Welcome to the new format and branding for our newsletter! We are now the OESE Newsflash: PK-12 Grantee News. After starting the newsletter in February 2020 and receiving feedback from the field, we revisited our branding to be more descriptive of what you will learn in our monthly newsletter. We hope you like it as much as we do. As always, please share your feedback with us by emailing OESENewsletter@ed.gov.
This month’s newsletter is focused on accelerated learning. It’s an important topic, given the challenges for many students over the last 18 months, but specifically those with barriers to participation in remote or in person learning, or with social and emotional challenges. We highlight some resources to help you advance accelerated learning in your school system. One resource is the Department’s Return to School Roadmap. Landmark 3 of the Roadmap focuses on accelerating academic achievement and provides related resources, including the newly released guidance on Strategies for Using American Rescue Plan Funding to Address the Impact of Lost Instructional Time. Also, there is a section in the ED COVID-19 Handbook, Volume 2: Roadmap to Reopening Safely and Meeting All Students’ Needs that addresses accelerated learning through instruction, tutoring, and expanded learning time.
We have also highlighted several important resources from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The guidance enumerates CDC’s list of best practices to prevent transmission of COVID-19, including emphasizing the importance of vaccinating as many eligible children as possible. The CDC also notes that it is critically important to consider the health and well-being of students and staff and to address issues with COVID-19, mental and physical health, and managing other chronic health conditions. As we all know, healthy students are better learners.
As always, thank you for your committed efforts to educate and support our children and to support school staff and families.
Ruth Ryder
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The Institute of Education Sciences’ ten Regional Educational Laboratories (RELs) work in partnership with school districts, state departments of education, and other education stakeholders to use data and research to improve academic outcomes for students. For more than 50 years, the RELs have worked in collaboration with these stakeholders to support them in generating and using evidence to improve student outcomes.
Over the past 18 months, the RELs and the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) accelerated the pace at which they developed evidence-based resources to support student learning. Although some resources are particularly relevant to COVID-19, including guidance about teaching and learning in a remote environment, most are broadly applicable to the work of states, districts, and individual educators. Additionally, some products are designed especially for parents and caregivers.
Examples include:
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Meet Department Staff Member Dr. Matthew Soldner
Meet Dr. Matthew Soldner, Commissioner of the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance and the Department’s Chief Evaluation Officer, who works at the Institute of Education Sciences.
How long have you been at the Department?
- Most recently, I’ve been at the Department since July 2018; it’s hard to believe that it’s been three years! But this is actually my second time at both the Department and its Institute of Education Sciences. I began my career in government in our National Center for Education Statistics, where I focused on work related to postsecondary access and completion.
What do you most enjoy about working at the Department?
- I wear a few hats at the Department, but each of them shares a common purpose: helping to discover “what works” in service of supporting every learner achieving their goals — and then making sure those discoveries actually get used in policy and practice. There’s no greater privilege! If that weren’t enjoyable enough, I’m lucky to work with a truly wonderful group of colleagues. This includes a wonderful team inside the Institute of Education Sciences as well as people across the Department who I work with day in, day out to help achieve our mission.
What is one thing you would like to see happen as a result of OESE’s collective efforts this year?
- In January 2022, we will start a new five-year cycle of the REL program. This is an exciting time, in which RELs will work with state and local stakeholders across the region to identify new opportunities for collaboration that have the potential to “move the needle” for our nation’s students. My hope is that they do just that, ultimately benefitting the students and communities they are meant to serve.
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Updated Guidance for COVID-19 Prevention in K-12 Schools
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued updated guidance for COVID-19 prevention in K-12 schools, emphasizing the importance of vaccinating as many eligible children as possible. The guidance also enumerates the CDC’s list of best practices to prevent transmission of COVID-19. For children too young to get a vaccination, the CDC recommends multiple strategies to reduce the risk of transmission, including mask wearing for ages 2 and up and, when possible, physical distancing of at least three feet in indoor school settings. Additional protective measures include frequent handwashing and good indoor ventilation and cleaning procedures. The CDC urges any students or staff with signs of illness to stay home, be tested for COVID-19, and quarantine if indicated. The guidelines prioritize in-school instruction and stress the need to remain flexible on educational settings. This guidance is intended to supplement state and local health and safety laws and regulations and should be adopted and implemented in collaboration with state and local public health agencies. The following is additional guidance and information: CDC Offers Health Tips for Back to School During COVID-19, School Testing for COVID-19, and Tribal Communities.
