CALL FOR SESSIONS
Session proposals can be submitted through February 16, 2018. If you are selected to present, you receive free registration to the conference, including breakfast, lunch, and snacks. Note that no more than two presenters in a session can receive free registration.

Important ESSA Information PLEASE TUNE IN

In efforts to bring everyone up to speed on the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) please make plans NOW to tune into the following webinars.  As always, we're here to help.  If you need any assistance, please don't hesitate to give us a call.

CLICK HERE FOR A LIST OF ALL WEBINARS AND RECORDINGS
 

Date	Topic	Method	Audience
February 23, 2018 10-11:30	Overview of Content and Process for ESSA School Improvement	Webinar Webinar Link	Superintendents, Curriculum Directors, Area Education Agency staff
March 7, 2018 9-10:30	ESSA Consolidated Application Overview	Webinar Webinar Link	Superintendents, Curriculum Directors, Area Education Agency staff
March 29, 2018 9-10:30	ESSA Consolidated Application Content	Webinar Webinar Link	Superintendents, Curriculum Directors, Area Education Agency staff
March 2018	Regional Fall Training Schedule Release	Email and Posted on ESSA Webpage	Superintendents, Curriculum Directors, Area Education Agency staff
April 13, 2018   9-10:30	Data Review and Self-Assessment	Webinar Webinar Link	Superintendents, Curriculum Directors, Area Education Agency staff
April 20, 2018 9-10:30	Regional Professional Learning and On-Site Visits	Webinar Webinar Link	Superintendents, Curriculum Directors, Area Education Agency staff
May 3, 2018 9-10:30	Comprehensive and Targeted School Action Plans in CASA	Webinar Webinar Link	Superintendents, Curriculum Directors, Area Education Agency staff

Check out this GREAT MS/HS MTSS Resource

Don't you LOVE opportunities to collaborate with colleagues from near and far.  This week as I worked on a statewide project, an esteemed colleague shared the following resource with me that "promotes evidence-based practices and resources to build schools' capacity for implementing" MTSS. I particularly liked this site as it offers fantastic resources for not only Elementary, but Middle School AND High School as well!  Win-Win!  Check it out!  You won't be disappointed.

The Building RTI Capacity for Implementation in Texas Schools project site

Fine Arts Standards Update

At January's Statewide Curriculum Network meeting, great information regarding the adoption of Iowa's Fine Arts standards was shared.  These standards include Visual Art, General Music, Vocal Music, Instrumental Music, Media Arts, Dance, and Theater. 

To view all standards, as well as a guidance document and an unpacked standard example. Please visit:https://www.educateiowa.gov/pk-12/content-areas/fine-arts  

Click here to access the January 5, 2018 Fine Arts Standards Adoption Overview ppt

Mini-Podcasts for Instructional Coaches

A great resource that was shared in last month's Iowa ASCD newsletter.  

Got Only 5 Minutes?  Check Out These Mini-Podcasts for Instructional Coaches

Iowa ASCD Director Tesha Ruley shares this Iowa resource especially for instructional coaches - AND great for any and all of us!

• What Is Normal?
• Details - They Kind of Matter!
• Encouragement 
• Read across America
• Change Is Tough!
• New Year Quotes
• The Variable

Connecting Differentiated Accountability & ESSA

As we transition to the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), I would be remiss if I didn't take a little time to make the connection(s) between the great work you've started with Differentiated Accountability (DA) with ESSA.
Below you will find a helpful graphic that begins to connect these two initiatives.  You will find the support and requirement at each level of both ESSA and DA.  The celebration is that as I mentioned earlier....some of this work has already started in your district. 

 So....where do you go from here?  Below you will find a few recommendations to get started with:

• Begin talking to your stakeholders!  Below you will find a couple of resources that might help  
• Make sure you have a team in place that is meeting on a regular basis to start working the Differentiated Accountability action plan
• Confirm that all PK-6 students are completing the Universal Screening assessment (i.e., FAST) 3 x per year
• Establish classwide interventions in classrooms that struggle to meet benchmarks
• Assign interventions to learners for whom universal instruction alone is not sufficient.  To identify initial instructional needs, we highly recommend completing Learner Step 2 (Instructional Sorts)
• Ensure that students that are not meeting benchmark are provided with a research-based interventions that will remediate the identified skill deficit
• Frequently monitor the effectiveness of interventions and make appropriate adjustments
• Verify that weekly progress monitoring occurs and is recorded properly for those students that are Persistently at Risk or At-Risk
• CELEBRATE the successes you see.

  
RESOURCES to use to Begin Talking to Your Stakeholders about ESSA

• Every Student Succeeds Act in Iowa ppt from Statewide Curriculum Network (Fall 2017)
• Iowa Department of Education ESSA webpage 

Spring Pilot for Iowa's Self-Assessment of MTSS Implementation.

We would like to announce an opportunity for schools to participate in a Spring, 2018 pilot for the Self-Assessment of MTSS Implementation, or SAMI!   The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires all schools identified as either Comprehensive or as Targeted to engage in a needs assessment as they develop an action plan in 2018-2019.  For Iowa, the SAMI is the needs assessment for schools.  The SAMI was adapted for Iowa using an established self-assessment developed and validated by national experts - the SAM [Self-Assessment of MTSS implementation].  Iowa conducted a small pilot of the SAMI, Spring 2017.  We would like to expand the pilot to any school that would like to volunteer and meets the criteria for participation.  Click to access details about the SAMI, including the two ways to be part of the pilot:

1.     To be an On Your Own site, you will need a SAMI Facilitator who will access online, self-paced modules that provides the information needed to facilitate a school leadership team to engage in discussions and complete the SAMI, complete the SAMI in your school leadership team, and complete brief surveys on the SAMI and the process.  Click for more information about being an On Your Own site, and to sign up!

2.     To be a Facilitated Pilot site, you will need to attend a 2-day DE/AEA facilitated session on April 5-6 with your school leadership team, complete the SAMI, and complete brief surveys on the SAMi and the process. Click for more information about being a Facilitated Pilot site, and to sign up!

Sponsored by Collaborating for Iowa's Kids (C4K) - a collaboration across the Iowa Department of Education, Area Education Agencies and Local Education Agencies to support Early Learning Standards/Iowa Core within an MTSS framework through Differentiated Accountability.