1. State Superintendent statement on reading task force
2. Official Proclamation: Digital Learning Day is February 1
3. State students among best responders to Speak Up survey
4. 2012 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards applications
5. Free web video clarifies distinctions between advocacy and lobbying
6. Website of the Week: Popular New Year's Resolutions
7. Calendar
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1. STATE SUPERINTENDENT STATEMENT ON READING TASK FORCE

State Superintendent Tony Evers issued a statement on the Read to Lead Task Force report and plan announced by Governor Scott Walker at a press conference on Wednesday in Greendale. Dr. Evers was vice chair of the task force. The text of the superintendent's statement can be found at /sites/default/files/imce/eis/pdf/dpinr2012_05.pdf. More information on the task force can be found at the Department of Public Instruction's Read Wisconsin website at http://www.readwisconsin.net/.


2. OFFICIAL PROCLAMATION: DIGITAL LEARNING DAY IS FEBRUARY 1

Wednesday, February 1, 2012, has been proclaimed Digital Learning Day in Wisconsin by State Superintendent Tony Evers. "Incorporating the latest technological advances in the right ways will make an enormous difference for our students," Evers said. "I proclaimed Digital Learning Day to support sharing and learning from successful strategies regarding technology in learning. This in turn moves us closer to the vision of every child a graduate ready for further education and the workforce."

As part of a national celebration, the Wisconsin education community will highlight and explore digital learning practices that can improve students' education and save money for schools. We are also looking for examples of how libraries are integral to digital learning in their communities.

So far over 300,000 people have registered at the national site. Register at the national site at http://www.digitallearningday.org and add your voice. Get involve in promoting digital learning by participating in one of the Wisconsin activities at: https://sites.google.com/a/dpi.wi.gov/wisconsin-digital-learning-day/home or http://imt.dpi.wi.gov/imt_dlday.

Highlights of the Wisconsin event will include State Superintendent Tony Evers leading a Twitter town hall meeting and the release of the Wisconsin Digital Learning Plan by the State Superintendents Digital Learning Council.


3. STATE STUDENTS AMONG BEST RESPONDERS TO SPEAKUP SURVEY

With nearly 14,000 K-12 students taking the 2011 SpeakUp Survey, Wisconsin ranked sixth in participation according to information from Project Tomorrow, a non-partisan education nonprofit group based in Irvine, California that supports innovative uses of science, math and technology resources in K-12 schools and communities.

Including administrators, teachers, librarians, and parents, Wisconsin registered 16,059 responses from 74 districts or educational organizations. Participation in 2011 saw Wisconsin double the number of districts participating, total student responses, teacher responses and librarian responses with slight increases in parent and administrator responses.

"We made a concerted effort to promote this very worthwhile survey as easy to complete while providing a rich data set for districts to use in analyzing their technology use, policies, and direction," noted Kurt Kiefer, Assistant State Superintendent for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning. "It appears our collaborative efforts with the Project Tomorrow organization have paid off."

Project Tomorrow is now tabulating the responses and results should be available by late February or early March. Districts participating in the survey can access their results as well as statewide results at that time. Only Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Indiana, Maine, and Texas had a greater percentage of their statewide K-12 students take the survey in 2011.

"While valuable for individual districts, the survey results also provide DPI with an extensive data set too use in our planning at the regional and state level as we can spot trends and needs through analysis," added Kiefer. "Project Tomorrow has a very solid survey and provides us with access to data we could not collect on our own."

The SpeakUp Survey, now in its 8th year, was completed by more than 300,000 K-12 students from October thru December 2011 by students, educators and parents across the country. The annual survey about education and technology was facilitated through public, private and charter schools all around the country; every school is eligible to participate. The results provide important insights about education, technology and student aspirations to individual schools, state departments of education and national leaders.

The 2011 online surveys - open to all K-12 students, parents, teachers, librarians and administrators at http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/ - offered the largest collection of authentic, unfiltered input on education and technology from those 'on the ground' in the schools.

Wisconsin 2011 Participation Breakdown (2010 in parentheses)

K-12 Students -- 13,766 (6,630)
Teachers & Librarians - 1,362 (760)
Administrators - 128 (82)
Parents - 803 (783)
Total - 16,059 (8,255)


4. 2012 NATIONAL ARTS AND HUMANITIES YOUTH PROGRAM AWARD APPLICATIONS

The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, is accepting applications for the 2012 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards (http://www.nahyp.org/).

The twelve winning programs will receive $10,000 and the opportunity to accept their awards from First Lady Michelle Obama, the President's Committee's Honorary Chairman, at a ceremony at the White House. In addition, winners will receive an award plaque, the opportunity to attend the Annual Awardee Conference in Washington, DC in the summer of 2012, and recognition on the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award Web site.

After school and out-of-school time arts and humanities programs sponsored by museums, libraries, performing arts organizations, educational institutions, arts centers, community service organizations, businesses, and eligible government entities are encouraged to consider submitting an application. Programs applying for the award must meet all of the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards eligibility criteria (http://www.nahyp.org/how-to-apply/eligibility-criteria/).

Completed applications will only be accepted via the online process. No hard copy materials will be accepted. The deadline for application submissions is Tuesday, January 31, 2012, 5:00 p.m. EST.
Prospective applicants with questions should e-mail info@nahyp.org or call 202-682-5571.


5. FREE WEB VIDEO CLARIFIES DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN ADVOCACY AND LOBBYING

Education, public relations, advocacy, and lobbying are often confused and sometimes used interchangeably. However, there are differences in their meaning and purpose and in what may be allowable for public employees and officials. Teg Wegner, of the American Library Association's Washington office, and Stephanie Vance, the "advocacy guru" recently teamed up to produce a webinar that clarifies the distinctions between different forms of public communication, titled "Education, Advocacy and Lobbying - Oh My!: What's Allowed (and What's Not) When Reaching out to Elected Officials." Find out more about what library officials and supporters can and can't do in this free archived webinar (one hour in length) offered by the American Library Association's Washington Office. For more information and links to the video and related slides, see this District Dispatch article (shortened URL):
http://goo.gl/T1y9g.


6. WEBSITE OF THE WEEK

Popular New Year's Resolutions -- http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/New_Years_Resolutions.shtml -- This site offers a list of suggested New Year's resolution from USA.gov, the U.S. government's official home page. Each suggestion has links to related government sites.(Website reference courtesy of refdesk.com)


7. CALENDAR

January 13, 2012 - Council on Library and Network Development (COLAND) meeting, by webconference

January 20-24, 2012 - American Library Association mid-winter meeting, Dallas, TX

February 1, 2012 - Digital Learning Day, national observance

February 14, 2012 - Wisconsin Library Association (WLA)/Wisconsin Education Media and Technology Association (WEMTA) Library Legislative Day, Madison

March 9, 2012 - Council on Library and Network Development (COLAND) meeting, to be confirmed

March 13-17, 2012 - Public Library Association annual meeting, Philadelphia, PA

March 28-30, 2012 - Wisconsin Education Media and Technology Association (WEMTA) Annual Conference, Wisconsin Dells

April 23-24, 2012 - American Library Association National Library Legislative Day, Washington, DC

October 23-26, 2012 - Wisconsin Library Association (WLA) annual conference, La Crosse

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Roslyn M. Wise
Editor, Channel Weekly
Department of Public Instruction
Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning
PO Box 7841
Madison, WI 53707-7841
Phone: (608) 266-6439
FAX: (608) 267-9207