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From the Assistant State Superintendent of Federal Programs

As an almost 40 year veteran in the ranks of education in the State of Oklahoma, I would like to share with you a little of my personal history that I hold dear. The first 18 years of my childhood were spent in the small western Oklahoma town of Laverne, Oklahoma. I am quite honored to say this little town is my home town along with that of Ms. Jayne Ann Jayroe, former Miss America, and Mr. Jimmy Webb, famous singer and songwriter. I’m sure you all remember his hits, Wichita Lineman and McArthur Park. Those were the good old days, and somewhere in the midst of all the fun we had at school - going to class, attending football games, racing off to teen town after the games and dancing the night away to Chubby Checker’s Let’s Do the Twist - we actually continued to grow in our education!

We were remotely located, without access to the symphony, technology, or even fine dining. Most of our parents were limited in economic opportunity, and many were without college educations; but what we abounded in was a strong sense of community. Most activities centered on church or school, and students were in attendance at both. School teachers delivered the curriculum as though it were sacred text and principals saw to it that children were in class, well behaved, and ready to learn. We began each school day by saluting the flag, singing My Country Tis of Thee, hearing a chapter read from the Bible, and listening to a prayer given by one of the seniors over at the high school. Little did I know how valuable those experiences would be to me in my future as an educator.

Presently, rural schools continue to provide wonderful educational opportunities for children as well as enriching activities for parents and community members. In many rural communities today, the local school building serves as a point of pride for the community and houses sporting and cultural events, civic activities, and shelter during severe weather. Teachers serve as coaches, tutors, and supervise summer, spring break and holiday break activities as well. These schools cannot be taken for granted. They must continue to flourish because they play a vital and essential role in rural communities. We at the Oklahoma State Department of Education are proud of all of Oklahoma’s schools, but today I want to shine a light on our rural schools. As they did when I was a schoolgirl, they continue to value children and their life goals.

Let us all take a positive course of action for FY2013, and use our federal funds with integrity of purpose and well-intentioned thought, knowing that we have done everything we possibly can do to fully educate Oklahoma’s greatest asset – our children!   

Ramona Signature

Titles I, IIA, VI and X

The Office of Federal Programs would like to wish our educational colleagues a Happy and Healthy New Year.  The start of the new year brings into perspective those final preparations for completing federal program applications, submission of expenditure reports, and monitoring oversight for districts receiving federal allocations. 

Monitoring federal programs is an important piece for the Oklahoma State Department of Education and Oklahoma school districts due to the huge impact supplemental educational programs have on student achievement. In order streamline the monitoring process, Federal Programs has revised the monitoring tool and implemented a new three year monitoring cycle, which is a shift from the five year cycle of previous years.  Most districts will be monitored once per cycle; however, there are monitoring policies that may require a district to be monitored in consecutive years. Districts will be notified if this should occur.

The revised Consolidated Federal Grant Programs Compliance Monitoring Document will be sent electronically to all district superintendents by mid-January along with the monitoring schedule.   Districts will be scheduled for either a desk or site monitoring and the process will begin in February for those districts scheduled to be monitored in FY2013.   

The Office of Federal Programs will host a webinar for districts designated to be monitored this year.  This webinar will be scheduled after the monitoring documents are sent in order to provide districts time to prepare questions regarding the new monitoring tool. More information about this webinar will be sent via the Title I listserv.

A special thanks to all district personnel who are at the helm for ensuring quality instruction is provided to all students. 

Gloria Bayouth
Executive Director, Titles I, IIA, VI and X

McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Act:
The 2013 McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Act Subgrant Application will be available at http://ok.gov/sde/title-x-part-c on Friday, February 15, 2013, and will be due on Tuesday, April 30, 2013. Districts that have a substantial number of homeless students are encouraged to apply for the three-year grant. For more information about this grant, visit the McKinney-Vento page of the OSDE website.


Nutritional Food

Child Nutrition

As you are aware, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has mandated new meal pattern requirements for lunch that became effective July 1, 2012. Recently, USDA has eliminated the MAXIMUMS in the Grains and Meat/Meat Alternative components. This change should enable schools to better implement the new meal pattern. The USDA Memo (SP-11-20142) outlining these changes can be found on the Child Nutrition eClaims System under Other Documents. If you have questions, please contact the Child Nutrition office at (405) 521-3327.

Joanie Hidenbrand
Executive Director, Child Nutrition

Verification of Approved Applications:
Verification of your approved free/reduced-price applications should be complete. The Verification Summary Report must be submitted prior to accessing the January claim for reimbursement.

Upcoming Training Opportunities:
The Child Nutrition office will be conducting state-wide New Breakfast Meal Pattern Workshops from February 19 through March 15. These requirements will be effective on July 1, 2013. Flyers concerning the workshops will be coming to you in e-mails and regular mail. Please be looking for them!


Titles IC and IIIA

Logo Titles IC and III no text

Great possibilities and new beginnings abound in spring, and this is especially true in the Office of Bilingual (Title IIIA) and Migrant (Title IC) Education. With assistance from our local migrant education programs, Oklahoma’s Migrant Education Program (MEP) established the State Migrant Parent Advisory Council (PAC) in November 2012. The State PAC will advise on migrant parents’ concerns related to the planning, operation, and evaluation of the MEP programs in which their children participate. The Oklahoma MEP cannot wait to collaborate with the State PAC and with all of our local programs this spring.

