New Updates for April

OK State Dept of Ed sent this bulletin at 04/15/2024 12:22 PM CDT

Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page.

Generative AI for Educators Course

In Partnership with Grow with Google we are pleased to launch a no-cost Generative AI for Educators course, designed to help teachers build essential AI skills Generative AI for Educators is a two-hour, self-paced course designed to build teacher comfort and excitement in the use of AI tools to assist their professional practice. Developed by experts at Google, teachers will learn how using generative AI tools can help to save time on everyday tasks, differentiate instruction to meet student needs, enhance lessons and activities in creative ways, and more. Teachers earn a PDF certificate from the course, which they may be able to present to their district for CEUs for PD.

Sing up here to get started!

Student Volunteer Opportunity

Do you have students interested in the arts who want to support their community and need to complete a work-based learning activity? Volunteers 14 and up can work a 3-hour shift Friday, May 24 – Tuesday, May 28^that the Paseo Arts Festival in OKC. Volunteers get a free t-shirt and can work in several different booths across the festival.

School Voice: ICAP Conversations

Join your colleagues for a monthly gathering to collaborate on ICAP best practices, challenges, and solutions. This is an informal time to build relationships and share ideas with other professionals building & leading ICAP programs across the state. We look forward to learning from you!

School Voice: ICAP Conversations Among 1A & 2A Schools

April 16^th from 9 am – 10 am

School Voice: ICAP Conversations Among 3A & 4A Schools

April 16^th from 10:30 am – 11:30 am

School Voice: ICAP Conversations Among 5A & 6A Schools

April 16^th from 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm

NEW! FAFSA GRADUATION REQUIREMENT

BEGINS 2024 – 2025
Beginning with the 2024-2025 school year, in order to graduate from a public high school in Oklahoma, students must submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

Watch this video to learn more about the requirement, why the FAFSA is important, and the resources in place to support your efforts.

Oklahoma FAFSA Data Portal
The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education and Oklahoma College Assistance Program offer the Oklahoma FAFSA Data Portal (OK-FDP), a free online tool to help counselors, principals and mentors provide more targeted assistance to high school seniors as they complete the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). Get started tracking FAFSA progress for your seniors today!

OK-FDP Flyer | OK-FDP Video

State Department of Education Resources
Resources from the State Department of Education, including a Frequently Asked Questions document, are available on the College & Career Readiness website: https://sde.ok.gov/college-career.

FAFSA is Open!

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is open! Many state and private institutions, career technology centers, and some proprietary schools use FAFSA to determine a student's financial aid eligibility. This will include federal and state programs such as grants, work-study funds, scholarships, and federal student loans. As these deadlines approach, it’s important for students to complete and submit their FAFSA.

Applicants will need a Federal Student Aid ID to complete, sign, edit, & renew their FAFSA. Create your FSA ID at https://studentaid.gov/fsa-id/create-account/launch.The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education has created some great FAFSA completion resources:

Schedule a CCR Listening Session

Are you interested in discussing College and Career Readiness? Jennifer Peters, Program Manager of CCR, is keeping aside some time in the day for listening, sharing, and problem-solving with Local Education Agencies.

Have questions for Jennifer?
Schedule a meeting or send a message to Jennifer.Peters@sde.ok.gov

Is Work-Based Learning getting you down?

Fear not! Our College and Career Readiness Specialist, Meredith Dennis, will be heading efforts to support schools with developing and connecting students to quality Work-Based Learning experiences.

Have questions for Meredith?
Connect with her HERE to schedule a meeting or send a message to Meredith.Dennis@sde.ok.gov .

Functional Family Therapy

The Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs is offering the Functional Family Therapy (FFT) program for highest at-risk youth and adjudicated youth in specific Oklahoma counties. FFT is an evidence-based treatment program designed to reduce at-risk behavior in adolescents with an 70%-80% effectiveness rate. FFT is the leading treatment to address adolescent substance use, delinquency, and family system change. FFT targets youth aged 11-18, younger siblings, and their parents/caregivers. Intervention ranges from, on average, 8 -12 one-hour sessions for mild cases and up to 30 sessions for more difficult situations. FFT is conducted over an approximate three-month period and is largely an in-home intervention that is provided at no cost to the family.

FFT is appropriate for youth ages 11-17 exhibiting frequent and high degrees of the following problematic behaviors: defiance of authority figures (home and school), aggressiveness toward other people, extreme sibling rivalry, running away, truancy, vandalism, negative peer association, poor academic performance, chronic absenteeism from school, frequent school suspensions/expulsions, current/history of arrest, bullying issues, gang affiliation, and or substance abuse.

Is FFT available to students in my county?

To learn if FFT is available in your county please click below. Counties are where FFT is available are highlighted in blue: Functional Family Therapy (FFT) (oklahoma.gov)

How to do I make a referral?

To make a referral, please reach out to your local county Office of Juvenile Affairs.

For the Juvenile Bureau counties of Camanche, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Canadian, please reach out your local Juvenile Bureau Office.

Wear Green - Mental Health Awareness Month

May is Mental Health Awareness Month! Join us in wearing green on May 1^st to show support for mental health awareness in your schools and communities.

Questions about School-Based Mental Health?

