The Echo

Obama Wants Longer School Days, Year For Kids
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090928/NATIONAL/90928009&s=d&page=3#pluckcomments

What do you think?

From Education Weekly at http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2009/09/ed_dept_names_4_states_as_pote.html

Ed. Dept.: 4 States Are Ripe for Stimulus Slip-Ups
Buried deep within the latest GAO report (Government Accoutability Office, the investigative arm of Congress) on states' use of economic-stimulus funds is some interesting insight into how the U.S. Department of Education is trying to minimize the potential for fraud and misuse of money.

The first step, apparently, is to identify "high risk" states and give them intensive technical assistance to help them implement good practices in using stimulus funds. According to the report (advance to page 61 of the PDF document), states were selected because of things "such as the number of monitoring or audit findings in the state and the level of turnover in education leadership within the state."

The four states that got the stimulus equivalent of their names written on the chalkboard are: California, Illinois, Michigan, and Texas. The District of Columbia and Puerto Rico also made the list.

The department will provide these states and territories with both financial and programmatic expertise, which could include on-site visits, according to the report by the GAO.

These six potential troublemakers have been identified as posing risks to a variety of programs, meaning the Education Department is concerned about their use of all stimulus aid, from State Fiscal Stabilization Fund money to smaller grant programs.

The department has also identified an additional 12 states as "high risk" when it comes to use of Title I funds—based on previous monitoring findings, state coordinator turnover, and size of the Title I allocation. They are: Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, and Oklahoma.

It's apparently a good thing that the Education Department is closely monitoring Illinois and California, because GAO already found cash-management problems with those two states. (Fast forward to page 65 of the PDF document.) Illinois, for example, is apparently sending State Fiscal Stabilization Fund money to local school districts before they're prepared to spend the funds, which is a red flag for auditors.

And some school districts in California have large pots of stimulus funds just sitting around after the state drew down 80 percent of its Title I funds and immediately sent the money to districts, apparently before they were ready to spend it. (The Education Department's inspector general raised red flags about this general issue in California in March.) This time, GAO auditors surveyed 10 districts in California that had received the largest amounts of Title I funds and found that seven had not spent any of these funds and that all 10 reported large cash balances--ranging from $4.5 million to about $135 million.

Contact Your Members of Congress Today!
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) is up for reauthorization and this month marks the 35th anniversary of JJDPA. JJDPA provides the major source of federal funding to improve states’ juvenile justice systems and sets federal standards for the protection and rehabilitation of youth involved in the juvenile justice system. On March 24, 2009, Congress introduced JJDPA (S. 678), but with Congress’ focus on other legislative matters, such as health care reform, JJDPA has been sitting in the wings of U.S. Senate Committee on Judiciary.

Let's increase the momentum for JJDPA's reauthorization. Visit PTA Takes Action Center and contact your members of Congress Today!

From the DOE website:

New Student Assessment System Out for Re-Bid Release Date: Sep 22, 2009 10:07 AM

(Dover, DE.) The Delaware Department of Education (DDOE) has released a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the new statewide student assessment system known as the Delaware Comprehensive Assessment System (DCAS). The purpose of the RFP is to seek proposals from qualified Offerors experienced in online, web-based development, delivery and scoring systems in reading/English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies.

The online assessment system will consist of three components: (1) summative assessments for grades 3 through 8 in reading and mathematics; and two grades each for science and social studies; (2) summative end-of-course assessments for high school in English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies; and (3) benchmark growth assessments for grades 2 through 10 in reading, mathematics, and optionally science.

The new assessment system will be piloted in Delaware schools in winter/spring 2010 and will be operational in the 2010-2011 school year. The Delaware Student Testing Program (DSTP) is still being administered throughout the 2009-2010 school year with the last DSTP administration scheduled for May 2010 when 8th and 11th graders will take the science and social studies tests.

Proposals are due from potential vendors no later than noon on Wednesday, October 21, 2009. Proposals will be evaluated by an RFP Review Committee assisted by several advisory groups who will make a recommendation to Secretary of Education Lillian M. Lowery, Ed.D.

The RFP is available in electronic format through the State of Delaware, Department of Education website at http://www.doe.k12.de.us/rfplisting or via the State of Delaware's Procurement website at http://bids.delaware.gov/.

