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The U.S. Department of Education has announced Stronger Connections grants totaling nearly $1bn, to help schools provide all students with safe and supportive learning opportunities and environments that are critical for their success. State education agencies (SEAS) must award these funds competitively to high-need local educational agencies (LEAs), as determined by the state, to fund activities allowable under section 4108 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). As part of the announcement, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona sent chief state school officers a Dear Colleague Letter outlining three principles that SEAs are strongly encouraged to consider when designing a competitive grant competition and providing LEAs with direction for how they use these funds: to implement comprehensive, evidence-based strategies to to create positive, inclusive and supportive school environments; to engage with students, families, educators and staff on the deployment of these strategies; and to ensure that they are responsive to underserved students, protect student rights, and demonstrate respect for student dignity and potential.

 

US Department of Education

Accelerate Language, Accelerate Literacy

Bilingualism is an advantage and something our students should be proud of—they speak hundreds of different languages with different syntax, grammar, and vocabulary, and this diversity means they each have unique needs when it comes to literacy.

Join us for the third annual Emergent Bilingual Week, October 17-21, 2022! Lexia Learning presents a series of expert-led webinar sessions that explore important aspects of supporting multilingual students, including the acceleration of English language learning, the role of oral language in literacy instruction, language learning efficacy and research, how educators can leverage artificial intelligence, and much more!

The webinars are free. Attendees will earn CE certificates for PD hours and teacher license renewal.

Register today!

 

With regard to Hurricane Ian, the Florida Department of Education continues to update its website to detail the latest school and district closures across the state.

 

FLDOE

Michael Kelleher, who oversees psychological services as supervisor of clinical care for the Hillsborough County School District, outlines several suggestions for helping children cope amid the disruption caused by Hurricane Ian. "Firstly, get organized," he asserts. ”Have a plan and review that plan with your children. Let them know how you’re keeping your family safe.” It's useful, Kelleher adds, to limit children’s consumption of television news, which can be "alarming and repetitive." Another useful strategy is to get the family on a schedule, he says, plan homework time, assign chores to children who are old enough. Make sure everyone is eating well and getting exercise. "Older children could even learn about the science of hurricanes. They can review maps and storm patterns. In that way, they will feel reassured with the facts.”

 

Tampa Bay Times

Formalized ways for teachers to routinely check on their students and take the pulse of the class are an established best practice in social-emotional learning, though the wellbeing of teachers and principals can often slip by unaddressed. Extending check-ins to adults is part of a growing awareness in the social-emotional learning field that promoting these skills among adults is every bit as important as for teaching them to students. “If adults don’t have those social-emotional competencies themselves, if they’re not feeling heard, if they’re not feeling valued, it’s hard to then translate that to students,” says Karen Van Ausdal, senior director of practice at the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, or CASEL. For educators, check-ins might take the shape of a simple Google form sent out weekly to gauge how staff are feeling and their readiness for the week ahead. Principals can also do check-ins with their teachers during staff meetings, Van Ausdal adds.

 

Education Week

More than 15,000 workers at public schools across South Florida are in line for a raise, with school districts on an October 1 deadline to establish a $15 an hour minimum wage, after state lawmakers mandated the pay hike. Members of AFSCME Local 1184, which represents non-instructional staff in Miami-Dade County Public Schools, will see that raise on paychecks that went out September 23. In the School District of Palm Beach County, some 3,400 full-time staffers will see their pay increase. District staff in Broward County Public Schools say 1,800 permanent employees there are getting a raise. A spokesperson for Monroe County Public Schools said that all of the district’s employees are already making at least $15 an hour. Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association, says that the raises will be "transformational" for workers on the lowest end of the pay scale in the state’s public schools.

 

WLRN

Ileana Najarro explores how school districts across the United States have had to devise innovative programs and initiatives, as well as creative funding models to sustain such efforts, to better support immigrant students. Whether they’re refugees or migrants, or the children of newly-hired workers, innovative spending has been a necessity, she suggests, thanks to the uneven distribution of federal funds for these students. Districts that see a significant increase in their immigrant student population can be eligible for grants through a portion of Title III funding allotted to their state for supporting English learners, but many in the education community argue this isn’t enough to sustain the work required to support students beyond their linguistic and academic needs. While many struggle to do so, some districts have been able to piece together different funding sources and prioritize these students. At the Elk Grove Unified district in California for example, where students speak some 126 languages, mental health therapists specifically for newcomer and refugee families now provide support. “Quality of an education shouldn’t depend on your ZIP code,” asserts Patricia Dawson, director of English as a Second Language and bilingual programs at Coppell ISD in Texas, which has worked to build out an extensive array of wraparound services. “The services and academics and resources and advocacy shouldn’t be devalued, based on a perceived funding source, or distribution thereof.”

 

Education Week

Annie Abrams explores the continuing popularity of the Advanced Placement program in Florida. In 2021, 56% of the state’s public high school graduates had taken at least one AP exam, which was the nation’s highest participation rate. In its current form however, Abrams claims, AP complies with, and even benefits from, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ vision for education. In 2021, the latest year for which data is available, the College Board sold the state’s students 366,150 exams for roughly $96 each, resulting in revenue of more than $35m. This year, exams will cost students $97, so, she adds, it's in the College Board’s "interest" to appease DeSantis. "It’s past time to stop buying into the AP brand," Abrams suggests.

 

Slate

Wendy Castillo, a lecturer at Princeton University and an expert in "QuantCrit," which is described as the intersection of data, education, social justice and critical race theory, asserts that schools need much-improved information on Latino students to inform specific policies and practices that might improve their education experiences, including those related to hiring and training staff, implementing culturally responsive education and implementing ethnic studies. She recommends collecting data on students' country of origin, as is being done for students in Washington State and Portland Public Schools, collecting data on Afro-Latino and indigenous tribal affiliations, asking students about formal schooling in their country of origin, language options, particularly Indigenous languages, that may be relevant to the population served, and also collecting data on recency of immigration.

 

The 74