Sustainability Spotlight
Last summer, Dare County Schools partnered with ECU Coastal Studies Institute (CSI) camps to allow middle school students to explore the coastal habitats of the Outer Banks. While the opportunity was primarily funded through PRC 177 & 188 funds, additional support was provided by ECU and The College of Albemarle. The Coastal Studies Institute is committed to continuing this service to Dare County schools beyond PRC funding through external stakeholder support and utilizing Career and Technical Education funds. Using ESSER dollars, Dare County Schools has established an ongoing relationship with a community partner that will be funded using CTE funds & local community support in the future!
2023-08-DareCo-Summer.pdf - Google Drive
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New Grant Opportunity: Extended Learning and Integrated Student Supports (ELISS) Grant Opportunity
The General Assembly of North Carolina appropriated seven million dollars ($7,000,000) each year from the At-Risk Student Services Alternative School Allotment for the Extended Learning and Integrated Student Supports (ELISS) Competitive Grant Program for the 2023-2025 period. The purpose of the Extended Learning and Integrated Student Supports Competitive Grant Program (ELISS) is to fund high-quality, independently validated extended learning and integrated student support service programs for at-risk students that raise standards for student academic outcomes.
On December 7, 2023, the NC State Board of Education approved the ELISS Request for Proposal (RFP) and application. To learn more about this grant opportunity please click on the links below to review the RFP and to access upcoming training events for the ELISS Grant Program.
Click Here for Training Dates
Click Here for ELISS 23_25 RFP
New Grant Opportunity: Digital Teaching and Learning Grants
"Digital Teaching and Learning in North Carolina’s public schools will benefit from a new round of competitive grants that were approved December 7, 2023 by the State Board of Education.
Up to $1.25 million in grants funded by the General Assembly through the state’s Digital Learning Initiative will be available to school districts, charter schools, lab schools and regional schools during the 2024-2025 school year. Over the past seven years, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s (NCDPI) Digital Teaching and Learning Division has committed more than $10 million dollars in similar grants to help schools and districts develop and strengthen digital-age learning initiatives.
'This agency has had a long history of prioritizing and securing funding for Digital Teaching and Learning grants, and I’m excited to see us continue these efforts today,' State Superintendent Catherine Truitt said. 'As our world continues to become more interconnected, technology embedded within North Carolina classrooms will better help our students prepare for the wide range of opportunities upon graduation. I look forward to the creative proposals that will be put forth by schools across the state and seeing how they will enhance teaching and learning for all students.'”
Read the full press release here.
Audit Corner
With the deadline to spend ESSER funds fast approaching, we want to dedicate a small section of our newsletter to highlight helpful tips for preparing for future audits.
This week’s tip: When it comes to field trips & food, follow these tips to ensure you are compliant:
- Food purchases for students are an allowable cost, but should be necessary, reasonable, and allocable.
- Food for staff, chaperones, and parents on field trips cannot be purchased with federal funds.
- Field trips that have an academically aligned purpose and meet the programmatic guidelines and are in alignment with program goals are allowed.
- Field trips that are considered entertainment are not allowed.
Feel free to refer to OFP’s Field Trip Guidance form for more info!
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PRC 189 Surveys Now Live!
The PRC 189 surveys are now available for distribution.
The End of Program Survey is a required survey. Each site should submit a survey.
For example, if you are running PRC 189 funded programs at three sites in your district you should have the administrators/coordinators/leaders of each program site complete the survey. Please refer to this guidance document to review the survey questions.
The End of Program Student Survey is optional. This survey can be distributed to the students who participate in the program at the end of the program. Please refer to this guidance document to review the survey questions.
Both surveys will close on June 30, 2024.
If you have any questions about the surveys, please reach out to Abby Pearce at abby.pearce@dpi.nc.gov
SparkNC Module Course Coding
Public School Units (PSUs) who are using SparkNC modules are to use the course code for local elective credit (96102X0) and title it locally as High-Tech Learning Accelerator.
- It is up to the PSU to determine how and when to schedule the course.
- When a student successfully completes enough modules to earn an elective credit, it is to be entered into the SIS as a “Pass” and will not count in a student’s GPA.
- It is up to the PSU to determine when the student has passed enough modules with sufficient rigor, breadth, and depth to earn a course credit. This may occur across grade-levels.
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Preparation for ESSER II Audits: PRC 176 and PRC 177
During the week of October 16th, points of contact (PoC) for PRC 176 and/or PRC 177 should have received an email from the OLR team's email, olr-esser-support@dpi.nc.gov. In preparation for potential ESSER II audits, the OLR wants to give PSUs the opportunity to review their PRC plans to ensure they align with the actual activities funded through these PRC(s). The plans were included with the email.
We ask that PSUs review their plan following the process outlined in the Application Amendment Process for PRC 176 and 177 and retroactively submit application amendments in CCIP as needed. If you have questions about this process OR if you did not receive the email and are the PoC for PRC 176 and/or PRC 177, please reach out to the OLR team at the team email: olr-esser-support@dpi.nc.gov.
Please ensure that if you make amendments to your PRC 176 or 177 plans using the Create Comment feature that you alert the assigned program administrator at OLR via email so that they can review and acknowledge the amendment. Jay Johnson (jay.johnson@dpi.nc.gov) is covering the Western four regions of the state and Dr. Richard Lewis (richard.lewis@dpi.nc.gov) is covering the Eastern four regions of the state.
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