Have questions for Rachael?
Send a message to rachael.hernandez@sde.ok.gov

National Child Abuse Prevention Month

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, a time for communities to raise awareness and promote strategies so that every child has the opportunity to grow up free from abuse and neglect. Whether by proclamation, through social media, with graphics, or through other means, spreading the word about child abuse prevention lets your community know they can take action to strengthen families and help them thrive. Use these free prevention outreach tools to engage your community in supporting children, youth, and families this National Child Abuse Prevention Month!

View the Child Welfare Information Gateway website for outreach ideas, sample messages, and graphics to help raise awareness about child abuse prevention.

PREPaRE Crisis Response Training

SDE will continue to offer PREPaRE Crisis Response training to Oklahoma School Districts upon request. School districts will need to provide the funding for the curriculum to NASP. $45/person for Workshop 1 and $55/person for Workshop 2. SDE will continue to provide certified PREPaRE trainers to facilitate the curriculum for free.

Download Workshop Descriptions

Questions: Jackie Lindley - jackie.lindley@sde.ok.gov

Questions about Prevention & Intervention?

Have questions for Sheri?
Send a message to Sheri.Fleming@sde.ok.gov

Submit your proposal for the OSCA Conference!

The Oklahoma School Counselor Association is soliciting proposals for presentations promoting evidence-based programs in the domains of academic achievement, emotional growth, social development, career exploration, and post secondary planning. Presentations showcase best practices, current research, or skills of value to counselors, pre-K to postsecondary, as well as district personnel, graduate students and counselor educators.

More Information Here

OKMTSS Conference

Mark your calendars for the 2024 OKMTSS Conference. June 25th - 26th. Pre-Conference is June 24th.

Look for more information to be released soon!

Download Flyer

Questions about Comprehensive School Counseling?

Have questions for Christi?
Send a message to Christi.Sturgeon@sde.ok.gov

^{**Inclusion of upcoming events in this newsletter does not constitute an endorsement by OSDE. The information provided is for general awareness purposes only. OSDE does not assume any responsibility for the content or outcomes of these events.}

OKMTSS on EDPlan Training for ALL Districts

OSDE is offering a FREE intervention management tool for all districts. This tool is intended to support district and site level intervention tracking that schools are already completing. Weekly sessions regarding how to use the OKMTSS on EDPlan data management system's intervention platform are open for all educators to attend. We will have one more session in February, three sessions in March and five sessions in April. These training sessions will provide time for general education teachers to learn how to create a group of students for interventions, how to create an individual student intervention plan targeted to evidence-based intervention protocols provided within the platform, and to see how the progress monitoring data is graphed to provide the visual story necessary to determine if a student is or is not responding to the intervention.

OSDE invites general education teacher to access OKMTSS on EDPlan to learn the function of the system this spring, so that when the system is integrated with all of the district's Student Information System (SIS) across the state starting in the 2024-2025 school year, teachers will have a good understand of how to utilize OKMTSS on EDPlan.

Below are the registration links for the February training sessions. Please consider sending as many general education teachers as possible to these sessions. OSDE seeks to ensure the platform is accessible for all educators so they can practice this spring, in order to prepare for the coming school year use of the OKMTSS on EDPlan system. Please click on the registration link below for the date you would like to attend the training.

For questions please reach out to Alexa.Hudak@sde.ok.gov or Roni.McKee@sde.ok.gov

Vision Screening Report

The 2023-2024 Vision Screening Report is now open on Single Sign-On. Each year, the Oklahoma State Department of Education requires schools to report the vision screening results of Kindergarten, first-grade, and third-grade students, in response to state law 70 O.S. § 1210.284. The Vision Screening report is due June 14, 2024.

If you have questions or concerns, contact Kellie Carter, Manager of School Nursing Programs.

Important Information for All School Districts- Medicaid Billing

Over the past several years, the Oklahoma State Department of Education, Office of Special Education Services (OSDE-SES) has partnered with the Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA) to provide a system for School-Based Medicaid reimbursement that is compliant and user-friendly for schools. OHCA has identified the OSDE as the program administrator for the school-based Medicaid program. OSDE has contracted with the Public Consulting Group (PCG) to submit claims on behalf of districts. However, the “school-based Medicaid program” is inclusive of any school that bills Medicaid, even if it does not use PCG to submit its claims. Please see the Medicaid Memo (attached) for more information.

Questions and concerns can be directed to Kellie Carter.

Contact Student Development

Marissa Lightsey, Program Director; Student Development

Dr. Sheri Fleming, Program Manager; Prevention & Intervention Services

Christi Sturgeon, Program Manager; Comprehensive School Counseling

Jennifer Peters, Program Manager; College & Career Readiness

Rachael Hernandez, Program Manager; School Based Mental Health

Emily Hicks, Administrative Assistant; Student Development

DON'T MISS OUT ON FUTURE NEWSLETTERS: SUBSCRIBE HERE

SUBSCRIBER SERVICES:
Manage Preferences | Unsubscribe | Delete Profile | Help | Questions: Contact Us

*To ensure future delivery of email, please include OKSDE@public.govdelivery.com and any emails from @sde.ok.gov on your safe senders list.

*Subscribe, update your subscriptions, modify your password or email address, or stop subscriptions at any time on the GovDelivery Subscriber Preferences Page. You will need your email address to log in. If you have questions or problems with the subscription service, please contact subscriberhelp.govdelivery.com.

Your privacy is important to us. Please review our Privacy Policy.

Please do not reply to this email. If you would like to contact the Oklahoma State Department of Education, please call us at (405) 521-3301. You can also find us online.