Happy Spring!

With the start of May, and summer just around the corner, I wanted to let you know that this is the last Coordinator Communication Blog entry for the 2013-2014 school year. The blog will start back up in September! In the meantime, should you have any questions, please be sure and contact a member of the Title team ~ we stand ready to help!!

Student Profiles: Before leaving for summer, you must print a hard copy of each Title students’ Quickbase profile and include it in his/her file/folder. As a reminder, we were able to check on student profiles via an electronic summary report, in January. At the end of the year, hard copies must be printed and filed.

Report Cards and Parent Reports: Remember to include the Quickbase Parent Report in report card envelopes!

May Title School Visits: Please reference the May Visitation Schedule as a reminder for your scheduled date/time. If you were unable to schedule a visit during our April PD, please contact Bee (ex 7559) to do so. This final visit will be fairly casual with no pre-planned Q’s, on my part. This is really an opportunity to address any end-of-the-year questions you may have as the year winds down. You can also submit any compliance documents you may have completed by this date, as well.

Title I Coordinator/Principal Meeting Minutes (February, 2014): Here are the Title Mtg 022414M for your compliance binder. Please print and include behind the appropriate tab. Thanks! Bee will email the April minutes soon!

Inventories: Be sure and have all your purchases and receipts to Linda by the first of June so that she is able to close out the books by the end of the month. Also, please SEND LINDA AN UPDATED COPY OF YOUR INVENTORY.

Semi-Annuals: Bee will be working on the year-end, semi-annuals very soon! For everyone’s convenience, we are considering having these available for signatures at the May 19 CIP Input meeting. Stay tuned for details coming from Bee in the weeks ahead.

Parent Involvement Surveys: The survey window closes Monday, May 5. Please send any hard copies to Bee no later than Wednesday, May 7.  Upon ensuring all “hard copy” surveys have been entered into Survey Monkey, each school will receive a copy of their individual survey for use in school improvement planning.

Mentor/Mentees: As a reminder, you are encouraged to connect with one another as the year comes to a close. This may be a good time for mentors to share insights into the final compliance documents, closing down your Title classroom and tips on looking ahead to next year. Please complete and submit extended contracts to Bee.

Technology: As a reminder, please:
1) collect all the technology equipment from your “teacher partners”
2) lock all the tech equipment up for the summer; let Monica know where it is being stored and how to access the equipment over the summer. Complete the google doc Monica sent you to report the location/key of the equipment
3) report any lost, stolen or damaged items to Monica immediately

IMPORTANT Tech Information from MONICA ~ please read carefully:
Stolen Equipment – The replacement process is quite the hassle!

• Report as soon as device is discovered missing, to me and to Aaron Johns our Resource Officer. That way I might be able to track it online.
• The deductible is $250, if the device cost less to replace, site will need to replace the device and it will become property of Title 1.
• Title 1 Technology should be put away when not in use. Preferably in a locked cabinet or COW.
• In your inventory you need to add under “disposition” a comment like “iPod serial ##### was stolen and replaced with iPod Serial #####.

Inventory:

• Some of the equipment purchased with Title 1 funds (usually older items) are showing up at non-title schools, because it was given away to that site. If you know a device was purchased with Title funds, please make sure it has a Title 1 label on it.
• You can use the inventory I send you to help update the inventory list you send in at the end of the year.

NOTE: if I’ve marked anything in red, as this may be a piece of equipment that I have no idea where it may be (on older inventory) and if no one at your site does, may need to be marked as “disposed of”.

According to Financial Services Guidelines:

• Equipment should be tracked at the classroom level and include the following information:
• Purchase cost and date
• Location/or employee it is assigned to
• Record of receipt of purchase (PO#?)
• Funding used for purchase (Grant Name?)
• Disposition

“Equipment” is defined as items with a useful life of more than one year and an acquisition cost
of less than $5,000.

Title 1 Technology Schedule between now and next fall:
Before summer break

• Upgrade Teacher laptops – don’t use your personal Apple ID account to do any upgrades or installs on your laptops
• Please use the Google Doc I shared with your to sign up for a time when I can have your laptop to upgrade/update it.

During the summer

• I will unenroll students from FM/FN/GoSolve/DTM to prep for promoting to new grade and class

You, or whomever at your site, may be using these programs (After School Programs/BEST?) need to run any reports you will need on students prior to leaving for the summer.

