January 20, 2010
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Upcoming Events
Poetry Out Loud
The Ohio Arts Council, in partnership with Thurber House, the Ohioana Library, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, is offering the national recitation contest Poetry Out Loud in 2009 – 2010. This program provides an exciting avenue for high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization and performance. For more details and online registration, click here.
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Articles of Interest...
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Funding Opportunity:
The Arts in Education Model Development and Dissemination (AEMDD)
For the full article click here
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Funding Opportunity:
Grants for the Integration of Schools and Mental Health Systems program
For the full article click here
Winning Back Homeschoolers
With the defection of local families causing a steep dip in its enrollment, a rural Ohio district goes virtual to stem the tide. For the full article click here
New Appropriations for Charters
For the full article click here
Congress ties federal charter school spending to quality controls
For the full article click here
Horizon Science Academy Cleveland Named Best High School by U.S. News & World Report
For the full article click here
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Contact Us
Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools
33 N. Third Street,
Suite 600
Office: (614) 744-2266
Fax: (614) 744-2255
www.oapcs.org
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Notes from CEO Bill Sims
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The government’s Race To The Top (RTTT) initiative has taken center stage in the past month. This week state applications for RTTT money were due to the U.S. Department of Education. It’s a high stakes play. Let me explain.
In total states will be eligible for about $4.35 billion in education related dollars. Ohio’s share could be up to $400 million of these dollars. The money will come in two phases (although there is some talk of adding a third phase with more money). The Ohio Department of Education describes the opportunity accordingly:
“Race to the Top will reward states that have demonstrated success in raising student achievement and have the best plans to accelerate their reforms in the future. These states will offer models for others to follow and will spread the best reform ideas across their states, and across the country.
The Secretary will determine which states receive grants and the amounts of the grants based on information in the application, other criteria developed by the Secretary, and the state's need for assistance to carry out the objectives addressed by the assurances.
Local Education Agency Sub-allocation: A state that receives an incentive grant must use at least 50 percent of the grant to provide grants to LEAs based on their Title I-A shares for the most recent year.
Guidelines released from the U.S. Department of Education are very prescriptive in terms of centering the reform work on four specific areas: standards and assessments; data systems to support instruction; great teachers and leaders; and turning around the lowest-achieving schools. Each assurance is focused on deep and systemic reform. “
Calling your attention to the ODE paragraph above “Local Education Agency Sub-allocation,” here is where the so-called rubber hits the road. Districts and charter schools within those districts (or e-schools) have the potential to receive significant amounts of money through Title 1-A, assuming they filed their MOU which was due last Friday. This is why we sent so many messages out to our member schools about the importance of submitting the MOU, even if your school ultimately decides not to participate.
What is remarkable is that only about 40% of Ohio’s school districts submitted MOUs to participate, many not doing so either because they have low populations of disadvantaged students and therefore didn’t expect to gain much from these funds or because of teachers’ unions that were not willing to co-sign for fears of accountability factors related to teacher evaluations.
We are VERY pleased to announce that 187 charter schools filed MOUs with the Ohio Department of education, a much higher percentage than traditional districts.
Whether Ohio receives its $400 million in phase one and phase two will depend on how the USDOE views the state’s qualifications and the quality of its application. Restrictive caps on charter schools hurt Ohio’s application. The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools released a report last week ranking state charter school laws and Ohio finished 26th out of 40. More information about this report and press release are available and for the OAPCS reaction see attached document.
We promise to keep you up to speed on events related to the RTTT as they unfold. For more general information on RTTT, click here.
– Bill Sims
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OAPCS High Quality Workshop 6: Building a Successful Fundraising Program for your Charter School
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OAPCS is teaming with Toledo School for the Arts for an all-day workshop that will lead participants through how to start a grass-roots fundraising system to advanced strategies for long-term funding. Toledo School for the Arts, rated excellent for the three years, has built wide community support and sophisticated development efforts that assure long term sustainability for the school. Come learn from Ohio’s own experts how to apply these strategies to your school!
The workshop will be held at the Toledo School for the Arts on Friday, March 5th, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm and includes a school tour (TSA’s “First Fridays”), the general morning session, lunch, and afternoon mini-sessions. The cost $300 members/$350 non-members for the 8-hour course. Information for registration will be available soon at www.oapcs.org.
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Ohio Core Curriculum
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The Ohio Core Curriculum expands the state's minimum graduation requirements for all Ohio high school students – including community school students – who enter ninth grade in the 2010-2011 school year or later. The total number of units necessary to graduate for all students is 20, distributed as follows:
• 4 Units of Mathematics, including a requirement of Algebra II for all students.
