In Today's Newsletter
1. NOW OPEN: Teacher of the Year Nominations
2. Farm to School Grants
3. Task Force on Child Care Meeting
4. Early Learning Webinar Series
5. Alaska Out-of-School Time Conference
6. FY25 Capital Improvement Project Grant Rankings
7. National School Psychology Week
9. Code of Ethics
10. Tsunami Bowl
11. Careers at DEED
12. Inspire! Grants for Small Museums
13. NASA TechRise Student Challenge
14. Closed for Veterans' Day
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NOW OPEN: Teacher of the Year (TOY) Awards!
TOY is an excellent way to acknowledge the expertise, skills, accomplishments, and professionalism of teachers within your school. Nominations close on Jan. 31, 2024.
Any interested Alaska citizen may make nominations for the Alaska Teacher of the Year. Nominees should:
- Have five (5) or more years of experience in the field of education.
- Be a classroom teacher during the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 school years.
The selected individual will serve as the Alaska State Teacher of the Year for the 2025 calendar year.
Click here for the Alaska Teacher of the Year Nomination Form.
Click here to read about our 2024 Teacher of the Year, Catherine Walker (pictured right).
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will award up to $12 million in competitive grants to eligible entities this fiscal year. Each grant will help implement farm to school programming that increases access to local food in eligible schools, connects children with agriculture for better health, and inspires youth to consider careers in agriculture.
There are multiple grant tracks, and eligibility varies by track.
- The track for implementation grant awards range from $50,000 - $500,000 and is a great option for eligible entities with prior farm to school experience that want to further develop their existing farm to school programming. Some examples could include training and technical assistance, creating promotional materials or campaigns, and forming networks or coalitions.
- Turnkey grants offer the choice between three tracks: 1) action plan development for entities that have never received a farm to school grant before; 2) agricultural education curriculum development and delivery; and 3) edible gardening. These tracks can be awarded up to $50,000.
The Grant RFA can be found online here, and applications must be submitted to Grants.gov by January 12, 2024.
In April, the Governor established a Task Force on Child Care within the Alaska Early Childhood Coordinating Council (AECCC). The Task Force meets once per month to develop a plan to improve availability and affordability of quality child care throughout Alaska.
The Task Force will meet tomorrow from 9am - 5pm. They will spend the afternoon discussing potential policy recommendations.
Members of the public must register to receive a Zoom link.
You can register for the meeting and read the agenda here: Alaska Child Care Task Force
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Join us for an informative webinar series!
Intended Audience
- Administrators from all districts with an Early Education Program.
Purpose:
- Dive into Alaska’s Early Education Program Standards.
- Plan for documentation of high-quality early education programming.
- Familiarize the requirements of the 2024-2025 District-Wide Early Education Program Approval (.5 ADM Funding) application.
Schedule:
- Registration is required for all live webinars. Follow the links to register.
All webinars will be recorded and posted on The Alaska Reads Act Early Education Programs page following the live presentations.
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Link
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Date & Time
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Topic
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Session 2
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Thursday, November 9, 10:00-11:30 a.m.
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Standard III: Curriculum
Standard VII: Dual Language Learners
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Session 3
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Thursday, December 14, 10:00-11:30 a.m.
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Standard II: Social and Emotional Support
Standard VIII: Coaching
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Session 4
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Thursday, January 11, 10:00-11:30 a.m.
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Standard IV: Screening and Developmental Evaluation
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Session 5
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Thursday, February 8, 10:000-11:30 a.m.
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Standard I: Teaching and the Learning Environment
Standard VI: Family Engagement
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The ninth annual Alaska Out-of-School Time (AK OST) Conference is the largest convening of afterschool and summer educators in the state and is designed to support the professional development of out-of-school time providers from across Alaska. Themed Together Toward Tomorrow, the conference aims to strengthen the out-of-school time workforce, link arms, and move forward towards change and growth. Past participants have included staff from 4-H, tribal programs, Boys and Girls Clubs, 21st CCLC programs, church youth groups, licensed school-aged childcare, summer camps, and school district afterschool and summer programs.
This ninth year, the AK OST Conference features more than 35 workshops, 3 preconference workshops, site visits, networking reception, and much more!
Join us on November 16-17, 2023 at the Hilton, Anchorage to learn, explore, and connect!
For more information on how to register, please visit www.akostconference.org
This conference is a partnership between the State of Alaska Department of Education & Early Development, the State of Alaska Department of Health, and the Alaska Afterschool Network.
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Lights On Afterschool Success!
Last month, the nation celebrated afterschool programs and their important role in the lives of children, families and communities. In Alaska, 71 programs participated in the Lights On Afterschool event! Wow!
