Office of State Grant and Program Support Newsletter

Don’t miss the grant competition announcement from the Office of Indian Education.

Dear Partners and Stakeholders:Spring has sprung here in the DC area and it has provided a renewed energy. We recognize that this has been a strange and difficult year, but as spring brings new beginnings, so do we look towards new beginnings in the education landscape. One of the big focuses of the Biden-Harris administration is the emphasis on the return to, and sustaining of, in-person schooling. Here at the Department of Education (Department), in coordination with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), we are looking at how to support you in this endeavor. In addition to the National Safe School Reopening Summit, held on March 24, the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments (NCSSLE — an OESE technical assistance [TA] center) conducted several webinars in partnership with the CDC to support safe in-person schooling, the most recent being on March 31 as a follow-up to the summit. You can access these webinars on NCSSLE’s website.You heard on the School Reopening Summit about the Safer Schools and Campuses Best Practices Clearinghouse, which will be formally launched this month! In a Federal Register notice, the Department requested information to enable teachers, faculty, staff, schools, districts, institutions of higher education (IHEs), early childhood education providers, other places of educational instruction, and states to share lessons learned and best practices for operating safely and supporting all children and students, including those with disabilities, English learners, racial and ethnic minorities, and other underserved children and students, teachers, faculty, and staff during the pandemic. The clearinghouse will include a collection of lessons learned and best practices submitted by teachers, faculty, staff, schools, districts, IHEs, early childhood education providers, other places of educational instruction, and states describing approaches to operating during the COVID-19 pandemic that the submitters believe worked well in their contexts. It will also include a wide variety of resources that the Department and other federal agencies have published in response to the pandemic. The purpose of this information sharing is so that teachers, faculty, staff, schools, districts, IHEs, early childhood education providers, other places of educational instruction, and states may learn from what others are doing around the nation and accelerate the return to, or sustain, safe in-person teaching and learning. I hope you will consider submitting your great resources to Bestpracticesclearinghouse@ed.gov.We look forward to the launch of the Summer Learning and Enrichment Collaborative in April, as well. The Summer Learning and Enrichment Collaborative will assist states, school districts, and others in planning how to use funds under the American Rescue Plan to support summer learning. The collaborative will be carried out as a partnership between the Comprehensive Center Network, the National Governors Association, and the Council of Chief State School Officers. Please see below for more information!Best,Ruth Ryder

The Equity Assistance Center (EAC) program is administered by the Office of Program and Grantee Support Services in the Office of State Grants and Program Support (OSGPS). One of the Department’s longest-standing technical assistance investments, the EAC program is authorized by Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.The program awards grants to operate four regional EACs that provide technical assistance and training at the request of school boards and other responsible government agencies (e.g., state educational agencies, local educational agencies) in the preparation, adoption, and implementation of plans for desegregating public schools — which in this context means plans for equity, including desegregation based on race, sex, national origin, and religion. The EACs also provide technical assistance in the development of effective methods for coping with special educational problems arising from desegregation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the EACs pivoted toward ensuring equity for all students in online and distance learning environments. EACs are addressing key educational inequities, such as assisting schools in bridging the digital divide to facilitate continuity of learning for students from underresourced communities.To locate, contact, or request services from your regional EAC, please click here.

Meet Department Staff Member Rebekka MeyerLearn more about Rebekka Meyer, an employee of the Department who works closely with the EACs.How long have you been at the Department?I’m in my second year in the Office of Program and Grantee Support Services.What do you most enjoy about working at the Department?I enjoy watching resources come together to support communities. It’s exciting to see linkages across grant programs and to find ways that different offices and programs can assist each other. What is one thing you’d like to see happen for this TA Center in the next year?I love the deep history of the EACs. They provide essential training and support at all times, but especially right now. In the next year, we hope to find ways to strengthen the program for the future and honor the work EACs accomplish every day under intense circumstances.

