All posts by tgabrukiewicz

Superintendent Balow to Announce Receipt of a $43.3 Million Federal Literacy Grant

News Releases

CHEYENNE – The Wyoming Department of Education will host a media conference at 11 a.m. Friday, September 18 to discuss the Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy grant awarded by the United States Department of Education (USED). Year one funding for Wyoming will be $8.6 million. With continued eligibility over the next five years, the total could reach $43.3 million. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow and other WDE staff will be available to discuss the grant and answer questions.

The USED grant will be used to create a comprehensive state literacy program to advance literacy skills — including pre-literacy skills, reading, and writing — for students from birth through grade 12, including limited-English-proficient students and students with disabilities.

The grant will strengthen educator skills in teaching literacy and work to improve literacy outcomes for all students. Particular attention will be given to schools identified as high need due to lower reading scores on state assessments.

Media may join by the Zoom call here.

Media Contact:
Linda Finnerty, Communications Director
307-777-2053
linda.finnerty@wyo.gov

Register now for the Wyoming Education Summit

Superintendent's Update

Dear Superintendents,

The Wyoming Education Summit (formerly S5S) will take place on September 21-22, 2020. Registration is open. Many sessions geared toward leaders, but all educators and education partners are welcome to register and attend. Topics include:

  • education leadership
  • high-quality instruction
  • virtual learning
  • social and emotional learning (SEL)
  • Wyoming Teacher of the Year award.

The agenda can be found here.

The theme of the conference is “Pursue Excellence Together” and it will be an honor to co-keynote with Wyoming Governor Gordon. Other presenters and speakers include:

  • Dana Winters from the Fred Rogers Institute will keynote the morning of September 21. Her presentation, “Affirming and Promoting Deep and Simple Moments” focuses on the whole child.
  • Nancy Frey will present “Learning at a Distance” based on her newest publication with renowned educators Douglas Fisher and John Hattie, The Distance Learning Playbook.

REGISTER HERE.

 

wYOeDsUMMIT

Memos to be released today:

  • 2020-145:    Professional Development Opportunity for Teachers
  • 2020-146:    Conventional Literacy for Students with Significant Intellectual Disabilities
  • 2020-147:    Educator Input for Science Performance Standards

 

Civics Education and Engagement Opportunities

Superintendent's Update

Dear Superintendents,

Last week, Secretary DeVos penned “A Letter to America’s Parents” assuring them, “At the end of the day, we want everyone to have the choices to make the best decision for them. Some may choose to learn at home. Some may choose to return to their school. Some may choose to do a combination of both. Each of you needs to be able to choose what’s best for your own families because you know your children and their circumstance better than anyone. Your child. Your school. Your way.

jec20

The Wyoming Joint Education Committee met on Thursday to hear updates about K-12 and higher education.

CIVICS EDUCATION AND ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Women’s Suffrage

This year is the 150th anniversary of the women’s vote in Wyoming. The first vote by a woman was cast on September 6, 1870 by Louisa Swain in Laramie, WY. The event was commemorated with a full year of celebrations. Events culminate this week with the final stop by a semi-truck, wrapped in Louisa Swain information. The semi, driven by four female truckers, was driven across the country. There is great information about how Wyoming codified the women’s right to vote a full fifty years before the 19th Amendment was ratified at https://www.thelouisaswainfoundation.com/ . Students and others can follow the route of the truck (which made stops along I-70 to commemorate famous women) at https://www.firstwomanvoter.org/.

This is also the 100th anniversary of the adoption of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which extended the right to vote to all women in America.  In celebration, First Lady Melania Trump opened an art exhibit outside the White House commissioned from the nation’s children (readout).  Some 450 artworks were submitted, with the First Lady, the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission, and the White House curator’s office choosing the winners.

