Announcement
Supplemental Online Education Grant RFP Now Available
Attn: Superintendents, District Personnel
The Supplemental Online Education Grant Request For Proposal (RFP) is now available. Fifty thousand dollars is available for distribution to local education agencies to implement programs that support the removal of financial and technical barriers to providing supplemental online educational services. The maximum award will be $5,000 per approved program. Proposals are due Friday, Feb. 16.
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For More Information, Contact:
Della Shorman
Online Learning
Phone: 303-866-3295
Email: shorman_d@cde.state.co.us
School Counselor Corps Grant RFP is Now Available
Attn: Superintendents, District Personnel, School Counselors
The School Counselor Corps seeks to increase the availability of effective school-based counseling within secondary schools to increase the graduation rate within the state and increase the percentage of students who appropriately prepare for, apply to, and continue into postsecondary education. Education providers (districts, BOCES, charter school and institute charter schools) may apply for School Counselor Corps Grant funds. Please note: Priority will be given to applicants that will serve secondary schools at which the dropout rate exceeds the statewide average; and/or secondary schools with a high percentage of students who are eligible for free and reduced lunch exceeding the statewide average.
This RFP is being released prior to the approval of an additional 3-year grant cycle and is contingent upon any funding appropriated to the School Counselor Corps program in May 2011. By rule, a grant competition must take place by Jan. 30, 2011.
In order for this program to continue, funds must be appropriated for the program during the 2011 Colorado Legislative Session. This RFP is being released early to provide adequate time for planning quality proposals. If interested in this opportunity, please complete the letter of intent (Attachment A of the RFP) to be informed of any funding updates and technical assistance for this program. If funding is approved for the 2011 – 2012 school year, grants will be due on Wednesday, June 1, 2011.
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For More Information, Contact:
Charles Dukes
Dropout Prevention and Student Engagement
Phone: 303-866-6142
Email: dukes_c@cde.state.co.us
Education Jobs Bill
Attn: Superintendents, Business Managers
Districts that have been awarded Education Jobs Funds should begin utilizing the Tracker system to request reimbursement. If you don’t already have a user id, please submit the ‘Tracker Online User Form’, which can be found below.
The document can be faxed to: 303-866-6738 or e-mailed to conway_e@cde.state.co.us
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For More Information, Contact:
Elizabeth Conway
Grants Fiscal Management
Phone: 303-866-6886
Email: conway_e@cde.state.co.us
Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching
Attn: Superintendents, Curriculum Directors, Principals
Do you know an outstanding middle or high school math or science teacher? Nominations are now open for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teacher. Please nominate an outstanding teacher today!
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For More Information, Contact:
Barry Cartwright
Academic and instructional support
Phone: 303-866-6187
Email: cartwright_b@cde.state.co.us
Conference
CASE Winter Leadership Conference Is Feb. 2-4 in Westminster
Attn: All
Join school leaders from across Colorado at the 11th Annual CASE Winter Leadership Conference, February 2-4, 2011 at the Westin Hotel in Westminster.
The conference program features outstanding speakers including keynotes Willard Daggett and Michael Horn, and distinguished speaker Jane Pollock. Each will focus on the leadership and kind of innovative thinking that’s needed to best meet the challenges facing public education. Participants can choose from among about 20 breakouts on the most timely and critical topics, and the conference also offers a comprehensive policy program to ensure that attendees are in the know about the latest legislative news. New this year is the special Dialogue and Engagement session that affords attendees the chance to have facilitated conversations with your job-alike peers about the top issues and challenges facing school leaders. The Winter Leadership Conference will also include ample networking opportunities and the opportunity to connect with education administrators from all over the state.
The main Winter Leadership Conference will be held Feb. 3-4, and pre-conference sessions will be held on Feb. 2.
To register for the CASE Winter Leadership Conference or a pre-conference session, please visit the link below or call CASE at (303)762-8762. Early bird rates end today (Wednesday, January 12).