CDCGuidance for Child Care, Schools, and Youth ProgramsThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) maintains a webpage that provides information for child care, schools, and youth programs to plan, prepare, and respond to COVID-19. Topics include operating schools during COVID-19, decision-making indicators for reopening, testing and contact tracing, communication tips, and returning to in-person learning, among others.Pathways to Safe In-Person Operation of K-12 SchoolsThis webinar by the CDC, in partnership with the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments, shares new science-based resources and tools for safe in-person operation of K–12 schools. The presentation includes an overview of the CDC’s recently released Operational Strategy for K-12 Schools through Phased Mitigation and ED’s complementary U.S. Department of Education COVID-19 Handbook Volume 1: Strategies for Safely Reopening Elementary and Secondary Schools.

OESE Hosts STEM FellowOESE welcomes Patti Curtis, the 2021–22 Robert Noyce/Ellen Lettvin STEM Education Fellow. Curtis will work with the 21st-Century Community Learning Centers team after spending two years in the Department’s Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development. She will serve as team lead for the new Out-of-School Time Career Pathway (OSTCP) grant program and will continue to develop the Department’s monthly STEM education newsletter (contributions are welcome), host periodic STEM webinars, and participate in several STEM interagency working groups.Previously, Curtis served as director of the Washington, D.C., office for the Museum of Science, Boston, and the National Center for Technological Literacy, where she focused on advancing formal and out-of-school PK–12 engineering education across the nation by advocating for federal and state policies and programs.Curtis also served on the U.S House of Representatives Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education Caucus Steering Committee; the Association of Science and Technology Centers Public Policy Committee; and the Title IV, Part A Coalition Steering Committee.

The Summer Learning and Enrichment CollaborativeThe U.S. Secretary of Education Dr. Miguel Cardona announced during the National Safe School Reopening Summit the launch of the Summer Learning and Enrichment Collaborative, and called on states to use new American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding to build effective summer programs to help address the lost instructional and extracurricular time students may have experienced because of the pandemic, particularly for underserved communities. The Collaborative, a partnership of the Comprehensive Center Network with the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association, will launch in April 2021. It will bring education leaders and experts together as they develop their plans for this summer, with a focus on students who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. The Collaborative will help build capacity for states and school districts, in partnership with other key stakeholders, to use ARP funds to identify and implement evidence-based summer learning and enrichment strategies that meet the needs of all students. To learn more about the Collaborative, please click here.

Lessons from the Field: Safely Reopening and Sustaining In-Person InstructionOn March 31, the Safer Schools and Campuses Best Practices Clearinghouse presented the first installment of its Lessons from the Field webinar series. This session built upon the conversation series with CDC started in January. It included a welcome from Christian Rhodes, Chief of Staff for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, and the latest on how to implement mitigation strategies to safely return to in-person instruction. It also featured a panel of practitioners from a variety of school districts, who shared lessons learned on preparing for, and returning to, in-person instruction. Please click here for more information on this event.

Racial Equity and Social JusticeThe National Comprehensive Center (National Center) recently unveiled its Racial Equity and Social Justice collection, which examines core obstacles to, and builds awareness of, educational equity. The collection also shares evidence-based practices with states and districts as they strive to ensure equitable education for all children, regardless of their race.New resources within this collection include:“Effectiveness in Context: Tips for Identifying Evidence-Based Practices for Diverse Populations,” provides tips from the Institute of Education Sciences’ What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) database to identify evidence-based practices found to be effective for diverse student populations. The first tip examines the results of a recent scan of WWC-reviewed studies and discusses the importance of understanding the racial and ethnic composition of the study samples in them. The second and third tips delve into how to identify evidence-based programs and practices using the WWC website and how to find the sample characteristics behind the evidence.“Understanding Needs in Context: Methods and Considerations for CCNetwork Landscape Scans” explains methods and offers suggestions for conducting a landscape scan that identifies the right supports and elevates new capacity-building products or services.“Ensuring Racial Equity in Education: Landscape Scan and Next Steps” provides actionable information regarding racial equity resources, services, and initiatives that states currently have in place and identifies gaps, needs, and high-leverage problems that may inform future capacity-building efforts. In addition, this brief explains methods and findings, along with next steps to consider in working toward ensuring equitable education for all children, regardless of their race.