• 3 Units of Science – with inquiry-based lab experience, including 1 unit Biological Sciences and 1 unit Physical Sciences and 1 unit in advanced Chemistry, Physics, or other Physical Science; Biology or other Life Science; or Astronomy, Physical Geology, or other Earth or Space Science
• 3 Units of Social Science, including 1/2 unit American History and 1/2 unit American Government
• 4 Units of English
• 1/2 Unit of Health
• 1/2 Unit of Physical Education
• Elective Units = 5; from foreign language, business, career-technical education, family and consumer sciences, technology, agricultural education, fine arts, or English, mathematics, science, or social studies courses not otherwise required
• Fine arts – at least two semesters of fine arts in grades seven through twelfth are required for graduation except for certain career-technical students
Also, each school shall integrate the study of economics and financial literacy into one or more existing social studies credits or into the content of another class so that every high school student receives instruction in these concepts. Schools shall use available public-private partnerships and resources and materials that exist in business, industry and through the centers for economics education at institutions of higher education in the state.
Certain students, including students in dropout prevention and recovery programs that have received a waiver, can “opt out” from the graduation requirements, but still qualify to graduate upon completion of a competency-based instructional program and proficiency on required state assessments. The school must have the student and the student’s parent, guardian, or custodian sign and file with the school a written statement asserting the parent’s, guardian’s, or custodian’s consent to the student’s graduating without completing the Ohio core curriculum and acknowledging that one consequence of not completing the Ohio core curriculum is ineligibility to enroll in most state universities in Ohio without further coursework. If a school district allows students to use the opt-out provision, it must help to develop individual career plans for each student that that specifies the student matriculating to a two-year degree program, acquiring a business and industry credential, or entering an apprenticeship, and must provide counseling and support for students to complete their plans. Under the bill, as under current law, students with an IEP must complete their IEP in order to graduate.
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Credit Flexibility and the Ohio Core
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As you begin working on next year’s schedules, be aware of information concerning credit flexibility. By law, school districts, community schools and chartered nonpublic schools “shall comply” with the provisions of the State Board’s credit flexibility plan, phasing in its provisions during the 2009 -10 school year, and having a district credit flexibility policy in place for the 2010-2011 school year.
Ohio's plan for credit flexibility is designed to broaden the scope of curricular options available to students, increase the depth of study possible for a particular subject, and allow tailoring of learning time and/or conditions. These are ways in which aspects of learning can be customized around more of students' interests and needs.
Students may earn credits by:
• Completing coursework;
• Testing out of or demonstrating mastery of course content; or
• Pursuing one or more “educational options” (e.g., distance learning, educational travel, independent study, an internship, music, arts, after-school/tutorial program, community service or other engagement projects and sports).
Credit flexibility is intended to motivate and increase student learning by allowing:
• Access to more learning resources, especially real-world experiences
• Customization around individual student needs
• Use of multiple measures of learning, especially those where students demonstrate what they know and can do, apply the learning, or document performance
The ODE website contains guidance documents and FAQs to help you formulate your school’s credit flexibility policy, implementation guidance in world languages and career-technical education, as well as video examples of credit flexibility programs from other states. To view the Web page, click here or visit education.ohio.gov, bottom right corner under “Explore” for the link to the credit flexibility page.
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Method to view student names in EVAAS
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Method to view student names in EVAAS (Education Value Added Assessment System) – schools must sign agreement by January 30th!
The Value-Added measures have an impact on the Local Report Card Ratings. The EVAAS tool can provide useful diagnostic information, but so far use has been limited because only student ID numbers are provided, not student names. Recent changes in FERPA, however, have specifically addressed the issue of granting third-party contractors acting on behalf of a school district to have access to student names. As a result, there is now a way for you to provide SAS with the name-student ID crosswalk so that SAS can populate the EVAAS reports with student names.
Community schools and districts have until January 30th to work with either their ITC or SAS to provide an SSID-to-student name crosswalk so that schools will be able to see student names in the EVAAS system. This procedure is completely voluntary and must be done on a district-by-district basis (including community schools). Due to the different level of relationship schools can have with their ITCs, some will work with their ITCs while others must work with SAS.
All community schools that use an ITC for its student software package must work through the ITC to facilitate the necessary assurances and send the data that will link the names and student IDs to populate the EVAAS reports. For more information about how to work with your ITC to send the name-student ID crosswalk, contact your ITC. They have been given instructions on how and when the data can be sent to SAS.
