Archived newsletter — May 2022. This issue preserves historical information; events, contacts, and resources may have changed.
News You Can Use
Learning Forward is coming to us! Elizabeth Foster, Vice President for Standards and Research will be sharing the new standards and what they mean for your role and work as a leader in professional learning.
Join us on Thursday, June 2nd at 3:00 Eastern. And please email Jennifer Coffey with questions or topics you would like Elizabeth to cover during this webinar.
OSEP’s Project Directors’ and Leadership Conference will again be virtual. Please register and mark your calendars for July 19-21.
Are you receiving the OSEP Update? Hear from the new OSEP Director, Valerie Williams, and receive the OSEP and Department of Education highlights, while you learn about great OSEP-funded resources and important data. Click here to subscribe.
Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE): Office of Discretionary Grants & Support Services: Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) Program, Assistance Listing Number (ALN) 84.423A
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: June 3, 2022. Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: August 4, 2022. Pre-Application Webinars: The Office of Elementary and Secondary Education intends to post pre-recorded informational webinars designed to provide technical assistance to interested applicants for grants under the SEED program. These informational webinars will be available on the SEED webpage shortly after this notice is published in the Federal Register at oese.ed.gov/offices/office-of-discretionary-grants-support-services/effective-educator-development-programs/supporting-effective-educator-development-grant-program/applicant-info/. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christine Miller - Christine.Miller@ed.gov or SEED@ed.gov.
Federal Register :: Applications for New Awards; National Professional Development Program
Under the NPD program, authorized by sections 3111(c)(1)(C) and 3131 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended (ESEA), the Department awards grants to institutions of higher education (IHEs) or public or private entities with relevant experience and capacity, in consortia with State educational agencies (SEAs) or local educational agencies (LEAs). The purpose of these grants is to provide professional development activities that will improve classroom instruction for English learners (ELs) and assist educational personnel working with such children to meet high professional standards, including standards for certification and licensure as teachers who work in language instruction educational programs or serve ELs.
Francisco J. López, Jr., U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Ave. SW, Room H3215, Potomac Center Plaza, Washington, DC 20202. Telephone: (202) 401-1433. Email: NPD2022@ed.gov. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a text telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll free, at 1-800-877-8339.
SPDG Success!
The Iowa SPDG (now completed) created an inviting and information infographic that shares their “why”, “what”, “who”, and “how”, as well as their impact. The improvements children with disabilities made over time is significant and meaningful.
Improving Professional Learning
Check out the new professional learning standards from Learning Forward! They have videos to explain the new standards and explanations of the research and rationale behind them.
Research Roundup
EFFECTIVE LEARNING STRATEGIES: THE SCIENCE OF LEARNING IN PRACTICE
Implementing Science of Learning Research in Classrooms
How do we start producing better knowledge about how to best educate our children? And how do we translate this body of research into classroom practice and appropriate learning strategies? This should include education not just in content, but in the practice of learning itself. In other words, students need to learn how to learn as well as learning content.
Enter the project “Science of Learning: Research Meets Practice.” The goal of the project was to get the science of learning into the hands of teaching professionals as well as parents, school leaders, and students. The Learning Agency and its partners brought teachers and researchers together as a first step toward a tighter and more productive relationship between education research and education practice.
How to Text Message Parents to Reduce Chronic Absence Using an Evidence-Based Approach
Ohio’s Statewide Engagement Center, with our very own Barbara Boone, took part in this research and created the research brief “Partnering with Families for the Middle School Transition”.
Family engagement in education doesn’t stop after elementary school. It’s just as important, but it looks and sounds different.
The Middle Ground project at the Ohio Statewide Family Engagement Center provides educators and families with research-based tips and opportunities for launching middle schoolers’ success.
Making Your Work Easier
Virginia Tiered System of Supports (VTSS) - Implementation Matrix/Mapping Tools can help your SPDG build coherence in districts and across your SEA.
- Division Initiative Mapping
- Resource Map/Tier Definition - Tier 1
- Resource Map/Tier Definition - Tier 2/3
- Assessment Map
- Action Plan 1 - Aligned Organizational Structure
- Action Plan 2 - Data Informed Decision Making
- Action Plan 3 - Evidence Based Practices
- Action Plan 4 - Family, School, and Community Partnerships
- Action Plan 5 - Monitoring Student Progress
- Action Plan 6 - Evaluation of Process
Spotlight on OSEP/TA
Educator Workforce
Find resources for teacher preparation, recruitment and retention from the National Comprehensive Centers.
Technical Guide for Alignment of Initiatives, Programs and Practices in School Districts
ICYMI (in 2017!) from the PBIS Center
This guide can help you create coherence between multiple initiatives at the State, district, or school level. Work smarter, not harder!
Data-Informed
Using ESSER funds for retention bonuses makes sense if targeted strategically | The Thomas B. Fordham Institute
By Dan Goldhaber
In this article Goldhaber uses the research on retention to ask a few key questions:
- Doesn’t it make sense to target attrition at points in a teacher’s career where there is the greatest likelihood of unwanted turnover (e.g., early career teachers)?
- Shouldn’t the funds be targeted toward future retention?
An excerpt from the article uses the example of Chicago Public Schools:
Imagine, instead, that the district employed a more targeted approach—say, they provided half the amount, $25 million, in bonuses just to special-education teachers, a field where staffing challenges are particularly acute. Because only about 10 percent of teachers are special-education teachers, this strategy would allow Chicago to offer over $10,000 to each of them. That’s an eye-opening figure that also would send a strong signal to prospective special-education teachers that there’s a real need in this area.
Podcasts of the Month
Implementation Science for Educators focuses in on the use of ESSER funds and how the Hexagon Tool might be used to look at already existing programming.
If You Have the Time
Nonprofit aims to recruit more Black male teachers
Video from CBS News
Although there's a teacher shortage across the U.S., the shortage of Black male teachers is even more dire. Jim Axelrod has more on a Philadelphia program that's working to change that.
Georgia Department of Education Dyslexia Video Series
This four-part video series begins with an overview of the definition and characteristics of dyslexia, followed by an explanation of the relationship between reading development and dyslexia. Next, common questions about dyslexia and services offered under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) are answered. The series ends with a description of what a structured literacy approach to reading instruction means, and what this looks like for students with dyslexia. The videos are designed to be viewed sequentially.
- Video 1: What is Dyslexia
- Video 2: Dyslexia and Reading Development
- Video 3: Dyslexia and the IDEA
- Video 4: Structured Literacy and Dyslexia