Lessons from the Field: Strategies for Safely Returning to School - The Latest Federal Guidance
This webinar by OESE’s Office of Safe and Supportive Schools and the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments features updates from CDC and the Department of Education on preparing to return to school for the 2021-22 school year. Following the federal agency updates, CDC and Department staff address practitioner questions to help field personnel to better understand and ultimately operationalize guidance. Visit this page to access the webinar materials.
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 Return to School Roadmap
On Aug. 2, the Department released the “Return to School Roadmap,” a resource to support students, schools, educators, and communities as they prepare to return to safe, healthy in-person learning this fall and emerge from the pandemic stronger than before. The Roadmap provides key resources and supports for students, parents, educators, and school communities to build excitement about returning to classrooms this school year and outlines how federal funding can support the safe and sustained return to in-person learning. As part of the Roadmap launch, the Department released:
- A fact sheet for schools, families, and communities on the Return to School Roadmap, reviewing the three “Landmark” priorities and highlighting schools and districts that are addressing each in effective ways.
- A guide for schools and districts outlining what schools can do to protect the health and safety of students, including increasing access to vaccinations and steps for implementing the CDC’s recently updated K-12 school guidance.
- A checklist that parents can use to prepare themselves and their children for a safe return to in-person learning this fall, leading with vaccinating eligible children and masking up if students are not yet vaccinated.
Please visit this page for additional information on the Roadmap, including the Department’s plans to provide additional resources to schools, districts, parents, and students in the coming weeks.
Summer Learning & Enrichment Collaborative
The Summer Learning & Enrichment Collaborative, sponsored by the National Comprehensive Center in partnership with the Department and national partners, concluded summer sessions last month with an opportunity to reflect on how we can continue to reimagine what is possible in creating safe, supportive, and exciting spaces for students to learn and thrive as students return to school. Visit the events archive webpage to view recordings, resources, and practical advice on topics such as leveraging federal funds to expand summer programming, capitalizing on partnerships to maximize learning opportunities for children, supporting students’ social and emotional well-being, and applying evidence-based practices to local program design.
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After Action Reviews for Summer Learning Programs
This guide by the National Comprehensive Center gives users the steps and content to conduct an after action review (AAR) about summer learning programs. An AAR can assist schools and districts to identify the lessons learned from previous summer and extended learning programs, as well as from current attempts at providing hybrid and remote learning. These lessons can inform strategies for learning recovery to implement during the school year and subsequent summers.
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After Action Review Guide for Learning Recovery Planning
This guide by the National Comprehensive Center instructs users on how to hold an after action review on learning recovery programming. After action reviews can help schools and districts identify lessons learned from previous learning and enrichment programs, including current efforts to provide hybrid and remote learning options. These reviews can inform learning recovery strategies throughout the school year to accelerate learning and to support students’ social, emotional, and mental health.
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Education Stories From the Field Phase 2: Maintaining Education Quality Across Pandemic Schooling Models
This Education Stories From the Field webpage by the National Comprehensive Center includes a series of in-depth interviews with state education leaders in Missouri, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming that document the experience of managing the COVID-19 pandemic response at a state level. In this blog post, the National Comprehensive Center checks back in with these state chiefs to learn about their decision-making processes, the lessons they learned, and the challenges they encountered as they led their states through the first six months of the 2020-2021 school year. During this time, these leaders developed the processes that would transition their institutions from emergency remote instruction to new modalities of full-time virtual, in-person, or hybrid teaching and learning.
