Apr 4, 2024
Updates on EdAdvance’s program activities during February 2024 relating to our member districts.
ADULT EDUCATION
EdAdvance Adult Education is collaborating with the Northwest Regional Workforce Investment Board (NRWIB) to develop a remediation program for adults with high school diplomas who are unable to pass the test score threshold to qualify for state Career ConneCT training.
EdAdvance participated in the NRWIB focus group to develop the Workforce Board Local Plan. Adult Education is a required partner for funding
BASES (Before & After School Extended Services)
Thanks to the CSDE After School Grant, BASES has new enrichment coming to the programs in Newtown and New Fairfield.
BASES will be opening registration for 2 new before school programs (Region 14 and New Fairfield) and 1 new before and after school program (Brookfield). If the new programs receive sufficient enrollment, there will be 12 BASES Programs sites (with 8 having both before and after school) in 7 districts (New Fairfield, Brookfield, Newtown, Region 14, Torrington, New Hartford, Barkhamsted) for SY 24-25.
EARLY CHILDHOOD & FAMILY PROGRAMS
Eileen Costello, our Danbury School Readiness Coordinator, has been asked by the City of Danbury to serve on the education subcommittee of the Mayor’s community advisory committee.
Early Childhood Specialists have been offering standards and curriculum trainings for early care providers/preschool staff in community programs and school districts in the following towns: Winsted, Danbury, New Milford, East Hartford (bilingual), Hartford (bilingual), North Canaan, Southbury, and Thomaston. We are one of two RESCs that have bilingual capacity to offer these trainings/workshops.
The Plymouth FRC and the Torrington FRC went to the State Capitol this month to advocate to keep our funding current and in the CSDE budget. Both towns have great legislative support for the Family Resource Centers - going strong for over 25 plus years at our agency!
GRANTS
Submitted:
CT RAPID Survey Project - $40,000 for 2-years for Early Childhood Survey distribution
Whole Kids Garden Grant - $3,000 for WorkspaceCT educational edible garden
Taconic Berkshire Community Foundation - $5,000 for CCA Education Pathway
Draper Foundation LOI for Head Start Parent & Community MPR - $50,000
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Began acquiring technology for new College and Career Program (CCA) at the EdAdvance Regional Learning Center (RLC) including CAD software, 3D printers, and CAD capable computers - all grant funded.
Marketing & Communications
Dissemination of press release announcing the appointment of Jonathan as Executive Director — Jonathan Costa named new Executive Director of EdAdvance
Redesigned agency Employee Perks document
Created flyer to promote School-Based Mental Health Professionals Scholarship
Updated all EdAdvance websites to include an accessibility widget
PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
General Staff Development/Other:
Conducted State Educator and Leader Training throughout the month at CAS for administrators and local PDEC membership.
Provided ongoing instructional coaching support in Brookfield and North Haven Public Schools.
Provided a 2-Day PDEC training for the Connecticut Technical High School System.
Mandate Relief Day held at EdAdvance to support local districts with over a dozen local member districts in attendance.
Met with the RESC Staff Developers to continue to plan for the Igniting Change conference as well as the upcoming “RESC Alliance Convening” in June for all professional learning specialists across the state.
Provided 1 day of ongoing support to Region 14 on their math implementation at the high school.
Co-facilitated Connecticut Council of Leaders of Mathematics (CCLM) Winter Roundtable Event in New Haven, CT.
Provided 1 day of ongoing support in the form of a math lab to Avon’s elementary schools on their implementation of a problem-based lesson design.
Facilitated a half-day professional learning session for New Hartford to support their implementation of their Illustrative Mathematics resource.
Provided a half-day of ongoing support to Brookfield on their math implementation at the middle school.
Provided 2 days of ongoing support to Bethany School district’s 5th and 6th grade teachers on their math implementation.
Facilitated a half-day of in-person and half-day of virtual professional learning for Torrington secondary math teachers to support their math implementation.
Provided a half-day of ongoing support to Brookfield K-3 teachers on their math implementation of their Illustrative Mathematics resource.
Provided 1 day of ongoing support to Region 14 on their math implementation at the high school and 1 day at the middle school level.
Provided a half-day of ongoing support to teachers in Grades 5 and 6 at Botelle Elementary School in Norfolk on their math implementation of their Illustrative Mathematics resource.
Facilitated a meeting for the CT IM K-5 Mathematics Consortium group on their implementation of their IM implementation.
Facilitated the final two meetings of the Connecticut Educator Certification Council which resulted in the submission of raised bill 5436 which is designed to simplify certification in Connecticut.
