Dear Educators,
In this busy time of year, I make a special effort to center myself, be present, and hold gratitude. When I was a principal, I could do that by stepping into a classroom, sitting down at a tiny student desk, and watching one of my teachers and their students shine. I could also center by stepping outside at recess and just watching students play. Their joy was renewing. Sometimes, all I had was five minutes–and that five minutes was often enough to fuel me.
As we enter the holiday season–with all its joys and all its stressors–I hope you can find those renewing moments of presence and gratitude. I’m personally grateful for all of you and your hard work. I’m also grateful for my incredible team, who works so hard behind the scenes to make sure all of the supports we offer run smoothly. They are superstars, as are all of you.
We hope this newsletter makes your lives a little bit easier. In it, we gather the latest around our hubs and collaboratives, as well as the opportunities for educators and students that we promised.
One of the most important pieces of information is around the Super App, so I want to mention it here in addition to below. The Super App deadline is earlier than in prior years. It is due January 27, 2023. For details, you can check out our “at a glance” document.
Thank you for all that you do. If you’ve got questions, ideas, victories, challenges, or stories to share, please let us know.
Sincerely,
Nan
Super App Support 2023-2024
On October 20, 2022, LDOE released the school system planning guide that includes information on how to apply for funding through Super App, which is due on Friday, January 27, 2023. We’ve prepared a NSNO Super App At-A-Glance document to help your process. We’ve also outlined some of the key pages in the planning guide here.
Important highlights from the 2023-2024 school system planning guide:
- ESSER (Page 9) – We are now in phases II (Jan ‘21-Sep ‘23) and III (Mar ‘21-Sep ‘24) of the federal government’s ESSER pandemic relief funds.
- New in Super App (Page 12)
- High-quality science curriculum (P3.4.5) and Professional Development (P4.5.5) are now required in grades K-8 at CIR and UIR-Academics sites.
- Optional funding is available for the purchase of a number of materials and opportunities (highlights listed here).
- CIR/UIR Labels will be released after SPS scores mid-November and the Identification of Struggling Schools link on page 11 will be updated later this fall.
- Important appendices: Appendix A: The School System Planning Framework and Funding Guidance (Pages 14-21), Appendix B: The CIR/UIR-Academics Requirements (Page 22), and Appendix D: The Super App Submission Checklist (Page 24).
2023-2024 Professional Development Offerings
Please see the list below for the full descriptions of NSNO’s 2023-24 professional development offerings. To inform us of your intent to participate in our hubs/collaboratives, complete the interest form linked here by January 27, 2023.
All hubs/collaboratives for the 23-24 school year will be NSNO funded.
Foundational Literacy Collaborative
Year 3, Grades K-2
Proposed Vendor
TNTP
Description of Collaborative
A collaborative to provide support and coaching collaboratively with a cohort of schools around best practices for teaching foundational reading skills and support to curriculum CKLA and/or ARC.
Intermediate Literacy Collaborative
Year 2, Grades 3-8
Proposed Vendor
Teacher Pros
Description of Collaborative
A collaborative to provide support and coaching collaboratively with a cohort of schools around best practices for embedding key foundational reading skills for students in upper elementary and middle school grades and support to Tier 1 ELA curriculum.
Data Collaborative
Year 5, Grades K-12
Proposed Vendor
School Leadership Center (SLC)
Description of Collaborative
A collaborative to provide support to school leadership teams in data analysis of school selected assessments.
New Offering
Prime Time Family Reading
Pilot Year 1, Grades K-5
Proposed Vendor
Prime Time (A Project of Louisiana Endowment For The Humanities)
Program Information
In honor of Family Literacy month, New Schools for New Orleans would like to announce a grant opportunity that will be forthcoming in 2023 to connect scholars and their families to engage with literacy through the Prime Time program.
Prime Time programs are tailored to assist local communities, children, and their families with a platform to build a strong foundation of literacy and critical thinking. This program combines a storyteller with meaningful discussion to highlight the themes found in children’s books. In addition, each family that participates in the program will receive a copy of each book read during the program to add to their home libraries. The beauty of the Prime Time program is that each 6 week series is thematically grouped to allow children and their families to discuss caring, inquiry, life’s journeys, and so much more. The books are award-winning children’s books filled with beautiful illustrations and culturally diverse stories, folk tales, and historical accounts from around the world. Prime Time is an approved LDOE Tier 1 vendor and thus supports the Instructional Quality Initiative and rationale of utilizing a vendor partner that has been vetted as high-quality.
To indicate your interest in the opportunity, please complete the interest form linked here by January 27, 2023. For general questions about Prime Time, please reach out to primetime@leh.org.
As a reminder, school level professional development plans should include a curriculum implementation support strategy for “new” and veteran ELA, math, and science teachers. Because schools sometimes receive an influx of new instructional staff, leaders should have a curriculum implementation support plan in place for “new” staff. School leaders should also work with PD vendor partners to develop specific job embedded professional development opportunities, including PLCs, for “new” teachers and instructional coaches.If you have any questions or want more information regarding the learning opportunities for next school year and how to participate, please feel free to reach out to Nan Sterling at nan@nsno.org.
2023-2024 Collaborative Offerings Interest Form – click here.
Data Collaborative Highlights
The Data Collaborative is in full swing this school year with expert vendor partner, SLC. Here is what a couple of participants have to say about their experience in the hub so far.
“Actively working on the SPS calculator and anchor charts gave me a better understanding of the importance of LEAP, LEAP Connect and ELPT scores along with their contribution to the overall SPS score.”
“I’ve really enjoyed these sessions and appreciate that all of the meetings have been solutions oriented and grounded in productive actions. It’s helped me develop initiatives at my school, stay on track with them, and update practices and goals as needed. In addition to this, it has provided me with examples of how to run collaborative workshops that lead to solutions and develop accountability and fidelity.”
What’s new with IQI this year? Look forward to these two highlights:
We’ll be revamping the Instructional Quality Initiative (IQI) page of NSNO’s website. It will include a password-protected “resources” link that will lead to spreadsheets listing which vendors and assessments each school citywide is using. We hope this will aid in your collaboration with other leaders and schools citywide. We’ll also have a link called “opportunities for educators” that we’ll update with grant and professional development opportunities, as well as “opportunities for scholars” with camps, clubs, after-school programs and resources that we learn of.
We have partnered with GNO Inc. and will be hosting the first ever STEM Summit for New Orleans K-12 educators on May 25th and May 26th.
Call to Presenters
Are you a STEM leader in the Greater New Orleans Area? Have you always wanted to share your knowledge of STEM instruction with teachers in our unique city? Now is your chance! The NOLA Stem Summit is happening on May 25-26th 2023!
Twenty-eight (28) STEM sessions will be offered to share knowledge in the field of expertise with educators in our city. If you are interested, please follow this link to submit your proposal. The deadline for proposal submission is December 2, 2022. All presenters will be notified of their selection by January 20, 2023.
If you have any questions about the STEM Summit or submitting a proposal to be a STEM Summit presenter, please contact Jana Milan at jana@nsno.org.
Opportunities for Educators
- UnboundEd 2023 Standards Institute
- Content Leader Program: Now Accepting Applications
- Webinar: Building a World Class Computer Science Pathway in Your School or Network
- 2023 Greater New Orleans STEM Energy Education Workshop
- The Reading and Writing Project – Professional Development
- Agenda For Children – Professional Development
- International Literacy Association – Developing Skills in All Learners Webinar
- Assessment Development Educator Review Committee
- New Teacher Experience: Affinity Group Registration Now Open
- New Teacher Experience: Professional Development Registration Now Open
Opportunities for Scholars