Delaware's Department of Education is committed to promoting the highest quality education for every Delaware student by providing visionary leadership and superior service.

This note is in response to a recent constituent request to both the Board and me, personally, and in keeping with the mission of this blog, I will share my answer here. My opinions are mine alone and do not represent those of the Christina School District or its Board of Education.

Christina's transportation employees are exploring the formation of a union - a right granted and protected under the NLRA, the National Labor Relations Act. As a Board Member, organizers from the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME-Council 81) approached me and requested that I listen to their rationale for this important decision and sign a pledge of neutrality.

If you've read the blog recently, you know ground rule #1 for me is "if it wasn't written down, then it didn't happen." In keeping with this philosophy, I'm writing it down : I support any employee in the Christina School District who wishes to exercise their rights under the law and, more specifically, the NLRA.

The choice of any employee to participate in the organization of a union is a very personal one that affects not only the employee. but their co-workers and families as well. I respect their freedom of choice and will not stand in the way of their exploration of options.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth Scheinberg

(As always, this is my view of the events of the evening and do not reflect that of the Christina School District. Official minutes of the meeting will be posted on the district website at
http://www.christina.k12.de.us/SchoolBoard/AgendasMinutes.htm )

This was an evening rich in public comment.

The Meeting was called to order at 7:30 pm.

A moment of silence was observed in honor of Sen. Ted Kennedy who recently passed away.

Following the pledge, Board Honor Roll awards were given several district students. Schools earning the Superior and Commendable ratings on the DSTP were also acknowledged.

Public Comment was marked by a sea of green AFSCME shirts worn by district transportation workers looking to unionize. Two representatives from this group addressed the board during public comment. Citing fears of retaliation, they urged the board to adopt a policy of neutrality with regard to this issue.

Arthur Turner from Arthur Turner Scholarship Foundation addressed the board regarding the creation of a county-wide spelling bee. He was directed to set up a meeting with our superintendent.

Claudia Bock representing the CEA, Christina Education Association, discussed the district's furlough plan and implementation of the 2.5 % mandated pay cut. Ms. Bock asserted that Colonial, Red Clay, and Brandywine school districts were able to work out a plan that allowed their teachers to earn the local share of their pay. She noted that Christina did not which returns by her estimate $1.2 million to the district coffers. Ms. Bock also highlighted the efforts of district teachers in recent history and their role in the revelation of district financial problems and recovery after the departure of former superintendent Joe Wise.

Dodi Herbert spoke to the Board regarding her son and his placement in an alternative educational setting. She informed the board that a story regarding her son would run in the News Journal later this week. Read the article here.

Samuel Guy also addressed the Board regarding technology in the classroom and the districts policy over ownership of such technology.

Thomas Wesley, a district teacher, expressed gratitude to the district for the recent listening sessions with employees hosted by Superintendent Dr. Marcia Lyles.

The Superintendent's report focused on the latest DSTP results and the district's Consolidated Grant Application, the method by which districts in Delaware receive their funding from various state and federal sources.

The Board approved the Financial Position Report and the FY 10 Preliminary Budget. Personnel Recommendations were also approved, filling several administrative vacancies (mostly principals and assistant principals.)

The Consent Agenda was approved by the Board, although it was not a unanimous vote. Two Board Members dissented -- I was one of them.

My concern stems from item IX.D.7e -- Sole Source Bid for the Measures of Academic Progress Assessment. I repeatedly voiced concern regarding this assessment and the district's fidelity with its' implementation. We have failed to effectively use the five years of data we have already collected to improve student testing at many of our schools. I am concerned that we are lacking a vital professional development piece that is inherent to the successful implementation of this assessment. This year, the district expects to increase use of this assessment from three times/yr to four. I could not in good faith vote for this contract to commit tax payer dollars to the use of an assessment when no plan for professional development was submitted, despite my requests. Without a plan for refocusing our teaching strategies increased testing will not result in achievement.

I believe the issue is further convoluted by the decrease in professional development days for teachers as a result of the state's 2.5% paycut and our district's furlough plan.