Facilitated a Digital Council Meeting with guest Doug Casey to learn more about the updated CT Edtech Plan, Digital Equity Plan, and 2024 National Educational Technology Plan. Districts in attendance included Bethel, Branford, Brookfield, Colchester, Darien, East Hartford, Litchfield, Middletown, Milford, Montville, New Milford, Region 12, Region 15, Somers, Stamford, Watertown, and Weston.
Provided professional development for Canton Middle School teachers in support of Commissioner’s Network report.
Provided the first of two days of support to West Hartford in customizing and planning to implement EdAdvance’s Professional Educator Review of Practice (ROP) growth and evaluation model.
Provided support to Winchester in CT Guidelines for Educator Evaluation and EdAdvance’s Professional Educator Review of Practice (ROP) growth and evaluation model.
Provided support to elementary principals in the region via the Principals Network session.
Participated in classroom observations at PAL and ACCESS programs.
Provided professional learning and facilitation of evaluation model development in alignment with the CT Guidelines for Educator Evaluation and Support 2023 for Wolcott PDEC.
Teacher Education and Mentoring Program (TEAM):
Provided on-going district facilitator support to EdAdvance, including coaching individual beginning teachers, and facilitating a TEAM ROP support session to EdAdvance’s 2 beginning teachers and their mentors.
Participated in CT State Department of Education and RESC Alliance for TEAM Leadership meetings.
Facilitated a three-part Initial Support Teacher training to 20 educators from Bethel, Danbury, Newtown, Region 12, Region 15, Fairfield, Guilford, Manchester, and Oxford.
Ongoing development of Initial Support Teacher training for the 2024-2025 school year.
Ongoing development of Initial Reviewer training for the 2024-2025 school year.
Ongoing development of Mentor Professional Learning Unit online training modules.
Attendance & Engagement/Learner Engagement and Attendance Program (LEAP):
Provided attendance and engagement professional development to 75 New Haven Public Schools educators, 60 Windham Public Schools educators, 40 Middletown Public Schools educators, and 20 Torrington Public School social workers.
Provided ongoing support for Connecticut State Department of Education’s Attendance Awareness campaign.
Provided ongoing support and participation in Talk Tuesday sessions.
Provided support for Bridgeport Public Schools administrators new to the Learner Engagement & Attendance Program (LEAP) model.
Provided ongoing support in budget creation, writing, revising, and moving forward the Learner Engagement & Attendance Program (LEAP) contract.
Provided ongoing planning support and materials development for New Haven Public Schools for attendance and engagement work.
Provided ongoing support and participation in monthly Connecticut State Department of Education’s Attendance Advisory Committee.
Planned and facilitated monthly Learner Engagement & Attendance Program (LEAP) District Coordinator meeting.
Provided ongoing Learner Engagement & Attendance Program (LEAP) data support.
Attended Network to Advance State Attendance Policy and Practice (NASAPP) February webinar.
Presented at New Haven Public Schools District Attendance Team Meeting.
Data Division/Evaluation and Support/Administrative Support:
Shared December/January data with CSDE on LEAP Home Visitor reports.
Led session on Grading for Equity for Amity High School.
Collected data from the EdAdvance School-Based Mental Health Counselors.
English Learners:
Facilitated support for Title III budget for Region 1.
Facilitated a half-day culturally responsive PD for Windsor.
Facilitated a full day Multilingual Learner PD for Torrington.
Attended RESC ML PD on Black ML learners in the state.
Attended RESC Multilingual Learner SLIFE committee meeting.
Attended New Haven LEAP planning meeting.
SKILLS21 – Matt Mervis
Matt Mervis provided AI professional development for Montville, LEARN, Stamford, and Wolcott.
Launched Personal Interest Projects at Preston Plains Middle School, Preston, CT.
Presented Sidekick Academy, a new ethical AI curriculum South Windsor and Meriden and presented at the EAAI Conference in Vancouver, BC.
Filmed EdAdvance’s Head Start classrooms for their required CLASS observations.
SPECIAL PROGRAMS
ASOLA:
We held our first spring session for 70 students in Plymouth and Thomaston for this Thursday after school program at Indian Rock Nature Center in Bristol. ASOLA is part of the CSDE Interdistrict Grant Program.
Mental Health Awareness Training in Western CT (MHAT-WCT):
During this month, we provided Mental Health First Aid Training for 50 adults and 8 teens throughout the region.
TRANSPORTATION
Our transportation request form has been revised and will be available on our website soon. Districts will have direct access to submit requests for transportation as well as being able to request a placement that we do not currently service and send it out to our school partners.
We are continuing to work with software providers to take the new TIMS (Transportation Information Management System), developed by Justin Pascoe from Transportation, and develop an app that can be used to meet the transportation needs of our customers. TIMS will help us provide more accurate pricing and keep our data “live” so we can provide real time information to clients such as route cost, distances, and days attended. Internally, it will allow us to better track our costs and provide competitive pricing.