• Image all student laptops

Google Doc on location – be more specific about location and keys

In the Fall

• Update iPods and iPads
• Import students back into FM/FN/GoSolve/DTM
• Promote students in AR

MISSING/DAMAGED EQUIPMENT: There has been an increase in the number of lost/stolen Title purchased tech equipment. Upon learning of the missing items, Monica makes a claim with Eugene 4j’s Risk Management department. Occasionally, Monica is able to locate the item using Moraki, which is why it’s critical we know of the loss right away! With each claim is a deductible and a fairly complex and lengthy process of recouping the loss. To date, district Title funds have been covering the cost of the deductible. However, we are no longer able to continue this practice. As such, should a claim be made due to a loss/stolen/damaged piece of equipment, individual schools will need to assume the cost of the deductible.

A High-Level Classroom Checklist
In this ASCD/McREL book, Bryan Goodwin and Elizabeth Ross Hubbell suggest that teachers and school leaders use the following list to make sure the right things are happening in classrooms every day:

• Create an oasis of safety and respect in the classroom.
• Use standards to guide every learning opportunity
• Make performance expectations clear.
• Have students set personal learning objectives.
• Engage students’ interest.
• Interact meaningfully with every student.
• Make the most of every minute.
• Use feedback to encourage effort.
• Coach students to mastery.
• Help students develop deep knowledge.
• Help students apply their learning.
• Measure understanding against high expectations.

The 12 Touchstones of Good Teaching: A Checklist for Staying Focused Every Day by Bryan Goodwin and Elizabeth Ross Hubbell (ASCD and McREL, 2013)

Sticking with a Student – Responding Effectively to Incorrect Answers: In this article in Education Week (Jan. 6, 2014) Brooke McCaffrey shares some ideas for what teachers can do when students answer incorrectly. McCaffrey realized that her body language and tone of voice were important when she didn’t call on another student. “If I conveyed any sort of urgency or frustration, sticking with a student began to feel more like putting a student in the hot seat. It became a high-pressure interaction, particularly when a student legitimately did not know the answer, regardless of the amount of cueing I provided.” The ideal sequence, she decided, was:

• Ask the question and give about seven seconds of wait time before calling on a student.
• Alternatively, have students turn and talk with a partner and listen in on the conversations to see what misconceptions they might have.
• Another strategy is having students write their answers on small whiteboards, which takes the pressure off verbal responses.
• Cue in a way that addresses all students (“Let’s all think a little more about that”).
• Keep your expression and body language relaxed so students don’t feel any tension.
• specially with math problems, do a quick review of the steps a student could take to get to the correct answer, which will help other students who are having difficulty.
• If the correct answer is not forthcoming, give the correct answer – without any sign of frustration or displeasure.

“In sticking with students,” McCaffrey concludes, “I found I changed the energy in my classroom. The quiet, shy students began taking more risks because it was no longer scary to supply a wrong answer. Wrong answers became opportunities for growth for all of us.”

Videos of mathematical reasoning lessons – American Federation of Teachers (AFT) teachers, working with Teaching Channel, produced this series of videos in the Share My Lesson series:
• First grade: Leprechaun Traps – Addition within 100: www.bit.ly/1hiXOyY
• Fourth grade: Multiplying Whole Numbers and Fractions: www.bit.ly/1jFlv4U
• Eighth grade: Conjecturing About Functions: www.bit.ly/1jFhlKh

Calendar:

May 5: Parent Involvement survey window closes
May 7: Hard copies of Parent Involvement surveys must be sent to Bee
First week of May: Title school visits
May 19: CIP Input Meeting in the auditorium; 12:00-1:00 (lunch provided)
May 19: POSSIBLE Coordinator short (1 hour) meeting following the CIP; stay tuned for confirmation and/or details!

Summer School Deadlines:

May
5/16: Summer School registrations to Linda, by this date
5/23: Confirmation letters to families, by this date
5/19: CIP annual meeting (parents to attend)

This month, the Summer School administrator (Karen Ramirez) will be diligently working to hire both certified and classified staff. If you, or someone you know, is interested in working this summer, PLEASE encourage them to apply. We are still in need of teachers with a reading endorsement!

Compliance Deadlines:

May: Compliance documents DUE at the 5/19 CIP meeting for submission to Penny:
1) Professional Development Questions for the 2013-2014 school year
PD Questions SWP 2013-2014
PD Questions TAS 2013-2014PD

2) Professional Development School and Title I Plan for the 2013-2014 school year
PD Activities for the School (TAS_SWP) 2013-2014

3) Parent Involvement Questions
Title I Parent Involvement Q’s 13-14

June:
By the time you leave for summer break:
Program Review
End of Year Report
Print a hard copy of each Title student’s profile and place in his/her file

Annual Title I SWP Program Review 2014
Annual Title I TAS Program Review 2014

As a reminder, here is a SAMPLE Program Review with notes and sample paragraphs you can reference as you work to complete your own review. Title IA Program Review SAMPLE

I THINK THAT’S EVERYTHING…..have a great end to the school year!