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Student Attendance and Engagement Center
In September, the Student Engagement and Attendance Center (SEAC) will conclude its Student and Family Reengagement Learning Series. The series launched in May, to assist states and their partners on developing and implementing strategies to reconnect with students and families during the 2021-2022 school year after the learning disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the course of the series, 20 state-led teams established a collective understanding of emerging promising practices on reengagement from subject matter experts, research, and their peers. The series helped participants collaborate on identifying common challenges, as well as finding potential solutions. SEAC will develop various resources in the coming months, including topical briefs and webinars, based on lessons learned from the series. Please visit this webpage to learn more about SEAC and its initiatives.
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Back to School Week Resources
To support grantees as they prepare for the 2021-2022 school year, OESE sponsored Back to School Week on Aug. 9 - 13, featuring resources and events to support the safe reopening of schools across the country. To view five days’ worth of sessions, visit the Clearinghouse website.
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Regional Education Laboratory (REL) Report: Using a Survey of Social and Emotional Learning and School Climate to Inform Decision-making
A new study from REL Mid-Atlantic explores how a school district could use data on social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies and school experiences to better support students and schools.
These competencies — such as how well students persevere, manage their thoughts and emotions, and understand what others think and feel — are related to many important life outcomes and can be shaped through education. The District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS), which has prioritized supporting SEL competencies and the school experiences that promote them (also called school climate), began administering annual surveys to students, teachers, and parents in 2017-18. DCPS partnered with REL Mid-Atlantic to study how the district could use these surveys to improve student outcomes.
The study revealed the following:
- Student SEL competencies and school experiences were most favorable in elementary school and least favorable in middle school and early high school.
- to-year changes in SEL competencies and school experiences differed across schools.
- For the competencies and experiences the survey covered, self-management — how well students control their emotions, thoughts, and behavior — is most related to later academic outcomes.
- In statistical models designed to predict future academic outcomes, SEL competency and school experience data add little accuracy beyond prior academic outcomes (such as test scores and attendance) and demographic characteristics.
- Student, teacher, and parent reports on SEL competencies and school experiences are aligned across schools, but they also have systematic differences, suggesting that some respondent groups might not share the same views on SEL competencies and school experiences.
The findings suggest that schools could provide tailored supports before or during grades 6-10 to promote SEL competencies and school experiences when students need the most support and that programs or interventions that focus on self-management might have the most potential for improving student outcomes. The differences in views across students, teachers, and parents could help DCPS decide where to focus its efforts to improve communication.
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Impact Aid Webinars
The Impact Aid program offers technical assistance webinars on various topics throughout the program year. Whether you are new to working with Impact Aid or just need a refresher, we have a webinar that will benefit you!
View our webinar schedule page to find our latest offerings. Registration is not required, and sessions are offered through Microsoft Teams, so you may join by computer or phone.
We hope you can join us! Contact us at Impact.Aid@ed.gov if you have any questions.
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Impact Aid Program Back to School Tips
Now that the back-to-school season has officially started, take a moment to make sure your Impact Aid information is up to date!
If you have not logged into your Impact Aid grant system account in the past 90 days, your account has been deactivated. Log into your account today to reactivate it.
If your district’s core user has changed, contact us now through our Get Help feature on our portal. Be sure to include the name of your school district, your current core user’s name and email address, and the name, job title, and email address of the person who will be the new core user. Doing this now will allow you to begin your application without problems.
Finally, don’t forget to make sure your DUNS number is active and correct by visiting https://sam.gov. This will help to ensure your payments arrive in a timely manner.
Visit our FAQs page for additional information, or contact us for help at (202) 260-3858 or Impact.Aid@ed.gov.
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Message From the Office of Indian Education Director
September usually comes with a rush of activities to kick off a new academic year. The Office of Indian Education (OIE) is mindful of all the extraordinary efforts happening locally to support all American Indian/Alaska Native students as districts work hard to safely reopen.
