DPA ESSA Newsletter, Q2 FY 2024-25

Greetings from the BIE Division of Performance and Accountability, Supplemental Education Programs. We are pleased to present the second edition of our DPA and SEP Newsletter, which features updates and announcements from our ESSA program coordinators. We are committed to keeping you informed about upcoming professional development opportunities that will support your school improvement planning efforts.

- Marie Silverhatband (Diné), Acting Supervisory Education Program Specialist

The SY25-26 BIE One Plan opens on April 1, 2025. Schools can begin entering or updating data through Plan4Learning, the online platform for completing the One Plan. To support school improvement teams, we offer a list of on-demand training topics and recordings designed to help optimize time and resources.

Additionally, formative reviews should be completed in February and May. During these reviews, schools will update the progress on their current SMART goals and, in May, determine which goals have been achieved, which will roll over into the next school year, and which will be discontinued.

Please contact Freddy Poitra at the DPA office or your Education Resource Center if you need help.

Title II Funding Guidance for Professional Development to improve the quality and effectiveness of teachers, principals, and other educational staff.

Title II of the Every Student Succeeds Act provides essential funding to improve the quality of education by enhancing the professional skills of teachers, principals and other school educational staff. One key component is focusing on professional development, which is a critical tool for improving educator performance for student outcomes. Professional development is essential to ensuring that teachers have the skills, knowledge and tools to deliver effective instruction. Title II funding may support various PD activities, including training programs, leadership development and collaborative learning initiatives.

To effectively use Title II funds for professional development, schools should adhere to several key guidelines:

• Conduct a Needs Assessment
• Evidence-Based Professional Development
• Sustained and Ongoing Professional Development
• Leadership Development
• Collaboration and Peer Learning
• Evaluation of Professional Development Impact

Contact Shilo Krolikowski for assistance using the Title II grant supplemental funding to best serve BIE students.

School Highlight: Pine Springs Day School

Dr. Smith's class at Pine Springs Day School in Houck, Arizona, is known as the STEAM Lab. Students have spent the school year transitioning into working completely collaboratively and interactively while mastering scientific concepts.

The Rural and Low-Income School grant program provides financial assistance to rural schools for initiatives to improve student achievement. The grant is non-competitive, and eligibility is determined by statute.

RLIS grant funds awarded to LEAs/schools shall be used for any of the following allowable program activities to assist students in meeting challenging State academic standards under:

1. Title I, Part A - Improving Basic Programs Operated by Local Education Agencies
2. Title II, Part A - Supporting Effective Instruction
3. Title IV, Part A - Student Support and Academic Enrichment
4. Parent and Family Engagement Activities

Of 18 schools (16 Nashville ERC and two Navajo ERC), seven of the Nashville schools and one of the Navajo ERC schools received Rural and Low-Income School Funds. Two of the eight schools allocated funding to support Title l, Improving Basic Programs; two allocated funds to support Title 1 and Parent Engagement Activities; and one allocated funding to support Title I and Title II, Part A, Supporting Effective Instruction. Three schools funded Title IV, Part A and Parent and Family Engagement Activities. Interestingly, five of the eight – over 50 percent – of the schools allocated funding to support Parent and Family Engagement Activities.

Past due tasks:

1. Submit your school’s CSI Budget and CSI Grant Assurance to the Plan 4 Learning.
2. Ensure that your school’s CSI Program Plan includes SMART goals aligned with BIE’s accountability indicators, including ELA, math, science, chronic absenteeism, EL progress and graduation rates.
3. Identify evidence-based strategies/activities.
4. Complete the formative review for November. The next formative review is coming up in February.

Upcoming Events:

1. Beyond Textbook Data Convening #2 (for schools that partner with BT/WestEd/DPA supports) March 4 in Flagstaff and March 6 in Albuquerque. More information is forthcoming.

CSI Low Grad Rate schools, please update your contact information here.

The Bureau of Indian Education is implementing The XQ Math Badging initiative in partnership with The XQ Institute and Student Achievement Partners. Educators at high schools, such as Santa Fe Indian School, are engaging students in rigorous mathematics experiences that are salient to students’ daily lives. Joseph Skeets from SFIS has seen increased student engagement and agency through implementing the badging initiative.

“This process has prompted me to reflect deeply on my teaching methods and explore ways to reshape, reimagine, and reform our high school experience,” Skeets said. “One significant shift I’ve made in my teaching is encouraging students to write more in math and explain their reasoning in complete sentences.”

Rather than engaging in traditional assessments, students are building portfolios of work demonstrating their knowledge of mathematics concepts and engaging in performance tasks that require them to apply the math they’ve learned to real-world scenarios.

Please contact Colleen Clark or Loren Hudson from the DPA office for help.

2025 Bureau of Indian Education 21st Century Community Learning Centers Grant Award Accepting Applications

The 21st Century Community Learning Centers competitive grant is designed to provide funding to create academic enrichment opportunities during non-school hours for children who attend BIE funded schools. The goal of the 21st CCLC program is to help students meet state and local standards in core academic subject areas, such as reading and math; offer students a broad array of activities that can complement regular academic programs; and offer cultural enrichment opportunities based around language, tribal heritage, land and more. Annual awards will range from a minimum of $50,000 to a maximum of $240,000 for 5 years.

Apply:

• Review the Request for Application and 21st CCLC Grant Application.
• Attend one of the application webinars as needed for application assistance.
• Submit your ‘Intent to Apply’ email to 21stCCLC@bie.edu by January 30, 2025.
• Submit your application by March 28, 2025, to 21stCCLC@bie.edu.