Constitution Day

September 17 is Constitution Day/Citizenship Day, commemorating the September 17, 1787, signing of the U.S. Constitution. In recognition, Congress has mandated that every educational institution receiving federal funding hold an educational program about this seminal document. To assist students and educators in their studies, the National Archives and Records Administration offers key resources, including a free online version of its U.S. Constitution Workshop. Likewise, free online resources are available from the Library of Congress, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the U.S. Census Bureau. 

ls

The Louisa Swain semi-truck made a stop at the Captiol. It was a thrill to speak about how she started a movement that led to the 19th Amendment.

Memos to be released on September 8, 2020:

2020-143:    CTE Thursday After Hours
2020-144:    Nominations Open for the Carol Mead Leaders in Literacy Award

WDE Receives Daniels Fund Grant For Wyoming Road Trip Project

News Releases

CHEYENNE – The Wyoming Department of Education (WDE), along with the Wyoming Workforce Development Council, will sponsor a Wyoming Road Trip project through Roadtrip Nation that will help empower Wyoming residents to identify their interests and explore pathways aligned with their unique aspirations and skills. The project will be funded through a Daniels Fund grant.

“Daniels Fund is a committed partner to Wyoming’s next generation,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow. “Their generous funding will enable us to share inspiring stories about planning for the future with students across the state.”

For 15 years, Roadtrip Nation (RTN) has made it their mission  to talk with professionals of every kind and ask the questions that no one is asking – honest questions about their struggles, successes, and how they figured out the age-old dilemma, “What should I do with my life?”

RTN does this through a multi-platform content strategy, including its long-running documentary series on public television that reaches up to 60 million households annually. This content is then post-produced for educational purposes via RTN’s Interview Archive, encompassing over 5,500 real-world career pathway stories distributed to 14 million students, a project-based curriculum, and a New York Times bestselling book.

To gather content for these outlets, every year RTN selects various industries and/or socially relevant issues – such as Cybersecurity, Veterans, Opportunity Youth – as primary themes for its Roadtrips. On these trips, selected young people hit the road to interview Leaders across America who relate with those same students’ social backgrounds and personal interests, empowering them to define their own roads in life. Simultaneously, people currently engaged in various career pathways can share their own career stories on Roadtrip Nation’s online storytelling platform – Share Your Road – providing a crowd-sourced opportunity for professionals to share their own “Roads” and significantly scaling the number of career pathways represented in RTN’s Interview Archive.

All Roadtrip and Share Your Road content is included in RTN’s rapidly growing Interview Archive which fuels educational resources that reach 14 million middle school, high school, and college students through the College Board, Hobsons-Naviance, and other RTN distribution partners. Approximately 175,000 students have participated in RTN’s project-based learning curriculum, resulting in a proven increase in self-efficacy rates and academic performance.

The Wyoming Roadtrip is scheduled to roll in April of 2021. In anticipation of the Wyoming Roadtrip, an application and selection process for the Roadtrippers will begin this fall.

The Daniels Fund, established by cable television pioneer Bill Daniels, is a private charitable foundation dedicated to making life better for the people of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming through its grants program, scholarship program, and ethics initiative. Visit DanielsFund.org to learn more.

– END –

Media Contact:
Linda Finnerty, Communications Director
307-777-2053
linda.finnerty@wyo.gov

COVID-19 “Rapid Results” Tests

Superintendent's Update

Dear Superintendents,

Earlier this week President Trump announced the impending availability of millions of COVID-19 “rapid result” tests. Here is a recent article from the Wall Street Journal. In a phone call with other state superintendents, USED Deputy Secretary Mick Zais and Brigadier General David J. Sanford, United States Air Force, who currently serves as Deputy Director for the White House COVID Response Supply Chain Task Force, provided critical information about how K-12 students will be prioritized in the testing initiative. The tests will be made available to students and staff at public and private K-12 schools, with priority going to states with both high COVID rates and large numbers of students receiving in-person or hybrid instruction. There are many unanswered questions at this point but I will update you along the way.

Rural CTE Opportunity

Secretary DeVos announced a new challenge to advance high-quality technology instruction in rural communities. The Rural Tech Project, with a total cash prize of $600,000, invites high schools and local educational agencies (LEAs) to develop competency-based distance learning programs that enable students to master skills at their own pace. This is a great fit for many Wyoming schools!

