Dear Superintendents,

I’ve had the opportunity to visit with various groups of educators over the past couple of weeks and am humbled by the hard and thoughtful work taking place. From work on standards to curriculum to setting cut scores to traditional PD, hundreds of Wyoming educators are working to improve all facets of education. Thank you!

A WDE employee sits with two teachers at a table developing agriculture focused curricula for Wyoming's science standards.

Teachers develop Wyoming-specific science curriculum through the Wyoming Stewardship Program (Ag in the Classroom)

About 30 members of the standards review committee sit at classroom style tables with their arms raised in excitement to start their work on computer science standards.

Wyoming begins developing K-12 computer science standards

In September a unique and monumental event will take place in Laramie–a Hackathon! We are partnering to create a K-12 Hackathon strand. This event adds to the momentum created by computer science education and blockchain legislation passed in 2018. Chances are good that a few folks in your community or district are interested in attending–Please pass this information along!

Wyoming Hackathon link

Hackathon Press Release

Finally, the discussion about school safety is ramping up and, in my opinion, the conversation is more productive than in previous years. At the national level, leaders from various federal agencies are taking on tough subjects that compromise the safety of students including violence, mental health, and more. I serve on a national steering committee charged with the development of a repository of data and resources for states to use. The Wyoming Legislature is studying school safety as an interim topic. And, next month, Wyoming will host the first-ever school safety summit. The dates of the summit have changed and some very exciting plans are in development even as I write this update. Please make sure your plans include early arrival on August 7 as we anticipate discussions ahead of the summit. There is also a networking reception planned for August 7. Here is a rough agenda for the event:

School Safety Summit Dates and Draft Agenda

Please look for more information about this in the coming days.

School Safety Summit

Memos to be released on Monday, July 23:

Jillian

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