If your school does not use an ITC for its student software package, please work directly with SAS to provide agreements for the use of the data. Detailed instructions for obtaining agreement documents and uploading data to a secure FTP site can be obtained by clicking here or on the ODE Web site by searching keywords: Web Report EVAAS.
If you have any questions regarding the use of the EVAAS Web site or how the reports on that site might benefit your school, please discuss it with your District Value-Added Specialists (DVAS) or contact a regional Value-Added specialist in your area. For more information, e-mail: vainformation@ode.state.oh.us.
Please remember that for the 2009 EVAAS data, only students who took the OAT (grades 3 through 8) tests at your school and counted for the full academic year will appear on the EVAAS reports. OAPCS would like to convince ODE of the need to better the EVAAS system further. We believe that ODE should improve this tool by using the student’s SSID to link data from previous years. This would enable schools to view student progress across years, regardless of where the student took previous tests. The EVAAS tool could then be used to help take the mystery out of how the publically disseminated Value Added results are determined. If you would like to help in this effort, we would very much like to hear from you. Please contact Marianne Lombardo, at mlombardo@oapcs.org, or (614) 744-2266 ext. 201.
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Office of Community Schools PCSP Elluminate Trainings
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Every Tuesday in February, Susan Moss, Public Charter Schools Program (PCSP) Grant Administrator in the Office of Community Schools (OCS), Ohio Department of Education (ODE), will hold a training that covers an important aspect of the federal PCSP grant process. These trainings are: 1) “Using the CCIP,” 2) “Applying for PCSP Planning and Implementation Grants,” 3) “Applying for the Dissemination Grant” and 4) “PCSP Grant Overview for Sponsors.”
Anyone who intends to open a new community (public charter) school or to disseminate a promising practice from an existing community school should attend the relevant training/s. Any person interested in community schools’ funding is also invited to attend. An archived copy of each training will be available on the OCS Grant Web page after the training is concluded.
All Session are 1:30-3:30 EST (Session runs from 2-3p; you may log in 1/2 hour early and the session will remain open till 3:30 if there are questions.)
To join the meeting click here:
Enter your name at the login prompt. Meetings requires the following password to join: grant (lower case)
Feb 2 How to use the CCIP
Feb 9 Applying for the PCSP Planning and Implementation Grant
Feb 16 Applying for the PCSP Dissemination Grant—federal grants to support the dissemination of promising practices by a high-quality community school
Feb 23 Overview of PCSP Grants for Sponsors
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The Intergenerational School's FREE Professional Development Training
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Through a federal PCSP dissemination grant, the consistently excellent The Intergenerational School is providing FREE professional development to share how their school became so successful educating urban children. Key elements of the model include the use of an individualized developmental curriculum with aligned assessment, incorporating community volunteers into the daily life of the school to create a culture of civility, and use of an effective schoolwide behavior approach that nurtures each child’s potential.
In order to fully understand the core elements that make TIS successful, participants must come to each of the first three days of training during any of the selected weeks. However, participants are not limited to the number of sessions they attend. Participants will spend ample time in TIS classrooms observing the implementation of the model. TIS can reimburse Ohio residents for a portion of, or all, travel and substitute teaching expenses. Participants can choose training dates and topics that most interest them.
2010 Dates of Full Day On Site Trainings:
January 18, 19, 20, 21, 22
February 15, 16, 17, 18, 19
March 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
April 13, 14 (optional) how we prepare for the OAT
May 17, 18 (optional) conversations with Dr. Whitehouse
Day 1 Foundations (Jan18, Feb 15, or Mar 8): Philosophy and Overview of TIS, Developmental Learning, Relationship-based learning
Day 2 Instruction and Culture of Learning (Jan 19, Feb, 16, or Mar 9): Literacy, Math
Day 3 Factors for Change (Jan 20, Feb 17, or Mar 10): Parent Involvement and Motivation, Intergenerational Learning, Institutional Change
Specialty Training Dates and In Depth Topics:
Thurs, January 21: School-wide Discipline and Nurtured Heart
Fri, January 22: Intergenerational Learning
Thurs, Feb 18: Developmental Curriculum and Aligned Assessment
Fri, Feb 19: Literacy Instruction: Growing Readers and Writers
Thurs, March 11: Accountability
Fri, March 12: Ohio State Testing: Strategies for Success
To Register please call The Intergenerational School at (216) 721-0120 or send an email to emcgarvey@tisonline.org. At the end of training your team will receive the following:
• Three hours of consulting from Co-Founder and Chief Educator of TIS, Dr. Catherine Whitehouse
• Hard copies of our exclusive training manual
• All DVD’s used in training
• All Power Point presentations used in the training
• Continuous access to our web forum
• Copies of student assessments
• Travel reimbursements for all team members
• Stipends for costs associated with hiring substitute teachers.