The Board accepted Student Readmission Recommendations, discussed recent Board committee items, and Delaware School Board Association (DSBA) business. One Board member shared that he had met with the representatives of the transporation employees regarding their efforts to unionize.

The Board also voted to uphold the expulsions of two students whose parents had requested review via the constituent concern process.

The meeting was then moved to adjournment.

There's a saying in the health care industry that folks from direct care givers to management live and breathe by. Million dollar lawsuits have been won and lost on eight easy words; If it wasn't written down, it didn't happen!

Incident reports, the distribution of meds, doctors notes, care plans, etc. I can tell you that I gave Mrs. Wilson her prescription every day for the last year. And you might believe me. I can give you a log of the dates, times, and doses and suddenly my word takes on new meaning.

Though I left a career in health care many years ago, I continue to practice this philosophy in every facet of my professional life. And I've found that the implication of those eight words translates well into my role now as school board member. If you have a plan, write it down. If you have results, don't just tell me. Show Me. If you have policies and procedures, they need to be in writing because the unwritten rule is the one that seldom gets enforced uniformly and with fidelity.

The flip side to this coin is that it implies that I lack trust in our system. But, it is not an issue of trust as much as it is one of accountability. It's not about people, it is about climate, system change, function, and value. It is very much about evidence-based practices, best practices, data-informed decisions, common sense and compassion.

I have reached a point in this journey where I have had to ask myself very some difficult questions. While running for this position, I publically urged both our state and district-level educational leaders to make bold decisions, to move away from an era of what appeared to be rubber-stamping, and to start questioning everything, to build policy that promoted growth, and to back-up their good intentions with results.

Ultimately, I have to be able to sleep at night. I have to know that I have considered and valued the balance between what is right for our tax payers with what's good for all of our students. The breadth of my experience is minuscule compared to that of some seasoned board members and I respect that. I am guided by an awareness that history can and does repeat itself, a strong strength in my convictions, and a dedication to both students and constituents.

And, in the end it will always come back to these eight words, If it wasn't written down, it didn't happen.

Jack Markell on Education Via today's News Journal:

"Markell said it is the single most important element to sustaining a healthy economy in Delaware and said his administration has supported initiatives such as giving teachers and administrators more say in how they can best reach students and administering different tests that track student progress throughout the year."

We're waiting, Jack. I first blogged about the replacement assessment on April 14th. It's been five months. Yes, the wheels of beauracracy turn slowly, but this is almost painful! Where's the 2nd DCAS (replacement test for DSTPs) Request for Proposals (open period for companies to bid on the contract)? The first RFP was pulled in July. It's mid-September and still no word ...

Reminder to All:

Tonight, Leasure Elementary School, 7:30 pm, Public School Board Meeting. Will I see you there? Hit the Christina website to access the Agenda for the evening.

Weekly Recap:

I've now officially visited Glagow High School, Pulaski Elementary, and West Park Elementary.
I attended a portion of the Teacher/Superintendent Listening Session at Bancroft last week, where I heard a lot of great ideas regarding engaging students and parents. We have a wealth of resources in our dedicated direct-education staffers who clearly have put their minds to developing new and creative strategies.

Yesterday, I attended the Agenda Prep meeting for tonight's board meeting.

On Thursday, I'll put on my parent hat and attend the Open House and Parent Advisory Committee Meeting at the Brennen School.

Next week quiets down for me, but I will attend the Leasure Open House.

As always, questions, comments, I'm here. You can reach me through the link at the bottom of this or any post.

Thank You!

(Note to readers -- We've been pulling down blog posts to check for accuracy after we learned of an attempt to hack the blog.)

If you've been to the Board website, you haven't. My contact information is posted, but we are still working on a photo.

Where you might have seen/spoken to me during the last two weeks:

1. Porter Rd. Elementary Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
2. Leasure Elementary Open House
3. West Park Elementary Open House
4. Elbert-Palmer Elementary (through human error and divine design)
5. Pulaski Elementary
6. Board Retreat

Where I'll be this week (unless fate once again intervenes):
1. Bayard Elementary for an after school district employee/superintendent listening session
2. West Park Elementary for a meeting with the principal and tour of the school
3. Glasgow High School for a meeting with the principal and tour of the school

(schedule is subject to change)

Dates to Remember:
Next Agenda Prep Meeting is Monday, Sept. 14 at noon. This is always a public meeting.
Next Public Board Meeting is Tuesday, Sept. 15 at Leasure Elementary at 7 pm.