Equity Digest: Caring for and Affirming Educational EnvironmentsIn this “Equity Digest”, the Midwest and Plains Equity Assistance Center explores the components of caring and affirming educational communities for historically marginalized students and families, as well as considerations for creating educational communities in which all students thrive. Such communities empower students and families and create safe and inclusive environments for all students.

Early Childhood COVID-19 ResourcesAgencies across the federal government, including OESE, have collected a series of resources to support early childhood learning and programs during COVID-19, curated into 10 categories. One of these 10 categories is resources for building resilience in school-age children and out-of-school-time settings. To learn more and to access these resources, please visit this site.

“A Practitioner’s Guide to Responding to COVID-19 Series: Guides and Tools for State and Local School Administrators”This practitioner’s guide by the Region 7 Comprehensive Center provides a series of annotated bibliographies to inform education stakeholders about the potential impact of increased out-of-school time, and possible strategies to mitigate harm to students’ academic development.

National Trends in Formative Assessment SupportThis report by the Region 12 Comprehensive Center presents common themes and trends in formative assessment support provided by state education agencies. The report provides a series of supports by content and grade area, as well as by modality of professional learning, and illustrative examples. The approaches, tools, and resources identified can guide states focused on enhancing formative assessment supports to measure and improve student learning.

Launching the Student and Family Reengagement Learning SeriesAs part of the Department of Education’s continuing effort to support the return to in-person schooling, the Student Engagement and Attendance Center (SEAC) is launching in April a multi-state learning series on the topic of reengaging students and families in fall 2021. Meeting through a series of virtual sessions, the Series seeks to identify promising practices for student and family reengagement, and to support peer learning through facilitated multi-state sessions, as well as small group or individualized sessions for interested states, supported by subject matter experts. To learn more about the Series, please contact Dani Filo-Jones (dfilo-jones@insightpolicyresearch.com) or Jenny Scala (jscala@air.org).

Regional Education Laboratory Report: Exploring Teachers’ Influence on Student Success in an Online Biology CourseFlorida Virtual School administrators have been studying ways to improve student performance by identifying successful instructional practices. Their goal is to identify effective practices that teachers might incorporate into their instruction.As part of that initiative, Regional Education Laboratory (REL) Southeast conducted a study of teacher influences on student outcomes. The study examined three student outcomes for segment one (equivalent to a semester in an in-person school) of an asynchronous biology course offered by Florida Virtual School: the segment completion rate, score on the end-of-segment exam, and time taken to complete the segment. The study found that student end-of-segment exam scores varied only slightly across teachers; teachers had somewhat more influence on segment completion rates; and teachers had the greatest influence on time to completion. As a result, students with the highest- and lowest-ranked teachers had notable differences in their time to completion and minor differences in completion rates and exam scores. Read the full report here.Regional Education Laboratory: Early Childhood Data Use Assessment ToolData use is critical to ensure quality in early childhood programs but can be intimidating for some program staff. The Early Childhood Data Use Assessment Tool, developed by REL Central, supports program staff in using data to inform, plan, monitor, and make decisions for instruction and program improvement.The tool has three components:A data use checklist to identify staff skills in using child assessment and administrative dataA resource guide to identify professional development resources aligned to goals in improving data use skillsAn action plan template to support planning for developing and achieving data use goalsYou may access the tool here.

WWC Practice Guide for K-6 Students in Math

New What Works Clearinghouse Practice Guide: Helping Struggling K–6 Students in MathThe What Works Clearinghouse has released a new practice guide on assisting students struggling with mathematics in grades K–6. A panel of experts, including educators in both mathematics and special education, distilled recent, rigorous intervention research into six practice recommendations for educators. This guide can help educators tailor their math instruction approaches and small-group intervention programs and will also be useful to math specialists, math coaches, district and state personnel, and parents.