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For More Information, Contact:
Melissa Gibson
Phone: 303-762-8762
Email: MGibson@co-case.org
Event
State Council For Educator Effectiveness To Hold Retreat Thursday, Jan. 13 – Saturday, Jan. 15
Attn: Educators
The next meeting for the State Council for Educator Effectiveness will be a three-day retreat held on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Jan. 13-15. The retreat will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day at the University of Denver Morgridge College of Education, Ruffatto Hall, Community Room 105, 1999 E. Evans Ave., in Denver.
The agenda for this retreat will include work on the following topics:
• Teacher Standards
• Statewide Definitions of Teacher and Principal Effectiveness
• Model Statewide Teacher and Principal Evaluation Systems
• Framework for Measuring Teacher and Principal Quality Standards
• Approaches to Measuring Student Growth in Tested and Non-Tested Subjects and Grades
• Categories & Definitions for Teacher Effectiveness Performance Standards
• Involvement & Support of Parents/Guardians
• Student Engagement
• Implementation and Testing of New Performance Evaluation Systems
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For More Information, Contact:
Vanessa R Roman
Phone: 303-866-6678
Email: roman_v@cde.state.co.us
Save the Date - Friday, Feb. 18 Dropout Prevention & Student Engagement Summit
Attn: Superintendents, Principals, High School Counselors
Please save Friday, Feb. 18 for the "Dropout Prevention & Student Engagement Summit," to be held at the Adams 12 Five Star training center in Thornton. This summit is being presented by the Colorado Department of Education's Office of Dropout Prevention and Student Engagement and ScholarCentric. More details to come!
For More Information, Contact:
Judith Martinez
Office of Dropout Prevention and Student Engagement
Phone: 303-866-6127
Email: martinez_j@cde.state.co.us
Federal Programs
Analysis of Teacher Equity and Highly Qualified Data is Available
Attn: Title I Contacts, Title II Contacts, HR Directors
The annual state and district Teacher Equity Analyses has been posted at the link below.
Under CDE’s Title IIA State Plan with the U.S. Department of Education, the state is expected to analyze the different ways that teachers are distributed across schools and districts. This year’s state analysis looks at the differences in the percent of classes taught by highly qualified teachers, at each school level (elementary, middle, elementary/middle, high, middle/high, and elementary/middle/high), at the overall elementary and secondary levels, and overall and by: Title IA School Status, Title IA School Improvement Status, AYP Results, Region, Content Area, Poverty Quartile, Minority Quartile and Rural/Non-Rural.
With 99.04 percent of core content classes taught by highly qualified teachers in Colorado, there is little variability in the rest of the analysis. However, math classes, special education classes and the Southeast and Northeast regions of the state show relatively fewer classes taught by highly qualified teachers.
Additionally, CDE analyzes the differences in the percent of classes taught by highly qualified teachers within individual districts by high and low poverty schools, and high and low minority schools. The percent of inexperienced teachers (those with less than three years of experience) were also examined, by high and low poverty and minority schools within districts.
This data is currently posted in a single excel file at the link below. In the next few months, this information will be available in the Data Center of SchoolView in a more user friendly format. In the meantime, it may be useful information for districts that are (1) identified under 2141c and completing a Unified Improvement Plan (due Monday, Jan. 17; more information at: www.schoolview.org/unifiedimprovementplanning.asp) and/or (2) applying for the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Grant (proposals due Tuesday, Jan. 18; more information at: www.cde.state.co.us/FedPrograms/tii/a.asp).
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For More Information, Contact:
Lisa Medler
Office of Federal Programs Administration
Phone: 303-866-6993
Email: medler_l@cde.state.co.us
Title IA Annual Report to the Public
Attn: Title I Directors, Communication Contacts
With the launch of the Data Center in SchoolView (www.schoolview.org/performance.asp), CDE has begun to migrate the NCLB Annual Report requirements previously posted in the district and school profiles (www.cde.state.co.us/FedPrograms/danda/distandschperf.asp) to the Data Center.
Currently, districts can access Adequate Yearly Progress data, a variety of assessment data and school and district improvement status data in the Data Center. Title III Annual Measurable Achievement Objective data is also now available in the Data Center, although it is not a reporting requirement for Title IA.
