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Great news! Hot off the press!Miriam's advice (along with 23 other experts) to President Obama is included in Education Week's new book, The OBAMA Education Plan: An Education Week Guide. Published by Jossey-Bass, http://www.josseybass.com/. More information can be obtained also at http://www.edweek.org/ and http://www.epe.org/.She's among quite a heady crowd, as experts include our new Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, Wendy Kopp, Phillip Howard, Mike Feinberg, Rick Hanushek, Andrew [...]

Philip K. Howard's provocative new book is thought-provoking and excellent. Life without Lawyers: Liberating Americans from Too Much Law. www.lifewithoutlawyers.com.For those of us interested in reforming education--and specifically, special education, it has great insight. Imagine my delight to see among Mr. Howard's references my little book of law about grades and report cards! Grades, Report Cards, Etc.... and the Law. Available at www.schoollawpro.com.Mr. Howard has started a [...]

Miriam's lunch time seminar at the Ethics at Noon seminars at Stanford this Friday--in fact, Friday the 13th!If you are around, do join us. Here's the link: http://events.stanford.edu/events/174/17455.

"Why do you want a holiday? First, decided what you want to accomplish. Miriam Freedman, JD, MA,[with colleagues in SPEDCO--the Special Education Day Committee] started Special Education Day to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the signing of the first fedearl special education law in 1975. Freedman writes, 'Our holiday has been a huge success. It has helped us focus our efforts and gain a community of reformers. We are now launching SpedEx, an alternate dispute resolution model, which the [...]

There's more to add to the last blog! We take inspiration from Bill Cosby, Dr. Alvin Poussaint, and, most notably, our new president, Barack Obama.These leaders tell us some truths-- that it's time for parents, as well as schools, to work to improve outcomes for children. This week's Education Gadfly picked up on the President's inaugural speech in calling for a new "Era of responsibility." www.edexcellence.net/gadfly.Our President is certainly on to something many of us have felt and known [...]

It’s about time!I loved hearing Bill Cosby and Dr. Alvin Poussaint describing their book, Come On, People—On the Path from Victims to Victors on today’s Meet the Press. They are on to something! Parents need to parent.It's about time! President- elect Barak Obama told parents the same thing--turn off TVs, be present, not MIA, and support their children’s education. Poussaint suggested a national conference on parenting. [...]

Following up on the last blog about advice to the new president, once you get on the site, click on "Listen to it here," and then "Hear advice."The website is: http://www.merrow.org/ed_advice.There's some good stuff on it. Altogether, 76 voices. I was happy to be included and hope that changes will be a-coming in special education!Miriam

Visit the special website of John Merrow, the PBS education contributor! He's collected the opinions of many thought leaders and reformers--what advice would they give the new president? I am honored to be included and minute or two is included among today's contributors. It's at http://www.merrow.org/ed_advice/. Enjoy! Let me know what you think!Miriam

Hello again,Just want you to know, the OCR just issued a new 'Dear Colleague' letter. You can find it at:www.ed.gov/print/about/offices/list/OCR/letters/colleague-20081017.html. Check it out! It's in a Q & A format, and pretty much follows earlier letters that have been discussed on this blog--Letter to California and Letter to Runkel.Miriam

Like many of you, I watch and listen to the news with great anxiety... and am aghast at developments on Wall Street. Why did we get no warnings. Real warnings. Why did this come upon us as such a bolt seemingly out of the blue. But did it? Or did people know and not tell.And that got me thinking--what do we know in education, and specifically, in special education that needs to be told to a wider audience. So we can bring about necessary changes before a jolt hits all of us. I'm writing [...]