responsible for public assistance, child and family welfare, and direction of a network of over 100 county offices throughout Michigan. Universal Education Glossary Page 4 Juvenile Justice System Involvement: children or youth who have committed a crime, are incarcerated in state correctional facilities, or residents of other state- funded residential facilities for juvenile offenders. Includes those who have been placed in such facilities by courts and who are transitioning back to the community. language groups, and religious sects. Learning Styles/Learning Style Differences: differences in the way children and youth most readily learn; differences in cognitive style, tendency to use a particular sense, and other characteristics. (Research has shown that teaching in ways that complement learning style differences significantly increases student performance on standardized tests.) Legislature: the state and/or federal bodies that hold the authority to make laws; includes the Michigan House of Representatives and the Michigan Senate, as well as the United States Congress. Neighborhood Schools: public schools nearest the home of a student. Non-Public Schools: elementary or secondary schools within the state, other than a public school, offering education for any combination of grades kindergarten through 12, which may legally fulfill compulsory school attendance requirements. Includes parochial, religious-affiliated and private schools. Other Educational Settings: Other educational settings not specified individually on the Universal Education graphic. EXAMPLES: Cooperative Education Programs: a program that results from a written, voluntary agreement between two or more local districts to provide specific educational programs for pupils in certain groups from various districts for part of a day/week/year (i.e., Education for the Arts, Education for Employment, etc.). Home-Based: an individualized program in which one pupil is with a certified teacher and the lessons are conducted in the pupil’s home or at a site away from the general school population (public library, school counselor’s office, etc.), typically as a result of disciplinary action. Virtual High School/Distance Learning/Learning Lab: a method of instruction which involves a student participating via the Internet or otherwise on a computer. Courses may be offered as a scheduled class period with a certified teacher available in a public school setting, at a community college or university as part of dual enrollment, at home or in school before or after school hours with an on-site teacher/mentor. Work-Based Education Programs: a learning program coordinated by a school district through a contract with an employer providing an educational experience related to school instruction, involving supervised work monitored by a certified instructor employed by the district, typically with a training plan or an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP). Universal Education Glossary Page 5 Other Factors: any of a wide variety of characteristics or life situations of infants through youth that may pose barriers to their access to, experience with, and progress in public education. Other Stakeholders: other individuals, groups or organizations with an interest or concern related to the education of infants through youth. Parent and/or Student Organizations: private or public associations, groups and organizations representing students, parents of students and/or families of students; also refers to school-based groups organized around educational topics, issues, and/or particular populations of students; includes local, state, regional or national levels. Examples include parent-teacher associations (PTAs, PTOs, PTSAs, and PTSOs). Physical Health: infants through youth with chronic health conditions or illnesses such as allergies, asthma, fetal alcohol syndrome, low birth weight/very low birth weight, lead poisoning, HIV+, addiction issues/substance abuse, immune deficiencies, etc. Pregnant and Parenting Teens/Youth: pregnant females as well as male and female youth under age 19 who are parents, without high school diplomas or GED certificates, whether married or unmarried, single or legally separated, living independently or with parents. Public School Academies: state-supported public schools; self-governing facilities that operate under contract between the school’s organizer and the sponsors (local school boards, state boards of education, universities, or other agencies or organizations). Such schools usually receive government funding, may not charge tuition, and must be nonsectarian and nondiscriminatory. Also known as PSAs or Charter Schools. Race/Ethnicity: racial and/or ethnic minorities, includes infants through youth identified as belonging to such groups as Native American, Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian, Hispanic, Asian-American, African-American, and Multi-Racial status. These may include children of migrants, refugees, immigrants, and undocumented immigrants. Religious Beliefs: This may include members of any religious group that is not dominant in the community where the member/members reside. It also may include atheist (non-religious individuals). Universal Education Glossary Page 6 Runaway/Throw-Away Youth: Runaways are youth who leave home of their own accord (for whatever reason). Throw-Away youth are young people who have been forced out of their homes by parents or guardians (as defined by the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth). This group may also include unaccompanied youth (defined below). (All three groups are included in the educational category of Homeless by NCLB definition.) Sexual Orientation: refers to a person’s emotional, romantic and sexual attraction to individuals of a particular gender (male or female). Research has shown that young people who self-identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or questioning (GLBTQ) or whose parents or family members are GLBTQ are more at risk of dropping out, victimization, and suicide. Socioeconomic Status: infants through youth from families with incomes at or below the national poverty level, who receive public assistance, or who qualify for free and reduced school meals based on low family income. State and Local Boards of Education: statewide and locally elected representatives that guide education policy and practices. Suspended and Expelled: children and youth who have been removed (per the School Code) temporarily or permanently from public or non-public educational settings due to violent behavior, behavior involving dangerous weapons, prohibited substances or behavior, or incidents involving bias (i.e., “hate crimes”). Typically includes youth to age 20 who do not hold a high school diploma or GED certificate. Teacher Training and Preservice Organizations: institutions of higher education that provide training for prospective teachers; includes organizations that provide inservice and preservice training for all educators. Unaccompanied Youth: youth who are not emancipated (not released by a court from parental care and responsibility) who are living on their own without adult custody or supervision. (Such youth are included in the educational category of Homeless by NCLB definition.) Youth in Transition: young people in temporary placements, such as awaiting adoption, foster care placement or institutional placement. Included in the educational category of Homeless by NCLB definition. Most definitions included in this glossary were adapted from the Michigan Education Information System (MEIS)/Single Record Student Database (SRSD)/Data Field Descriptions, Spring & End of Year 2006.