You know where I've been and where I will be, if you have questions/concerns ask me.
When out in our schools, I have been introducing myself to teachers, parents, and students. I've received to responses overwhelmingly:

1. Wow! I've never met/seen a board member in my school before.
2. What's a board member do? (I get this one from our students, when they are brave enough to ask.)

As for the other question, I would hazard to guess that you have seen board members in your schools, you just didn't know who they were. Perhaps they passed you in the hall or office.

What I can speak frankly and clearly about is this: You will see me. I am working on touring all of our schools. And I will come back again, for follow-up visits, to our special events, our PTA meetings, and at any other time, a constituent feels a need to be present in one of our schools.

From Teacher Magazine at http://www.teachermagazine.org/tm/articles/2009/09/02/rtt_explained.html?tkn=YNTF9IX1JRMrm4etRAgFOPrwpkMiLw8HmXZS

Published: September 2, 2009

What Teachers Need to Know About Race to the Top

As states continue the scramble for education dollars this year, teachers may hear frequent references to a federal grant program called “Race to the Top.” What exactly does it mean for classroom educators?

The Race to the Top Fund, part of the Obama administration’s economic stimulus package, is a $4.35 billion competitive grant program for states, administered by the U.S. Department of Education. It is designed to encourage states to make coordinated, large-scale education improvement efforts across a number of policy areas that the Education Department sees as key.

The Criteria
According to draft plans outlined by the department in July, there are 19 proposed criteria that states’ will be judged on when submitting reform plans for Race to the Top money. Central among them is the state’s use of student-achievement data for evaluating teachers and principals. Under the guidelines, if a state bars the use of student-achievement data in teacher-evaluation decisions—as California and New York currently do—the state would automatically be disqualified from the grant process.

On the whole, the list of criteria revolves around the four central reform areas: States must adopt internationally benchmarked standards; improve the recruitment, retention, and rewarding of educators; improve data collection; and turn around the lowest-performing schools.
Under the proposed guidelines, the Education Department would give extra weight to grant proposals that focus on science, technology, engineering, and math, known as the STEM subjects.
States with alternative-certification routes for teachers and principals, and merit-pay plans for educators, would also be given preference.

States would also be judged on whether they have statewide backing for their reform plan, including from teachers’ unions. A letter of endorsement from the state union would be considered evidence of such support.

Under the current schedule, proposed guidelines for the program would be finalized in October, and applications from states would be due in December. Awards would be made to successful states in March 2010, with a second wave of grants scheduled for the following September.

Defining Teacher Quality
As is clear from the criteria for approval, teachers in states that ultimately receive Race to the Top grants could see significant changes in their practic, ranging from curriculum reforms to new ways of using student data to plan instruction. But the biggest changes for teachers are expected to come from the program’s emphasis on revamping teacher-quality systems (via recruiting, retention, and compensation strategies) by integrating them, at least in part, with student-achievement data.

“Successful state proposals will plan to strengthen the entire ‘talent chain’—recruitment, preparation and credentialing, placement, induction, professional development, evaluation, advancement, and retention,” wrote Joanne Weiss, the Education Department’s director of Race to the Top, in a recent Education Week Commentary. “In particular, we want schools and districts to know which teachers are effective (as measured in significant measure by how their students are improving academically), and to ensure that local decision makers use this information to inform key decisions. …”

As Education Week Staff Writer Stephen Sawchuk reported in his analysis of the proposed guidelines, states “must commit to using their teacher-effectiveness data for everything from evaluating teachers to determining the type of professional development they get to making decisions about granting tenure and pursuing dismissals.”

Those reforms, however, have encountered opposition from teachers' unions, which have traditionally been leary of linking teacher evaluation to student-achievement data. The unions harbor particular concerns about the technical quality of the student tests that would be used to judge their members’ performance. They have also expressed concern about the validity of the value-added methodologies—systems that seek to determine the extent to which individual teachers are contributing to students’ academic performance. Both the National Educators Association and the American Federation of Teachers, as well as many state unions, have submitted comments on the Race to the Top guidelines to the Education Department.

