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Volume 12, Issue 6

Weekly Field Memo
February 7, 2018

Statewide Longitudinal Data System Update

Audience:  Tech Coordinators, Superintendents, Business Managers
The Agency this week released an update on the Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS). This is a follow up to the survey released to the field in November 2017 which asked for information regarding preparation for the SLDS rollout. Read the SLDS Rollout Update memo.
Questions: Peter Drescher at (802) 479-1166 or peter.drescher@vermont.gov

Integrated Field Review Video Series

Audience: All
Looking for information about the Integrated Field Review (IFR) process? Check out our new IFR video series for information about the most promising practices being implemented in four Vermont SUs/SDs that have identified through the Integrated Field Review process.
Contact: Josh Souliere at (802) 479-8660 or josh.souliere@vermont.gov

Child Nutrition Federal National School Lunch Program Equipment Grant Applications Available

Audience:  Business Managers, Food Service Managers and Directors
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has allocated a total of $33,561 to Vermont to award schools in support of equipment improvements in Food Safety, Meal Preparation and Implementation of the School Meals Breakfast and Lunch Meal patterns. Grant applications are due March 23, 2018. Learn more and apply for the Federal National School Lunch Program (NSLP) Equipment Grant.
Contact: Laurie Colgan at laurie.colgan@vermont.gov or (802) 479-1187

Year Four Preschool Development Expansion Grant Applications Available

Audience: Superintendents, Principals, Early Education Coordinators, Program Directors
The Agency of Education is now accepting Preschool Development Expansion Grant (PDEG) applications for year four. PDEG is a federal grant that supports SU/SD/Head Start programs to provide free, full-day, high-quality PreK services to four-year-old students whose family income is at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty line. Additional grant information can be found on the Initiatives webpage.
Contact: Laura Greenwood, PDEG Program Manager, at (802) 479-1476 or laura.greenwood@vermont.gov

Financial Literacy Standards Update

Audience: Superintendents, Principals, Curriculum Directors, Teachers
Last month, the State Board of Education adopted the Jump$tart National Standards in K-12 Personal Finance Education to replace the Vital Results Career Choice and Personal Economics standards of Vermont’s Framework of Standards and Learning Opportunities. The Jump$tart standards supplement the current College, Career and Civic Life (C3) State Standards for Social Studies, Common Core State Standards in Mathematics, and Family and Consumer Sciences Education Grade Expectations. The State Board of Education recognized the multidisciplinary nature of financial literacy as these standards can be addressed within social studies, math, business and family and consumer science learning opportunities. The Agency of Education (AOE) will be asking for elementary, middle, and high school teachers from math, social studies, business, and family and consumer sciences to assist in creating sample indicators and proficiency-based graduation requirements. Until a Financial Literacy page is created and curated by the AOE, please note that links to the standards and pertinent financial literacy information will be maintained on both the AOE Global Citizenship and Mathematics sites.
Contact: Martha Deiss at Martha.deiss@vermont.gov or Heidi Whipple at Heidi.whipple@vermont.gov

Mathematics and Science Partnership Leadership Grant Application for Summer 2018

Audience: Superintendents, Principals, Curriculum Directors
The Mathematics and Science Partnership (MSP) Leadership Grant will bring together partners that include K-12 administrators and faculty or a segment of that population (e.g., K-8, 9-12, and/or Career Technical Center), with STEM Higher Ed faculty. Please see the MSP Leadership Grant Application for additional information. The deadline for applications is February 23, 2018.
Contact: Pat Fitzsimmons, Math/Science Partnership Program Manager, at (802) 479-1425 or pat.fitzsimmons@vermont.gov

Vermont Regional School Calendars for 2018-2019

Audience: Superintendents, Principals, Headmasters, Regional Technical Center Directors, Curriculum Coordinators
Vermont statute, 16 V.S.A. §1071 (e), requires that superintendents of schools and regional public school principals and headmasters meet before April 1, 2018 and by majority vote, establish a uniform calendar within that area for the following school year. The calendar needs to include student attendance days, periods of vacation, holidays and the requisite five teacher in-service education days. Please send approved regional calendars electronically to Allison Keating at the Agency of Education no later than April 1, 2018.
Contact: Allison Keating at (802) 479-1855 or allison.keating@vermont.gov

