Being a member of the Illinois Coalition of Nonpublic Schools entitles you to receive this issue of the Electronic Report. The purpose of this Report is to provide brief synopses of developments with the Illinois Coalition of Non-Public Schools, legislative updates, and information of interest to our nonpublic school administrators. Additional information may be obtained by following the hyperlinks that are imbedded throughout the Report.
It's not too late to become an ICNS member for the 2007-2008 school year. Annual dues are $50.00. Click here for a copy of a membership application. Remember, ICNS is funded solely by its member schools.
MEMBERSHIP PROJECT – ON-LINE SURVEY AVAILABLE
The ICNS Board is continuously seeking ways to be more effective in our mission to advocate for nonpublic education and to provide you with greater support and benefits. One of our goals is to increase the number of member schools so we have a stronger coalition that directly represents a large number of nonpublic schools.
Several ideas are being discussed for the membership campaign in the fall. In order to have some accurate information, the Board has launched an on-line survey and sent completion requests to the nonpublic schools throughout the state. If you have not completed the survey, click on the following link to the ICNS survey (or paste into your browser). http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB227GND4CWB2 The survey will only be available until April 7. There is space in the survey for you to give us some suggestions. ICNS is united in serving the needs of students, parents and administrators in nonpublic education and we are looking to provide valuable benefits to our member organizations and schools.
REQUIREMENTS FOR ILLINOIS NONPUBLIC SCHOOLS
If you would like to check a succinct listing of requirements in Illinois for nonpublic schools, the Council for American Private Education (CAPE) has a link that would provide you with this information. http://www.ed.gov/pubs/RegPrivSchl/illinois.html
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
The Office of Nonpublic Education is the liaison to the nonpublic school community for the U.S. Department of Education. Their mission is to foster maximum participation of nonpublic school students and teachers in federal education programs and initiatives. You may check out what they have to offer at the office’s web site http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oii/nonpublic/index.html
MISSING CHILDREN RECORDS ACT
Public Act 95-0439 http://ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=095-0439&GA=095) amends the Missing Children Records Act (325 ILCS 50/5) to require, effective January 1, 2008, all preschool educational programs, child care facilities, and day care homes to collect a certified copy of a child’s birth certificate or other reliable proof of the child’s identity and age, such as a passport, visa, or other governmental documentation, when a child is enrolled for the first time. The new Public Act describes specifically how this documentation is to be collected and the steps to follow when the documentation is not provided. The way the law reads it applies to any entity where a child would enroll for the first time whether it be elementary, secondary, public, private preschool educational program or public/private child care facility.
CERTIFICATE RENEWAL
There are teachers in your school who will need to renew certificates this summer. Even though it is too early to renew at this time, teachers can prepare by making sure they have properly recorded professional development hours so renewal will move smoothly when the process opens. During last year, the Educator’s Certification System (ECS) combined OTIS and CeRTS for completing simplified certification and renewal processes. The web address is www.isbe.net/ECS. Educators who had OTIS log-ins and passwords are able to use the same log in and password to access the system. New log-ins and passwords can be created. ECS features both professional development tracking and certificate information and online application and renewal processes. Use ECS to record professional development and submit a Statement of Assurance.
The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) will be making some enhancements to the existing Educator Certification System (ECS.) Among those enhancements will be a public search portal. This portal will assist schools in reviewing certification for educators employed in their districts. This information will also be available for the public to view. ISBE is encouraging everyone to view their public information before the site goes live. In order to view your information as the public would, please visit the ECS site at: https://sec1.isbe.net/ecs/ and in the lower right hand corner log in under the "District Administrators: Look Up Staff Here" and enter your SSN or IEIN, and your last name. This will bring up the public information about your certification. Please review the information carefully and if you have any questions about any information please contact your local Regional Office of Education (ROE). You must use the last name as it appears on your certificate in order to log in. Some of the information you can change in the system directly, which will require you to log in to your personal ECS account directly, while other information will require the assistance of your ROE or ISBE staff.
SCHOOL SAFETY BLOCK GRANT
The deadline
for Average Daily Attendance Reporting for 2006-2007 is Monday,
March 17. This must be completed on time to receive the
legislated funding for Kindergarten through High School students. ICNS
wants every
EDUCATION IN THE NEWS
RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS CONVERT TO CHARTER SCHOOLS
The Council for American Private Education (CAPE) recently reported that 7
urban Catholic schools in Washington, D.C. have applied to become public
charter schools. Declining enrollments in urban schools and high costs have
made the Catholic schools overseen by the Archdiocese of Washington
impossible to maintain.
A NEW WAY OF
LOOKING AT RISKY BUSINESS
Some scientists and researchers think they are closer to answering the
age-old question of why risky behavior is so common among teenagers. The two
most common explanations are that, one, teenagers think they are
invulnerable and invincible and that, two, teenagers do not appreciate the
risks involved with behavior and need repeated reminders of the dangers
inherent in activities such as driving drunk, having unprotected sex,
experimenting with drugs and others. However, contrary to these popularly
held beliefs, recent studies suggest that adolescents are well aware of
their vulnerability and in fact overestimate the possibility of suffering
negative effects from risk activities. For example, a decade-old survey of
3,544 teens found that their estimates of the risk of behavior resulting in
death were much higher than the actual risk. Consequently, traditional
programs that appeal to teenagers’ rationality are inherently flawed because
teens tend to weight benefits more heavily than risks. In addition, because
adolescents already feel vulnerable, showing photos or films of fatal car
crashes may do nothing to reduce future risk-taking and inundating teens
with factual risk information could actually backfire by leading them to
realize behaviors are less risky than they originally thought. Based on this
information, Dr. Valerie Reyna, the co-director of the Center for Behavioral
Economics and Decision Research at Cornell University, is testing a new
approach to risk prevention focused on fostering an overall sense of what
the best course of action is. This approach enables one to see the big
picture and reach the bottom line more quickly and in so doing, reduce risky
behavior. While developing this approach to decision-making in teens is
important, teens still need to be protected from themselves - and the best
way to do so is by filling time with positive activities and protecting them
from risky situations.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/18/health/18brod.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
CONTACT US
If you have any questions, comments or need information related to our efforts in supporting nonpublic schools, feel free to communicate with us by sending e-mail to ICNS