How well the unions succeed in changing the Education Department’s position will be determined when the final guidelines are released in October.

Later this year, CSD will enter into contract negotiations with its own teachers.

Will Christina take the "radical" approach? Or will it be business as usual? I don't know the answer to that question and with our own new Superintendent at the helm, the only response I can offer is time will tell.

From Education Week - A look into the plans of Philadephia's one year young Superintendent, Arlene C. Ackerman.

Leader in Philly Seeks Change in Teacher Rules

Arlene C. Ackerman, who took the helm of Philadelphia’s public schools a little more than a year ago, is pushing for changes that would upend how teachers are paid and assigned to schools.

The veteran urban superintendent is battling tradition in the 167,000-student system, but insists that increasing the effectiveness of the city’s nearly 10,700 teachers is a central goal of her leadership. Her administration is currently negotiating a new, multiyear contract with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.

“The kinds of things I am talking about are radical,” Ms. Ackerman said. “I want teachers who will come to Philadelphia and work in our neediest schools, and who see themselves as experts at educating children in the most challenging communities.”

While the changes would be major for Philadelphia, most have been put in place in other large districts, including New York and Chicago. Ms. Ackerman’s decision to tackle the touchy issue underscores the prominence of teacher effectiveness on the national school reform agenda.

President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan have made teacher policy a centerpiece of the Race to the Top competition, the $4.35 billion grant program that is part of the federal stimulus package pledged for public schools.

More than 20 advocacy groups in Philadelphia also have rallied around teacher quality and are calling for many of the same policy changes Ms. Ackerman is seeking. Their campaign is called “Effective Teaching for All Children: What It Will Take.” And a recent settlement of Philadelphia’s 40-year-old desegregation case requires the district to take steps to ensure the neediest schools are staffed with more experienced teachers.

In fact, the settlement agreement gives Ms. Ackerman the authority to impose many of the changes she is seeking in 85 of the city’s neediest schools, but she said she prefers to collaborate with the union. The School Reform Commission, which has governed the district since a state takeover in 2002, also has the authority to impose such provisions, but has never opted to do so.

“We have the hammer, but I’d much rather work with them than ram this down their throats,” Ms. Ackerman said of members of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.

The superintendent has substantial political capital and legal backing to push the PFT to agree to measures the union has previously rejected, said one education scholar who has done research on the city’s teaching corps.

“There’s a convergence of many important factors here that give the superintendent tremendous backup,” said Betsey Useem, a researcher for the Philadelphia-based Research for Action. “She also benefits from just a torrent of national research now on the whole issue of teacher quality and student learning gains. This is really in the water supply now of education reform.”

New Evaluation System?
The school district is seeking to assign teachers with track records of raising achievement to the city’s hardest-to-staff schools and to offer incentives—both monetary and nonmonetary—to keep them there for at least five years. Also on the agenda are scrapping all seniority-based transfer rights and giving principals and school hiring teams the authority to hire every teacher for their campuses, and raising teachers’ base salaries and using a tiered system to pay those with certain areas of expertise and proven results even more.

One major obstacle, Ms. Useem pointed out, is the unresolved Pennsylvania state budget, which so far has kept the district and union from being able to hash out any final agreements on salaries and benefits.

A one-year contract between the district and the PFT was set to expire Aug. 31, but district and union leaders, who have been meeting twice a week for much of the summer, agreed to extend it to Oct. 31 in the hope that the state budget will be final by then.

Jerry T. Jordan, the president of the 16,000-member PFT, declined to comment on the superintendent’s goal of improving teacher quality. He emphasized that the union is focused on its long-standing priorities: safe and orderly classrooms, reduced class sizes, and more resources and supplies in classrooms.

“Having good working conditions for teachers will make the biggest impact on our students,” Mr. Jordan said.

To make her case for an overhaul of the contract, Ms. Ackerman points to several things.

One is the district’s evaluation system for teachers, which rates them as either satisfactory or unsatisfactory based on a single observation each year by a principal for a tenured teacher, and two observations for those with less than three years’ experience.

“Before this last year, we only had 13 teachers who were rated as unsatisfactory, and only five lost their jobs because they failed to perform,” Ms. Ackerman said. “That says a lot.”