Practice-Based Coach Training with September Gerety

Audience: Individuals who provide professional development, instruction or coaching to the Early Childhood field
This training opportunity will be held on May 14-15, 2018 at the Comfort Inn, Berlin, VT, provided by the Vermont Agency of Education, Practice-based coaching uses research-based strategies to provide tools and support to be utilized within the context of a collaborative partnership. Register for Practice-Based Coach Training.
Contact: Leslie Freedman, PreK Inclusion Coordinator, at leslie.freedman@vermont.gov

Vermont Work-Based Learning Collaborative Webinar Recording

Audience: Secondary School Administrators and Educators
On January 23, 2018 the Vermont WBL Collaborative Series engaged in one of two winter virtual learning sessions featuring Vermont educators and administrators in the sharing of promising practices around implementing work-based learning experiences in proficiency-based systems. The Work-Based Learning Collaborative Webinar is located on the AOE’s Work-Based Learning webpage. Stay tuned for the second webinar recording where Vermont educators share promising practices around creating equitable work-based learning opportunities for all learners.
Contact: Veronica Newton at (802) 479-1408 or veronica.newton@vermont.gov

School Safety Facilitated Dialogue

Audience: Superintendents, Principals, School Crisis Planning Team Members
This week's  Facilitated Dialogue February 2018 will test and evaluate the policies and procedures your school has in place to conduct a behavioral threat assessment. This school safety training is designed to stimulate a conversation about your school’s response capacity to a specific hazard or threat. 
Contact: Rob Evans, School Safety Liaison Officer, at revans@margolishealy.com

Governor's Institutes of Vermont Summer Applications Open

Audience: Principals, School Counselors, Teachers
The Governor's Institutes is Vermont's own summer acceleration program where motivated high school students from all over the state come together on Vermont college campuses for hands-on study in topics of interest. Most well-known is the Arts Institute, where students study everything from painting to dance to film, but ten other Institutes include Engineering, Information Technology and Digital Media, Entrepreneurship, Writing, Environmental Science, Astronomy, Mathematical Sciences, Current Issues and Youth Activism, and new this year, Health and Medicine. Governor's Institutes of Vermont commits to being financially accessible for all accepted students.
Contact:  Susie Moakley, Programs Manager, at Susie@giv.org

Courtesy Postings

The views, opinions, and resources shared in this section of the WFM are solely those of the original contributors. The Agency of Education does not endorse the views expressed by these contributors and reserves the right to refuse submissions. Questions related to any of these resources should be directed to the organizations, people, and opportunities as shared.

Vermont Tech Leaders Circle

Join EdSurge for the first Vermont Tech Leaders Circle on Thursday evening, February 22, 2018 in Colchester. EdSurge is traveling around the country to learn best practices around personalized learning from current K-12 educators and school leaders. It will be an evening of dialogue, collaboration, and sharing of the ideas, successes, and knowledge around the challenges of personalized learning, student-centered learning, and innovative instructional practices.The focus is to learn from one another and we hope you’ll walk away with new connections and ideas. EdSurge will be there to listen and look for local authors who want to write and share their stories around personalized learning out on the EdSurge network. Refreshments and appetizers will be served. RSVP for the Vermont Tech Leaders Circle.

The Vermont Leading Proficiency Series: Proficiency-Based Learning Design Workshop for School Leaders

Proficiency-based learning (PBL) may be the biggest change in education in the past 100 years. As Thomas Guskey points out, the shift from a normative system to a criterion-based one means throwing out the bell curve and developing talent in all students. This three-day series, sponsored by the Great Schools Partnership and the Vermont Principals Association, will provide time and support for principals, curriculum leaders, coaches, and teacher leaders to design the new structures needed for a proficiency-based system, from grading and reporting to transcripts and community engagement. Learn more about the PBL Design Workshop for School Leaders. Register your team for the PBL Design Workshop for School Leaders.

Writing Proficiency and Strong Curriculum: New Benchmarks for Informative Writing

Back by popular request – in case you missed the fall 2017 roll-out - the Vermont Writing Collaborative is delighted to announce a second opportunity to work with new K-12 benchmarks for informative writing which will be hosted on March 12 and 13, 2018 at Lake Morey Resort, Fairlee, VT. All of these pieces come from classroom curriculum and are rooted in the Writing for Understanding, common sense recognition that students need a solid understanding of both content and structure/craft if they are going to be able to write proficiently. To give help to students on their journey to proficient writing, teachers themselves need to have a good sense of what “proficiency” looks like, at every grade level (and what it does not look like) – within strong curriculum content. This two-day workshop will give educators an opportunity to dive into brand new curriculum-based, annotated benchmarks, K-12, for informative writing. Learn more and register with the Vermont Writing Collaborative.