In addition to collaborating with the State PAC, the Office of Bilingual and Migrant Education is looking forward to providing technical assistance through consolidated monitoring to our state’s Title IIIA and Title IC local education agencies (LEAs). Consolidated monitoring will provide our team the opportunity to take a comprehensive look at the progress and proficiency of your LEA’s migrant and immigrant students and English language learners (ELLs).

Great progress can be made for migrant, immigrant, and ELL students when educators collaborate across state lines as well. The WIDA Consortium has announced the 2013 National Conference: “Language Learners Success: Building on Strengths,” which will be held October 17-19, 2013, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. If you are interested in attending or submitting a proposal for presentation, please visit the conference website at www.widaconference.us for more information.  

Melissa McGavock
Director, Titles IC and IIIA

Important Documents Available on the Title IIIA Webpage:
2013 ACCESS for ELLs Test Window

Updated Home Language Surveys: English, Russian, Spanish, Vietnamese

Upcoming Training Opportunities:
ACCESS for ELLs Test Administrator Training Webinar - January 15

ACCESS for ELLs Test Ordering Webinar - January 24


21st Century Community Learning Centers

The 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) initiative is the only funding source in Oklahoma dedicated exclusively to afterschool programs.  Each state receives these federal funds based on its share of Title I funding for low-income students.  This is a competitive grant educational entities may apply for to support afterschool programs that provide services to students attending high-poverty, low-performing schools.

A recent analysis of 68 studies of afterschool programs concluded that high-quality afterschool, before-school and summer learning programs can lead to improved school attendance, behavior and course work.  Students participating in high quality afterschool programs went to school more often, behaved better, received better grades and did better on tests compared to non-participating students.  Afterschool programs also keep young people safe between the hours of 3 to 6 p.m. and help working families.  Our 21st CCL programs are a key to helping our students become college, career and citizen ready.

The grant application process usually begins in the spring for the following school year.  School districts, community-based and faith-based organizations are all eligible to apply.  To learn more about this competitive grant opportunity and its upcoming deadline for submission, visit the SDE website at http://www.ok.gov/sde/21cclc.

Sonia Johnson
State Director, 21st Century Community Learning Centers


Special Education Services

The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) is currently rethinking its accountability system in order to shift the balance from a system focused primarily on compliance to one that puts more emphasis on results for students with disabilities. Individuals with Disability Education Act resources will be aligned to support improved educational results and functional outcomes for children with disabilities. OSEP's vision for Results Driven Accountability (RDA) aligns all accountability components in a manner that best supports states in improving results for infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities, and their families. OSEP's IDEA monitoring activities will focus on improving education results and functional outcomes for children with disabilities and ensuring that states meet the IDEA program requirements. The current monitoring system places heavy emphasis on procedural compliance without consideration for how the requirements impact student learning outcomes. In order to fulfill the IDEA requirements, a more balanced approach to supporting program effectiveness in special education is necessary.

OSEP has added RDA to the current monitoring system for the states that were monitored in 2011. Each state was required to choose an indicator to focus efforts on improving results for infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities. Oklahoma chose Early Childhood Outcomes (ECOs), for IDEA Part B and C (SoonerStart Early Intervention Services), as the area/indicator for our results driven focus, because of the newness of ECOs, missing data and poor quality of our data.

The Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) Special Education Services (SES), Early Childhood Stakeholders, along with assistance from the Early Childhood Outcomes Center (ECO), the Southeast Regional Resource Center (SERRC), and OSEP developed the Oklahoma Results Plan. The plan identifies the following three goals to focus efforts and resources:

  1. Staff is knowledgeable and consistent in the process of determining the rating for ECO;
  2. Parents have meaningful participation and understanding of achieving outcomes for their child; and
  3. Services and practices with young children and family members must be based on explicit principles, valid practices, and research-based evidence according to federal regulations.

The OSDE recently conducted a state-wide extensive training on "Measuring and Improving Child Outcomes" presented by Christina Kasprzak, ECO, and Grace Kelley, SERRC. This training included: focus on results, parental input, authentic assessment, ratings determination, typical child development, and integrating the Child Outcome Summary process into the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) and the Individualized Education Program (IEP). Participants included parents, early childhood special education teachers, school administratiors, service providers and resource coordinators. The next step is to provide parent training through the Oklahoma Parents Centers (OPC) regional workshops and state conference.

Dr. Rene Axtell
Assistant State Superintendent, Special Education Services

 

Oct. 2012 Volume I, Issue 3

Third Quarter Calendar

Titles I, IIA, VI and X

January

22 December Claim Due

February

15 McKinney-Vento Grant Application Available

19 January Claim Due

March

26 February Claim Due


Videoconference Schedule

Titles I, IIA, VI and X

January 17, 1:30: Title I Schoolwide Planning: Setting Schoolwide Goals and Creating Implementation Tasks Using the WISE Tool      

February 20, 1:00: Title I Schoolwide Planning: Completing Your Schoolwide Planning Year


Contacts

Titles I, IIA VI, X
(405) 521-2846

Child Nutrition 
(405) 521-3327

Titles IC and IIIA
(405) 521-3196

21st Century Community Learning Centers
(405) 522-6225

Special Education Services
(405) 521-3351


Resources

United States Department of Education

Oklahoma State Department of Education

OSDE Federal Programs

21st Century Community Learning Centers

Federal Programs Webinar Schedule

OSDE Videoconference Network

United States Department of Agriculture

WIDA

Special Education Services