Support and Assistance

• 21st CCLC New Grant Application Webinars:
• February 11th, 11-1:00CST
• 21st CCLC Grant Application Open Q/A Office Hours:
• February 25th, 11-12:00CST
• March 11th, 11-12:00CST

Email general questions to Sarah Price and Andrea Bia.

School Highlight: Te Tsu Geh Oweenge Day School in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Highly qualified personnel instructors use the Comprehensive Literacy State Development Grant to provide high-quality instruction.

Early Childhood students at Te Tsu Geh Oweenge Day School in Santa Fe, New Mexico, learn reading and writing skills through pictures and literature. The school incorporates Indigenous-themed books to bring folktales to life, allowing students to create drawings that reflect their personal interpretation and understanding of the stories.

Te Tsu Geh Oweenge also uses technology to aid teachers and students within a structured literacy model. The technology keeps students engaged, including the smartboard, which allows for a quick search of reading and writing materials for a specific topic.

Vocabulary and comprehension are about using the words you know and understanding what you are reading or hearing.

These best practices help students build a cognitive foundation for literacy.

School Highlight: Enemy Swim Day School in Waubay, South Dakota

Enemy Swim Day School utilizes its CLSD grant to create a reading atmosphere at home and school. The grant helps to purchase classroom libraries and mini student home libraries to foster a love of reading. The school emphasizes integrating Native American literature into the core reading program with every grade having at least one book of Native American literature embedded into their curriculum every quarter. In the first years of the grant, teachers developed beautiful, culturally relevant units.

The McKinney-Vento Act aims to ensure that each homeless child and youth has equal access to the same free, appropriate public education as is provided to other children and youth by removing barriers to enrollment and attendance in school and supporting their educational success.

Who qualifies for McKinney-Vento?

Section 725(2) of the McKinney-Vento Act defines “homeless children and youths” as individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. This definition includes children and youth:

• Who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship or a similar reason (commonly known as “doubled up”).
• Are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks or camping grounds due to inadequate accommodations.
• Are living in emergency or transitional shelters or abandoned in hospitals.
• Who have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.
• Who live in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings.
• And migratory children who qualify as homeless because they are living in the circumstances described above.

News and Announcements

The BIE McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program is excited to announce a one-time sub-grant competition. This specially tailored grant opportunity aims to assist BIE schools in appointing a school-based McKinney-Vento liaison, enhancing their ability to meet required responsibilities, offering comprehensive professional development and implementing culturally relevant strategies to improve the identification of BIE students experiencing homelessness.

Contact Marie Silverhatband from the DPA office for assistance.

Foster Care Program

The Foster Care Program had a Federal Update in November of 2024. The New Joint Guidance to Support Students in Foster Care includes updates regarding dispute resolution, special populations, funding, transition, and data collection and reporting. Interagency collaboration is an essential component of successful programs, and child welfare agencies and schools should have the time and capacity required to meaningfully engage in the collaboration. Policies and procedures should be in place to resolve disputes regarding the placement of foster students and regarding school of origin, transportation, and enrollment.

Opportunities for all children, including cross-program opportunities for special needs, English Learners, the homeless, juvenile justice, Native Americans and preschool students must be provided. Policies must be developed to remove barriers that impede attendance and ensure discipline is used as a last resort. Credit accrual and graduation policies should be reviewed and revised to eliminate barriers to students' graduation. Funding opportunities have now been identified and schools must identify and inform students of transition services and programs such as Perkins V, Gear UP, TRIO, Independent living, Chafee ETV, extended foster care and Tuition assistance programs. States and schools should use data to drive programming, expand their knowledge of data use, and identify and detail federal reporting requirements. Agency routines should be shared, and formal agreements should be utilized when needed.

The Foster Care Program provides professional development and technical assistance to enhance school programs and ensure program compliance, so students receive the best programming and support possible.

Parent & Family Engagement

The Principles of Effective Practice can provide one with simple but efficient strategies that will increase parental involvement and engagement within your school. One may begin implementation of two-three principles and fully implement the later principles as resources and time becomes available.

Principles of Effective Practice

Programs invite families to participate in decision-making and goal setting for their child.

• Invite families to actively take part in making decisions concerning their children’s education.

• Teachers and families jointly set goals for children’s education and learning at home and school.

• Teachers and programs engage families in timely continuous two-way communication.

• Focus on a child’s educational experience and the larger program.

• Communication takes multiple forms and reflects each family’s language preference.

• Programs and teachers engage families in truly reciprocal ways.

• Programs and families benefit from shared resources and information.

• Invite families to share their unique knowledge and skills and encourage active participation in school life.

• Teachers seek information about children’s lives, families, and communities and integrate this information into their curriculum and teaching practices.

• Programs provide learning activities for the home and in the community.

• Learning activities at home and in the community

• Participate in program-level decisions and broader advocacy efforts.

• Implement a comprehensive program-level system of family engagement.

• Institutionalize family engagement policies and practices

If at any time technical assistance is needed, please contact Wanda.Belgarde@bie.edu at your convenience.

Wanda Belgarde

Division of Performance & Accountability

Education Specialist

• Micro Training 1: Consolidation & Coordination of Federal Grants
• Micro Training 2: Transferability
• Micro Training 3: Allowable Use of Funds
• Micro Training 4: Allowable Activities

To help prepare for your school’s 2025-2026 BIE One Plan, please see this compiled list of on-demand training topics and recordings designed to help teams maximize their time and resources.