The additional reporting requirements of highly qualified teacher data, licensure data, teacher education level data, and specific assessment and Improvement data will be available in the Data Center in the coming months.
We know districts are working to distribute their annual reports to the public now, so we wanted to provide some options for meeting the NCLB Title IA requirements.
1- Districts can report all the data themselves, gathering the information from the CDE Web site and district sources.
2- Districts can notify parents of the information that is available now and send out an additional notification when the rest of the data elements are posted in the Data Center.
3- Districts can wait to notify parents until all the information is available in the Data Center.
A sample notification letter and report template are available at (www.cde.state.co.us/FedPrograms/ti/a_annrpt.asp) and these documents will be revised as additional information is available in the Data Center.
CDE will not conduct a desk monitoring of annual reports this school year. However, reporting to the public is still a requirement of acceptance of Title IA funds and will be a part of any Title IA on-site monitoring visits.
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For More Information, Contact:
Jennifer Morgan
Office of Federal Programs Administration
Phone: 303-866-6108
Email: morgan_j@cde.state.co.us
Reminder
Getting Prepared for the TELL Colorado Survey
Attn: Superintendents, Principals, HR Directors, District Administrators
Are you ready for the launch of the TELL Colorado survey on January 31? Here are some suggestions for schools and districts:
Make information available to educators now. This is an opportunity for educators to anonymously share their perceptions of teaching and learning conditions in their own schools. Every school will receive a packet the week of Jan. 24. The packet will contain letters with six-digit access codes so that educators may access the online survey. An information poster will also be included – the poster is also available on the website if you would like to print more. The Web site is another great source of information and now highlights several brief video clips (teacher, association representative, superintendent) about how the survey works and has resulted in positive outcomes.
Make the experience relevant. The results from this survey are intended to help guide school and district improvement - and to drive state level policy. Schools and districts that reach the 50 percent participation threshold will be able to access their own data after the survey window closes. This is valuable data that can lead to very rich discussions about improvements for the school and/or district and enhance unified improvement planning efforts.
Make it possible. Based on the 2009 survey, schools and districts that actively supported the survey had the best participation rates. This was especially true when district and school leaders (including administrators, association leaders and community members) worked together to encourage educators to participate. Some activities included using staff meetings to complete the survey, offering incentives (e.g., pizza party) to the school that hit the 50 percent participation threshold, or even emailing, calling or visiting educators to offer encouragement.
Thanks for your support on this important initiative.
Click Here for Additional Information
For More Information, Contact:
Lisa Medler
Phone: 303-866-6993
Email: medler_l@cde.state.co.us
Reminder to Submit Unified Improvement Plan
Attn: Superintendents, UIP Respondents
This is a reminder that the first deadline to submit Unified Improvement Plans (UIPs) to CDE is on Monday, Jan. 17. Plans due to CDE by this date are summarized at the link below.
For submission details, please refer to: Unified Improvement Plan Submission Process Summary on SchoolView. For assistance with Tracker, please contact Katy Jackson at (303)866-6858, uiphelp@cde.state.co.us or Jennifer Morgan at (303)866-6108, Morgan_j@cde.state.co.us.
CDE will host an additional training webinar on the submission process:
Thursday, Jan. 13, 1 p.m. – 2 p.m. “Tracker UIP Submission Process Office Hours”
The webinar will be in an “office hours” format where UIP submitters may log in to the webinar to ask UIP submission-specific questions.
To register for the webinars, please contact Katy Jackson at LR-T1@cde.state.co.us .
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For More Information, Contact:
Katy Jackson
Phone: 303-866-6858
Email: uiphelp@cde.state.co.us
Colorado Department of Education
201 East Colfax Avenue
Denver, Colorado
80203-1799
Phone: 303-866-6822 or 303-866-2334
Do you know somebody in your school district who needs to read The Scoop each week? Send an e-mail to: CDE_Communications_Office@cde.state.co.us with "Sign Me Up For The Scoop" in the subject line. If you are having trouble signing up, please call the communications office at the telephone numbers above.
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