The superintendent said she wants to set a series of specific standards for principals to use to evaluate teachers. She also plans to create a professional-development program to train teachers to meet and maintain those standards.

Using student-achievement data as part of evaluations is “something that is important and should be part of the evaluation,” Ms. Ackerman said, but is not something she is pushing for in this contract.

Mr. Jordan said nothing in previous contracts has precluded principals from writing more-nuanced evaluations of teachers and suggesting ways for them to improve. But he said the union is “open to talking about changes to the current system.”

‘Strategic Compensation’
While Ms. Ackerman declined to share details in a recent interview, she is also advocating what she calls “strategic compensation” that would pay teachers who have specialized training and credentials in high-need areas more money. If those same teachers agree to work in a high-need school, they should receive even more, she said.

To tackle the difficult problem of attracting the strongest teachers to the weakest schools and keeping them there, Ms. Ackerman also wants to offer nonmonetary incentives. One approach she wants to try—at the suggestion of several teachers she has met with—is placing cohorts of five or six teachers in the toughest schools so they “don’t have to go alone” and may find it more palatable to stay.

Another top priority for Ms. Ackerman—and a major sticking point for the union—is eliminating the role of seniority when teachers transfer schools and empowering principals and school-based hiring committees to select all teachers. In Philadelphia, principals now are able to fill only half their teaching vacancies with hires that they choose; the other half are reserved for seniority transfers.

The city’s advocacy groups fought hard for such a provision in the 2004 contract, and were disappointed when the district and the union struck the deal to keep some teaching vacancies subject to seniority.

“We know that full site selection in and of itself is not a panacea,” said Brian Armstead, the director of civic engagement for the Philadelphia Education Fund, one of the groups behind the effective-teaching campaign. “But the teachers’ union response to doing this has been an automatic rejection.

“What we are saying is that it has to be done in a way where teachers feel empowered,” he said, “and where the committees aren’t stacked with people who always agree with the principal.”

Establishing site-based hiring that includes decisionmakers other than the principal is a “really sound proposal,” said Sandi Jacobs, the vice president for policy at the National Council on Teacher Quality, a Washington-based research and advocacy organization for improvement of the teaching profession.

"We think that mutual-consent hiring practices are one of the most important things districts can do," Ms. Jacobs said. "It means that a teacher doesn't end up in a position that he or she doesn't want, and principals don't end up with teachers he or she doesn't want."

Coverage of leadership is supported in part by a grant from the Wallace Foundation.

Methods for Encouraging Your Child to Read
Parents can help their children get excited about reading

Young readers reluctant to enjoy a good book can be changed into enthusiastic readers, according to the group Reading Is Fundamental. Some simple activities can generate excitement about reading.

Take your children to the library regularly. Explore the children's section together. Ask a librarian to suggest books and magazines your children might enjoy.

Present reading as an activity with a purpose; a way to gather useful information for, say, making paper airplanes, identifying a doll or stamp in your child's collection, or planning a family trip.

Encourage older children to read to their younger brothers and sisters. Older children enjoy showing off their skills to an admiring audience.

Set aside a regular time for reading in your family, independent of schoolwork: the 20 minutes before lights out, just after dinner, or whatever fits into your household schedule. As little as 10 minutes of free reading a day can help improve your child's skills and habits.

Read aloud to your child, especially a child who is discouraged by his or her own poor reading skills. The pleasure of listening to you read, rather than struggling alone, may restore your child's initial enthusiasm for books and reading.

Introduce the bookmark. Remind your youngster that you don't have to finish a book in one sitting; you can stop after a few pages, or a chapter, and pick up where you left off at another time. Don't try to persuade your child to finish a book he or she doesn't like. Recommend putting the book aside and trying another.

Treat your children to an evening of laughter and entertainment featuring books! Many children (parents, too) regard reading as a serious activity. A joke book, a story told in riddles, or a funny passage read aloud can reveal another side of reading.

Extend your child's positive reading experiences. For example, if your youngster enjoyed a book about dinosaurs, follow up with a visit to a natural history museum.

Excerpted with permission from RIF's Parent Guide Brochure. For more information and reading tips, go to www.rif.org.