Afterschool programs are vital, yet they don't fully meet demand; in Alaska, for every one child in an afterschool program, there are three more waiting to get into an afterschool program.
DEED’s initial Fiscal Year 2025 priority lists of district-submitted Capital Improvement Project (CIP) grant applications for school construction and major maintenance projects are now available. Priority lists are used by the department, governor, and legislature to determine school construction and major maintenance projects for capital funding during the upcoming budget cycle.
Check out FY25's priority list (as well as previous years' lists) here: Capital Improvement Project Grant Priority Lists - Education and Early Development (alaska.gov)
DEED will hold a public hearing to receive oral and written comments regarding the priority rankings. The hearing will be held via teleconference and open to the public:
November 21, 2023
9:00AM - 4:30PM
Zoom link: us02web.zoom.us/j/81204521999
School districts that submitted a FY25 CIP grant application can request reconsideration of its eligibility determination, the priority ranking assigned to a project, its scope as approved by the department, or the project’s approved budget. Written requests are due by the close of the November 21st public hearing.
Read the full public notice and submit a comment here: Public Notice: Reconsideration of Dept. of Education & Early Development FY2025 CIP Grant Rankings - Alaska Online Public Notices (state.ak.us)
November 6 - 10 is National School Psychology Week. Schools throughout the U.S. will highlight the important work school psychologists and other educators do to help all students thrive.
This year's theme is "Let's Grow Together," inspired by the importance of both personal and shared strengths in our growth as individuals and school communities in every season of life. The theme recognizes every aspect of growth, as fundamental to effective learning environments and to school psychologists' role in supporting student well-being and learning.
Classroom activities and educator resources can be found here: National School Psychology Week (NSPW) (nasponline.org)
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PTPC is currently updating their Code of Ethics. The most recently amended version, published in August 2018, should be utilized by all school districts and distributed to all certified educators.
Mark your calendars! The 27th Annual National Ocean Sciences Bowl (NOSB) Alaska Region Tsunami Bowl will be held March 21-24, 2024 in Seward, Alaska.
Team registration is now open through November 19, 2023. Schools can register up to two teams.
Want to learn more about the competition? Check out their Facebook page or email them at: uaf-tsunamibowl@alaska.edu.
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Education Specialist 2 – On-Call Non-Permanent, Alyeska Reading Institute (ARI)
DEED is seeking experienced, committed education professionals to provide direct reading instruction, response to intervention, and tutoring services to at-risk students. In addition to working with students, teachers may be called upon to provide adult learning opportunities including lesson demonstrations, coaching, and professional development, depending on their skill sets in those areas.
Teacher, Alyeska Reading Institute (ARI)
Do you want to help struggling readers to have that “Aha!” moment? Do you have a passion for literacy for all students? Become a teacher at ARI! In addition to direct reading instruction to at-risk students, the chosen education professional may also provide adult learning opportunities based on their skill set. Full-time and part-time positions are available. The positions are located in Anchorage.
Additional positions at DEED can be found online at: Workplace Alaska
Inspire! Grants for Small Museums is a special initiative of the Museums for America program. It is designed to support small museums of all disciplines in project-based efforts to serve the public through exhibitions, educational/ interpretive programs, digital learning resources, policy development and institutional planning, technology enhancements, professional development, community outreach, audience development, and/or collections management, curation, care, and conservation. Inspire! has three project categories:
- Lifelong Learning
- Institutional Capacity
- Collections Stewardship and Access
For the FY2024 grant cycle, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) invites applications that commemorate America’s 250th anniversary with the theme All Stories, All People, All Places. IMLS believes that the semiquincentennial is an opportunity to commemorate all lived experiences through civic engagement, public programs, and collections stewardship in preparation for 2026
Deadline for applications is November 15, 2023
NASA is calling on middle and high school student teams of four or more across the country to submit experiment ideas that, if selected as one of 60 winning designs, will be built out to take a high-altitude balloon or rocket-powered lander test next summer. Winners will get $1,500 to build out their experiment, a flight box in which to build it, an assigned spot on a balloon or rocket-powered lander flight to test it, and technical support from Future Engineers advisors.
Steps to enter: 1. Form a team; 2. Review proposal template and guide; 3. Choose a rocket-powered lander or high-altitude balloon; 4. Plan your experiment; 5. Submit your proposal.
Proposals are due on November 13, 2023.
Find more resources and details in the links below:
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State Offices are closed today for Veterans' Day.
One way to honor and appreciate our current active troops is by sending holiday cards to our military members. Please visit Holiday Cards for our Military Challenge for more information: https://militaryholidaycardchallenge.com/
The deadline for winter holiday cards is November 15, 2023.
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