Impact Aid Application Amendments Now Through June 30thIf your district completed the FY 2022 Impact Aid program application and needs to make a change, you may do so until June 30. It is a good idea to review your application now to ensure that all your federally-connected students are reported properly in the Impact Aid Grant System (IAGS). Visit our portal to find our video and user guide to get started right away. If you need assistance, please contact your state analyst (see list here) or send an email to Impact.Aid@ed.gov.Impact Aid Program ResourcesIf you would like to review any of the previous Impact Aid Program webinars, the training slides can be found here. Contact us by email at Impact.Aid@ed.gov if you have any questions.

Message From the Office of Indian Education DirectorWe at the Office of Indian Education (OIE) continue to accelerate our efforts to coordinate more robust technical assistance. This effort is being designed with our Indian education community in mind, especially grantees whose districts are grappling with safely reopening in-person school operations. Both our discretionary and formula teams have exciting announcements and upcoming deadlines this month. Always feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns by visiting our website.

Notice Inviting Applications and Pre-Application Webinars: Indian Education Professional Development ProgramOn March 4, the Department issued a Notice Inviting Applications for the FY 2021 Indian Education Professional Development (PD) program competition. Individuals trained under this program must perform work related to their training that benefits Indian people or repay the assistance received. Programs are awarded to increase the number of qualified individuals in professions that serve American Indians and provide training to qualified American Indians to become teachers, administrators, teacher aides, and social workers.The deadline to submit applications is May 3.On March 4 and 25, the Office of Indian Education held two pre-application, interactive Q&A webinars for potential applicants. The overall purpose of the webinars were to (1) familiarize potential applicants with established guidelines and criteria for review, (2) discuss the areas of PD programmatic emphasis, and (3) facilitate the submission of a well-organized application. Visit our website for the webinar recordings.

New EASIE Application ProcessOIE and the Partner Support Center conducted a pilot for the new EASIE application process in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) MAX survey portal via an EASIE SY 2021-22 Part II Pilot process that began on March 15. The goal of this pilot is to encourage participating entities to provide valuable feedback to OIE regarding potential fixes and enhancements to the system prior to the live application being released to all grantees in April 2021. This pilot was designed to provide an overview of the application process within the OMB MAX survey platform and to give participants hands-on use time with the new Part II application in a test environment. EASIE Part II for SY 2021-22 is scheduled to open on April 5 and close on May 14 at 11:59 pm, ET. Please click HERE to read the announcement posted in the Federal Register.

High School Equivalency Program and College Assistance Migrant Program Adaptations Due to COVID-19As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded, the Office of Migrant Education’s (OME’s) High School Equivalency Program (HEP) and College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) projects adapted their services to ensure continuity of learning for migratory or seasonal farmworker (or children of such workers) students while maintaining each programs’ priorities.The HEP projects help students who are 16 years of age or older and not currently enrolled in school obtain the equivalent of a high school diploma. Many are designed to foster flexible and affordable paths to obtaining knowledge and skills. HEP project adaptations included in-person alternating schedules, pursuing on-campus high school equivalency testing availability options, and finding ways to loan or provide electronic devices and internet access to students so that they can complete their academic work.The CAMP projects support students enrolled in their first year of undergraduate studies at an institution of higher education. Many are designed to promote science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) education, with a particular focus on computer science. The pandemic created an opportunity for CAMP projects to center services around technology through student engagement services hosted on social media and video conferencing platforms, paperless program documentation, and increased use of instructional videos to build students’ computer literacy skills.

