From the System Support Team

Greetings from the Division of System Support! Gotta love Fall in Texas– Mornings are becoming brisk, we can pretend we need a jacket outside, and there are still plenty of opportunities to hit triple digits. Jokes aside, I hope you're all settling into your school year routines and taking time to take care of yourself.  

We’ve been busy! Last month the SGS team launched our Annual School Planning professional learning pathway with a virtual session on September 20th. ASP pathway participants will continue their learning with Community Engagement sessions led by CoSpero at the SGS Ector County ISD Learning Lab on October 12-13. 

The School Action Fund has been getting ready to launch our new grant through TEAs new consolidated grant application process, lovingly called LASO– Learning Acceleration Support Opportunities launching this fall. More on that below!

Thanks for everything you do on behalf of kids in Texas. Please let us know how we can serve you!

-Chris DeWitt, Director of the Division of System Support

District Spotlights

Victoria ISD 

Commissioner Mike Morath visited Victoria ISD campuses as part of a “Celebration of Innovation'' tour highlighting choice campuses in VISD, including Smith STEM Academy, which is a School Action Fund (SAF) grantee. Smith STEM opened in the Fall of 2021 with grades K - 1st. AimsWeb data indicate that 72%+ of kindergartners and 50%+ of first graders are on grade level and tracking toward meets or masters on future STAAR assessments.

Santa Maria ISD

Santa Maria ISD has planned and is implementing Redesign Actions with a Blended Learning instructional model. They have implemented a blended learning station rotation model for both ELAR and Math at Tony Gonzalez Elementary School and Santa Maria Middle School. To better meet the specific needs of students during their online learning stations, SMISD uses tutors who are former Santa Maria HS graduates and three (3) paraprofessionals in the computer lab to deliver targeted instructional supports in real-time. This allows classroom teachers to more effectively deliver small group instruction based on student data analysis. SMISD first implemented the tutoring program at Tony Gonzalez Elementary School 2 years ago and has now expanded it to both the MS and HS.

Updates and Opportunities

Learning Acceleration Support Opportunities (LASO) launching this fall:

TEA will host two informational webinars for the 2022-2023 Learning Acceleration Support Opportunities (LASO) Grant Programs. The LASO grant is the next iteration of a universal consolidated grant application cycle that strategically batches grant funding opportunities that support continued learning acceleration and innovation opportunities.

Visit the LASO page for detailed information about these grant programs and how you can attend a webinar to learn more.

Stay Informed

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