Memos to be released on Monday, August 31:

  • 2020-137:    DRIVE: Developing Rewarding Integrated Vocational Experiences: A Paraprofessional Training
  • 2020-138:    Wyoming Innovations in Learning Conference
  • 2020-139:    Hathaway Technical Assistance
  • 2020-140:    New CTE Teacher Orientation
  • 2020-141:     Guidance for Temporary School Closures

Staff COVID-19 Testing Program Overview

Superintendent's Update

Dear Superintendents,

Staff COVID-19 Testing Program Overview

Surveillance testing will be an opt-in protocol and would extend to all school staff, including volunteers. The Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) will ask that 20% of the staff members be tested at least once every two weeks and each sample should include a representation from a range of staff roles. The individuals selected should be rotated every two weeks to get nearly 100% of the staff within 10 weeks. The test will detect current COVID-19 infection. Anyone with a COVID-19 infection within the previous
three months should not participate. Staff cannot be required to participate. Both negative and positive results will be reported by the WDH and staff that test positive will be required to follow the existing state protocols for quarantine and contact tracing.

The goal of this effort is to detect infected individuals who don’t have symptoms, or before they develop symptoms. This would allow public health officials to intervene. The WDH will work with school districts directly if movement between tiers is necessary based on testing results. There is no cost to school districts or staff for participation. The current goal of the WDH is to determine the interest of the school districts, as they try to define contracts for the tests.

Rural Career and Technical Education Event:

At 4 p.m. MDT on August 25, the Rural Tech Project is hosting a virtual panel of experts to discuss community engagement and coalition building.  The panel will share how Rural Tech Project entrants can approach building and maintaining partnerships among schools, school districts, and community organizations.  They will also explore topics ranging from assessing community needs to creating structures and systems for sustainable partnerships.

New National Resources as Schools Reopen:

Fact Sheet – Supporting Safe School Reopenings 

School Reopening Recommendations

CDC Guidance on Face Coverings for K-12

Content and Performance Standards

Content Standards are the content and skills students are expected to know and be able to do by the end-of-grade or gradeband.

Performance Standards are the standards all students are expected to learn and be assessed on
through the district assessment system. They specify the specific degree of understanding or
demonstration of the knowledge and/or skill for a particular content standard. Districts give students multiple opportunities to demonstrate proficiency and provide appropriate supports for student success.

Standards work in Wyoming is ramping up. Here’s a (very) brief primer of the upcoming work:

  • Public input opportunities for Computer Science Performance Standards memo and press release.
  • Educator input surveys for Science and PE Performance Standards and Performance Level Descriptors (PLDs) memo.
  • Call for Health Content and Performance Standards Review and Development Committee memo. Committee members include educators, parents, practitioners, business and industry.

Memos to be released today:

2020-131:    Innovations Showcase
2020-132:    2020-21 Hathaway Success Curriculum Course Verification
2020-133:    Wyoming Advisory Panel for Students with Disabilities
2020-134:    Educator Surveys and Call for Health Standards Committee
2020-135:    School Improvement Plans

USED Updates Its Title IX website

Superintendent's Update

Dear Superintendents,

The United States Department of Education (USED)  launched a new website with Title IX resources for parents, students, schools, and other partners. The resources were released in conjunction with final Title IX rules.

The new website serves as an online hub for information and resources that students and others can use to understand rights and due process under Title IX. It also provides a fact sheet specifically for students and schools.

Here is a link to the news release.

WAIC

Marissa Cornelison was named the Wyoming Ag In the Classroom Teacher of the Year during the Wyoming State Fair and received awards presented by Congresswoman Cheney, First Lady Gordon, and Superintendent Balow

Memos to be released today:

2020-125:    2020 K-12 Digital Learning Awards
2020-126:    Career Development Facilitator Training
2020-127:    2020-21 Back-to-School Toolkit
2020-128:    District Representative School Improvement Plan Training
2020-129:    WDE Professional Development Opportunities: 2020–21 School Year