College Assistance Migrant Program FY20 Information SheetOME released an information sheet detailing how CAMP projects addressed the Department’s competitive preference priority for discretionary grants for fiscal year 2020.Through Competitive Preference Priority 1 (Promoting Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math (STEM) Education, With a Particular Focus on Computer Science) the Department invited CAMP projects to create or expand partnerships between schools, local education agencies, state educational agencies, businesses, not-for-profit organizations, or institutions of higher education to give students enrolled in CAMP projects access to internships, apprenticeships, or other work-based learning experience in STEM fields, including computer science.Twelve projects awarded in early 2020 wrote to Competitive Preference Priority 1, with a combined target number of 465 students to be served by these projects. All 12 projects currently offer first-year CAMP undergraduate students subject-specific tutoring services in science and mathematics. Nine projects currently offer tutoring services in technology and engineering, and eight projects currently offer tutoring services in computer science. All twelve participating projects expanded educational partnerships in STEM fields while offering STEM-specific learning experiences and mentoring opportunities. Eleven projects currently offer internships or job shadowing opportunities in STEM fields, 10 projects offer STEM workshops, and three projects offer undergraduate student research opportunities in science, technology, engineering, math, or computer science.To further address the priority, 17 partnerships, including seven private industry partnerships, were formed. These industry partnerships are in the fields of agricultural technology, biomedical research, bioinformatics, information technology, and healthcare. Further information about the CAMP grant program is available here.

Records Transfer Needs AssessmentOME is conducting a records transfer needs assessment to obtain feedback from Title I, Part C Migrant Education Program stakeholders at the state and local levels. OME maintains the Migrant Student Information Exchange database, which allows states to exchange information for migratory children, including academic records and health information, from one school district to another as migratory students move within state, or across state lines. This records transfer needs assessment project for migratory children will consist of a national survey, a technical working group, and focus groups conducted in various states. OME is in the first year of this initiative. OME will use the results of the survey to provide technical assistance to state and local staff engaged in records transfer efforts for migratory students.

Introducing the REAP Informational Document We are pleased to announce the release of an Informational Document on the Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP) — an essential resource for Small, Rural School Achievement (SRSA) and Rural and Low-Income School (RLIS) grantees and other rural education stakeholders. The document is intended to help REAP grantees understand foundational elements of the program, such as grant eligibility criteria, how to navigate dual-eligibility, how to apply for funds, allowable uses of funds, the Alternative Fund Use Authority, and reporting and monitoring requirements. Additionally, the document outlines the requirements a state educational agency must follow when distributing RLIS funds to local educational agencies.

Do you have a question about when funds are awarded or whether you are eligible for a REAP grant? Check the REAP Informational Document! In addition to its informative content, the document includes features, such as legal citations, hyperlinks to relevant websites, and frequently asked questions, under every topic to help you find the information you need quickly and easily. The document includes graphics showcasing use of funds examples, formulas for calculating estimated allocations, eligibility determination timelines, comparison tables of RLIS and SRSA, and more. We hope the Informational Document will be a useful resource as you navigate the REAP grant process.The Informational Document can be accessed from the REAP website here.

2021 Insular Areas and Palau Technical Assistance MeetingOn March 9–10, the Insular Areas Team hosted their annual Insular Areas and Palau Technical Assistance Meeting. Unlike previous years, this year’s technical assistance meeting was conducted in a fully virtual environment, as a result of COVID-19. Topics covered included: project planning, project implementation, project evaluation, and education stabilization fund sub-recipient monitoring. Please see the event website for additional information.

Office of State Grant and Program Support Newsletter

Contents

From the Deputy Assistant Secretary

Letter From Ruth Ryder, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of State Grant and Program Support

Featured Technical Assistance Centers: Equity Assistance Centers

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Updates

Meet Our STEM Fellow

Technical Assistance Resources

What’s New From the Institute of Education Sciences

Impact Aid News

Office of Indian Education News

Office of Migrant Education News

Rural, Insular, and Native Achievement Programs News

Contents

Letter From Ruth Ryder, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of State Grant and Program Support

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