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OAPCS announces the National Best Collaborative Practices Conference, September 27th & 28th, 2010
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With support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Ohio Grantmaker’s Forum, OAPCS is proud to announce the first National charter school conference to be held in Ohio. The National Best Collaborative Practices Between Traditional and Charter Schools Conference will be held September 27th & 28th , 2010, at the Hyatt at Capitol Square Columbus. A panel of distinguished national education reform experts will help us select 50 best practices of collaboration between charter and traditional schools from across the nation, and 24 will be profiled at the conference. Please watch our website and upcoming Insight newsletters for participation information.
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Walton Family Foundation High Quality Start-up Grant Expanded Opportunities
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The Walton Family Foundation High Quality Start-up Grant opportunity has significant changes this year. As in the past years, new start-up and conversion schools with a high likelihood of success in delivering high quality programming to disadvantaged students will be considered for $250,000 in assistance. Important changes this year include:
1. Schools expanding existing programs can be considered (adding middle school grades to an existing elementary school, adding middle school grades to a high school, etc.)
2. Ongoing financial support after the first year of operation, such as a $500 per student subsidy for up to five years, with performance goals met
3. Geographic flexibility (we can consider new schools statewide)
Contact Marianne Lombardo, Director of School Performance and Accountability, at (614) 744-2266 ext. 201 for more information.
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Bexley Therapy Solutions renews their membership with OAPCS
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Our Speech Language Pathologists are licensed by the State of Ohio, hold Ohio Department of Education certification, and are certified nationally by the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA). They maintain high levels of continuing education to assure maintenance of current knowledge and trends in the field. We provide evaluation and remediation services for the following disorders or delays;
• Speech (articulation, intonation, rate, intensity, voice, resonance, fluency)
• Language (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics)
• Receptive and Expressive language (including reading and writing)
• Pragmatic language (social skills)
• Non-verbal communication such as facial expression, posture and gesture.
• Swallowing disorders are managed under speech therapy problems in the oral and pharyngeal phases of swallowing
Depending on the nature and severity of the disorder, common treatments may range from physical strengthening exercises, instructive or repetitive practice and drilling, to the use of audio-visual aids and introduction of strategies to facilitate functional communication. Speech therapy may also include sign language and the use of picture symbols or Augmentative and Alternative Communication. Our Speech Language Pathologists specialize in the Pediatric- School age population in the school and clinic settings.
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New Benefit for our Members!
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Hyatt Regency Columbus, Hyatt Regency Cincinnati and Hyatt Regency Cleveland have agreed to offer a discounted rate to all charter schools that are members with an OAPCS rate of $109.00/night at these two locations. Also, when reserving a room at any other Hyatt Regency Nationwide, you will receive 10% off your stay at all other locations, for being a member with OAPCS. Please look forward to hearing about other Hyatt Regency discounts in Ohio’s other major cities!
Please contact Jennifer Brzoski at jbrzoski@oapcs.org or at 614-744-2266 ext. 205 to receive more information on how to take advantage of this offer or how to become a member as soon as possible.
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Parent Membership Program
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The Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools (OAPCS) firmly believes that quality performance is the key to the healthy growth and sustainability of the community charter school movement in Ohio.
Quality performance cannot be achieved without parental engagement. Parents deserve to be able to choose the best school for their child, and they need to be involved, informed and active with organization that can help with school choice. So it stands to reason that we want charter-school parents to be knowledgeable and engaged on matters that relate to their children’s schools. If we stand together, we can build strong walls that stand firmly for charter schools.
OAPCS is now offering a Parent Membership program that allows individuals to join our organization. Benefits of being an individual member:
• An association of quality values
• Legislative “Updates” and “Alerts”
• Bi-monthly newsletter
• Content-rich website
• Parent Networking/Newsletter
• Discount on products at all Staples Stores
• E-mail bulletins
• Access to OAPCS Community Boards
Please contact Jennifer Brzoski at jbrzoski@oapcs.org or at 614-744-2266 ext. 205 to become a Parent Member.
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