overview
NCLB Basics for Teachers & Principals
Rene Islas & Carolyn Snowbarger
Course Description:
This program provides an introduction to the basics of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Passed with overwhelming bipartisan support from Congress, the law was signed by President George W. Bush on January 8, 2002. Clearly, our children are our future, and, as President Bush has expressed, "Too many of our neediest children are being left behind."
The presentation addresses the basic premise of the law and the components that have become buzzwords in the educational community. The issues surrounding the Highly Qualified requirements for teachers and the impact of that legislation are discussed during the video session. The presenters provide examples of teaching situations that illustrate the requirement. Other topics presented focus on the HOUSSE requirement for subject area teachers. Two documents are available on the Teacher to Teacher Website for download prior to viewing the video program: The Parents Guide to NCLB is useful for sharing information with parents about how NCLB affects their children and the Teacher Toolkit, a booklet with facts and examples to help teachers understand NCLB.
M. René Islas
Special Assistant to Secretary of Education
M. René Islas serves as the Special Assistant to Secretary of Education Rod Paige in the United States Department of Education. Mr. Islas advises on issues related to the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and coordinates special projects on a variety of education issues. Mr. Islas previously served the Department as a Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. As Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. As Special Assistant, Mr. Islas focused on issues ranging from assessment and accountability to teacher quality. Prior to his service to the U.S. Department of Education, Mr. Islas was the Director of Institutional Advancement at the Council for Basic Education. As director, he worked in concert with the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer to develop and implement a comprehensive positioning and outreach strategy to advance the mission of the organization. Among his responsibilities were the coordination of all external communications, government relations, and development activities. Before accepting the position as Director of Institutional Advancement, Mr. Islas served as a policy analyst for CBE's Mid-Atlantic Regional Teacher Project (MARTP) focusing on teacher supply and demand in the mid-Atlantic region. In addition to analyses, he helped facilitate the collaboration of state leaders to jointly alleviate the regional teacher shortage. Mr. Islas has been published in books, journals, and news media.
Carolyn Snowbarger
Special Assistant for Teacher Quality in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education
Carolyn Snowbarger serves as the Director of the Department of Education's Teacher-to-Teacher Initiative, an outreach effort that includes teacher roundtables, summer workshops, a national research-to-practice summit, e-mail updates, and the American Stars in Teaching initiative. In the past year, Carolyn also headed the Department's Teacher Assistance Corps, a team of 45 teachers, principals, superintendents, postsecondary education leaders, state officials, and national experts from around the country who joined Department staff to visit all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico to discuss teacher quality issues and state implementation of the highly qualified teacher provisions established under the No Child Left Behind Act.
In her position as a senior policy advisor on teacher quality for the Assistant Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education, Carolyn brings more than twenty years of experience in education to one of the largest offices within the U.S. Department of Education.
As a National Board Certified Teacher in Early Adolescent English/Language Arts and a recipient of Master Teacher Certification from the state of Kansas, Carolyn provides a practitioner's perspective with 28 years of classroom teaching experience to the President's teacher quality reform efforts.