Social Thinking: A Model for Managing Anxiety and Improving Self-Regulations

This module will focus on managing anxiety and improving self-regulation using techniques for increasing self-awareness and modifying one’s own behaviors. The Incredible Five-Point Scale (Dunn-Buron & Curtis) is demonstrated as a springboard for developing individualized plans for relaxation, organization and emotional attunement.Learn more and register for Social Thinking.
Contact: Caitlin Niland, Intake Coordinator for Professional Learning, at (802)878-2332 ext 320 or cniland@sterncenter.org

Annual Vermont Association for Middle Level Education Beyond Bullying Conference

The Vermont Association for Middle Level Education (VAMLE) will present the sixth annual conference, Beyond Bullying: Creating a Culture of Respect in Learning Communities, on March 14, 2018 at Champlain College, in Burlington, VT. Schools are invited to register teams of four middle-level students (grades 5-8) and one educator. All teams will create an Action Plan. Learn more and register for the VAMLE Beyond Bullying Conference.
Contact: Sue Gee at director@vamle.org or (802) 522-7180

Summer Institutes for K-12 Science Teachers

The Vermont Energy Education Program is offering two five-day Summer Institutes for K-12 science teachers at Lake Morey Resort, in Fairlee, VT. Deepen your skills and understanding around Next Generation Science Standards, energy, and climate through hands-on exploration, discussions with experts, field trips, and collaboration time for unit creation. Institute #1, June 25-29, 2018, focuses on energy and climate as core disciplinary ideas and is for teachers of any experience level. Institute #2, August 6-10, 2018, is for experienced teachers who want to make their units three-dimensional and personalized. Scholarships available.
Contact: Dana Dwinell-Yardley at dana.dwinell-yardley@veep.org

Dr. Ross Greene: Advanced Training in Collaborative and Proactive Solutions

Ross Greene’s evidence-based, empirically-supported CPS model – as described in his books "Lost at School" and "Lost and Found" — has a track record for dramatically reducing discipline referrals, detentions, and suspensions, improving student behavior, and improving relationships and communication. This two-day workshop April 5-6, 2018,  will leave participants with an understanding of the underpinnings of the model, along with practical assessment and intervention tools that can be brought back to their schools. The event will be held at the Trader Dukes Hotel, formerly the Doubletree in South Burlington, VT. Register for Advanced Training in Collaborative and Proactive Solutions.
Contact: The Champlain Valley Educator Development Center at info@cvedcvt.org

North American Reggio Emilia Alliance Brick by Brick Series

Please join the University of Vermont Early Childhood Programs, UVM Campus Children’s School and member of the North American Reggio Emilia Alliance (NAREA), Saturday, March 3, 2018 from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. to examine the concept of “Education as Relationship." This is part of the NAREA Brick By Brick Series Spring 2018. Dr. Lella Gandini will be the keynote speaker. The cost is $75 for NAREA members and $100 for non-members.  Learn more and register for Education as Relationship.
Contact: Barbara Burrington at barbara.burrington@uvm.edu

Free Sensory-Friendly Drumming for Families

VSA Vermont and the Flynn Center present a fun, free and inclusive drumming workshop for families with a child or adult on the autism spectrum. Classes use sensory-friendly drums and percussion instruments and relaxed expectations. No experience necessary. Pre-registration is encouraged so you aren't disappointed should the class fill up. There are two workshops to be held on Sundays, February 11, 2018 and March 25, 2018 from 1-2 p.m. This is a free event. Learn more and register for Sensory-Friendly Drumming for Families.
Contact: SarahCaliendo at flynnarts@flynncenter.org

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The field memo has time-sensitive and relevant information designed for students, teachers, and staff. The agency encourages principals, headmasters, and superintendents to share the memo with their education community. Additionally, individuals can subscribe or unsubscribe online.

Questions? Email aoe.edinfo@vermont.gov.