We are keeping our goals focused on what new work remains ahead of us in FY 2022 and are hopeful we can continue to make bold investments to support our grantee communities. Remember to check your calendars for upcoming Tribal, national, state, and/or regional Indian Education conferences happening this fall.
We encourage you to stay connected to our work via the OIE webpage and follow us on Twitter @OIEIndianEd for more updates!
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Formula Grant Updates
The OIE Formula Team significantly updated our Indian Education Formula Grants (Formula) webpages. The OIE Administrative Action Memo will now be in an OMB MAX survey form. This Administrative Action Memo link is available on the OIE Formula Team’s EASIE Community of Practice (CoP) website. Information regarding the FY19 Annual Performance Report (APR) will be available this fall. Check for updates, also located on the OIE’s EASIE CoP website.
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Congratulations to the FY 2021 Professional Development Cohort!
On Aug. 3, the Department awarded 29 grants totaling $10 million through the Indian Education Professional Development (PD) program. These grants to colleges and universities throughout the nation, including tribal colleges and universities, address a significant gap in the number of qualified Native American (Native) individuals in education-related professions that serve Native students.
“Representation matters. All students deserve the opportunity to be taught by educators who are diverse and who reflect their backgrounds and experiences — and we know that far too few Native American students have the chance to engage with Native American teachers in their schools and as education leaders and mentors in their communities. That must change,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “I am heartened that this program will help to create a more diverse educator workforce for students across the country and support efforts to recruit and retain more talented Native American teachers and administrators for our schools.”
Visit this page to learn more about the FY2021 cohort, or you can visit the OIE PD homepage for more information about the PD grant program.
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FY2020 Consortium Incentive Grants Program
In last month’s newsletter, the Office of Migrant Education (OME) highlighted several consortia under the Migrant Education Program (MEP) Consortium Incentive Grants (CIG) Program. Through this program, the Department provides financial incentives to state educational agencies to participate in high quality consortia that improve the interstate or intrastate coordination of migrant education programs (MEPs) by addressing the key needs of migratory children who have their education interrupted. OME would like to highlight two other noteworthy consortia in this month’s newsletter.
The Migratory Parent Empowerment Consortium (MPEC) is a consortium of nine states. MPEC is designed to strengthen the involvement of migratory parents in the education of their children, including supporting their children’s development of skills needed to be successful in fields related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The consortium seeks to meet state MEP needs for technology-based solutions to build migratory parents’ skills for supporting their children’s learning, particularly in literacy and mathematics.
Inspire and Innovate: the Migratory Parent Coalition (I2MPACT) is a consortium of eight states. I2MPACT is designed to support state migrant education programs to increase parent involvement through an expanded understanding of parent involvement and improved parent involvement activities. The consortium focuses on ways in which the MEP can support increased parent engagement, expand students’ awareness and capacity to monitor their own learning, and promote planning and integrated services to train migrant staff in strategies that improve parent engagement.
Both CIGs have been critical in assisting state MEPs to meet the needs of migratory children and their families during the COVID-19 pandemic. Please visit MPEC’s website and I2MPACT’s website for more information about the tools, resources, and activities offered through the consortia and to see if your state participates in them. Materials posted on both websites are available, not only to participating states, but to all who find the information relevant and useful to the populations they serve.
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FY2022 HEP and CAMP Grant Award Competitions
The Office of Migrant Education (OME) convened a virtual High School Equivalency Program (HEP) and College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) New Directors’ Orientation and Annual Directors’ Meeting on July 20-21. More than 120 participants across the country, representing grantees that are institutions of higher education and private nonprofit organizations, joined this event.
OME plans to hold new HEP and CAMP grant award competitions for fiscal year 2022 and plans to publish the Notice Inviting Applications in mid-November. Information will be provided on the Department grants forecast website. Further information can be found on their respective webpages, HEP and CAMP.
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This newsletter may reference and contain links to external sources. The opinions expressed in these sources do not reflect the views, positions, or policies of the U.S. Department of Education, nor should their inclusion be considered an endorsement of any organization.
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