Greetings, school leaders!

As we head towards the end of the school year, many of us are gearing up for summer learning. Each year, ADE is proud to support the high-quality summer learning happening at our public charter and district schools. This year, ESSER set-aside funding provided to the State has provided even more opportunities for LEAs. 

Educators, students, and families can visit Discovery Education's Summer Learning Activities Channel to find ready-to-use activities that cover a range of topics, subjects, and grades. This is part of Discovery Education's Summer of Learning, which Arizona teachers, students, and parents can access for free, thanks to federal recovery dollars. 

Through our partners at Arizona's Center for Recruitment and Retention of Mathematics Educators (CRR), the Re-Engaging Aspirational Learners program (Getting REAL) is offering summer school programming to provide exciting mathematic experiences that work alongside ELA and Science summer school curricula. The CRR will provide free program materials, training, and curriculum sessions for 1-6 weeks for summer school lengths. Contact Melissa Hosten at [email protected] to bring this exciting math program to your summer learners. 

Finally, LEAs are encouraged to apply for Governor Ducey's On Track Summer Camp grant funding to support summer learning activities at your school. Read a quick FAQ about this funding and apply through AZ OnTrack Summer Camp. The application closes on Monday, April 18. 

ESSER Updates and Deadlines

ESSER I, II, and III Data Collection – Due Friday, April 22.

This is a friendly reminder that LEAs must submit their ESSER data reports by Friday, April 22, as required by the US Department of Education (ED).

Please visit www.azed.gov/ESSER-Data for step-by-step information and resources to support you with this data reporting process. The ESSER Reporting Supplement may be accessed through the ADE Grants Management system at gme.azed.gov. The Supplement is named 'ESSER Reporting' and can be found under Fiscal Year 2022.

ESSER l, ll, and lll Programmatic Monitoring

Over the last few years, ADE has been proud to support the delivery of ESSER I, II, and III funding to our local education agencies. We know the process has involved many steps –-and we would like to learn more about where our LEAs are in their implementation journey!

 On May 4, ADE will notify sixty-two randomly selected LEAs of their participation via email. ED requires programmatic monitoring. These sixty-two LEAs represent all 15 counties, districts, and charters, small, mid-size, large, rural, and urban LEAs.

Initial monitoring will cover ESSER I, II, and III funded activities that have been implemented or planned through summer 2022. During June, July, and September, our team will meet virtually with the LEA teams to learn more about your LEA's implementation journey, the decision-making process, stakeholder involvement, and how the funds address current needs and impact immediate and long-term student outcomes. Most importantly, we want to know what strategies or activities you are most proud of. 

We look forward to these conversations! If you have any questions, please contact Devon Isherwood at [email protected], Allison Barbor at [email protected], or [email protected].

ESSER III

Thank you to all our administrators and school leaders who applied for your LEAs ESSER III allocation by the federal deadline of February 1, 2022.

If you have not yet submitted your application, please do so as soon as possible. 

Safe Return to In-Person Learning

Safe Return to In-Person Learning Plans are due in EMAC by May 6, 2022.  Thank you to those LEAs that have already submitted their plan.

How to access EMAC

1. Sign into ADEConnect (adeconnect.azed.gov)
2. Go to View Applications
3. Click Applications
4. Click EMAC from your ADEConnect application menu

How to assign a user role

1. Go to azed.gov
2. Select the EMAC Link
3. Then follow the directions in this link How to add new users in EMAC or in the EMAC application, select Support/Help (upper right-hand corner of the home screen), and watch the video on how to assign roles

How to complete the task

Once someone in your LEA is assigned the EMAC role, please complete the Safe Return to In-Person Learning task.  It is a form that needs to be completed in EMAC.  Once completed, please make sure to click the submit button.  Your specialist will then be able to review your plan. 

Resources: EMAC Portal User Guide

LEA Assigned Specialist Alphabetical by LEA Name and Group Number

If you need further assistance, please email Allison Barbor or call at  602-542-3068. 

Upcoming ESSER Set-Aside Opportunities

The following opportunities are funded and supported by the Arizona Department of Education’s ESSER set aside investments:

UArizona’s CRR’s Re-Engaging Aspirational Learners (Getting REAL) Before and After School Programming

The goal of this before and after school program is to re-engage learners and reconnect them to their education community, support their developing understanding of foundational mathematics, and provide the basic needs for these learners to thrive. The CRR will provide participating schools with:

• Program materials and training to reengage these learners
• Each session begins with a nutritious snack and community connection activity
• Mathematical exploration activities or problems that are culturally relevant and interesting

This program is targeted at students in kindergarten through eighth grade. Please contact Melissa Hosten at [email protected] to enroll.

ASU Math Momentum

ASU Math Momentum program elevates math achievement by partnering with the Arizona school communities to address both schools that have strong math teachers and would like to improve student performance and schools that have math staffing gaps.

ASU Math Momentum is offering live, virtual sessions after school and on Saturdays. Some featured sessions we are running include Trauma-Informed Teaching, Financial Literacy, Fostering College Readiness, Engaging Students in Collaboration and Fostering a Growth Mindset. Late April will also feature our Saturday Workshop Series on Promoting Equity and Access. 

Additionally, ASU Math Momentum offers asynchronous training courses and resources that teachers can access at any time. Educators can register for a free account here https://training.asuprepdigital.org/ and earn professional development hours.

Arizona’s PAX Good Behavior Game

Are your teachers overwhelmed? Do your students have difficulty readjusting to the classroom? Is a lack of focus and attention hurting academic outcomes?

The Arizona Department of Education is providing training in the evidence-based, trauma-informed PAX Good Behavior Game to all Arizona educators at no cost. The PAX Good Behavior Game provides educators with proven and effective strategies to improve SEL outcomes, student behavior, academic outcomes, and teacher wellness. 

PAX Good Behavior Game training is offered in virtual and self-paced online formats for your entire staff. All participants receive certificates for 6 contact hours of professional development.

Please contact [email protected] to schedule a site-specific training for your staff.

Greetings, school leaders!

Thank you for continuing to utilize ESSER funds in creative ways to support students’ academic, social, and emotional wellbeing and success. 

As we head towards the final quarter of this school year, our ESSER team reminds you to visit our EMAC portal to complete the second submission of your Safe Return to In-Person Learning plans. Please visit EMAC to check your submission date.

As a reminder, you may only submit one month prior to your LEA’s assigned due date. LEA has been assigned to a specialist for review, feedback and approval will all be in the EMAC system moving forward. Below are resources to help familiarize yourself with EMAC:

• How to add new users in EMAC (for ADEConnect Administrators) 
• EMAC Portal User Guide

Please contact [email protected] with any EMAC questions. Thank you to all our LEAs who submitted their plans via EMAC!

Post-Secondary ESSER Set-Aside Opportunities

The following professional development opportunities are funded and supported by the Arizona Department of Education’s federal recovery dollar investments. These activities are supported by the funds at ADE’s discretion and are separate from dollars allocated directly to LEAs:

The Ask Benji Chatbot is a free FAFSA completion tool whose services are available statewide to teachers, students, and their families. For high school seniors, completing and submitting the FAFSA by April 1st is one of the requirements of the Arizona Promise Program, which provides free in-state tuition to qualifying Arizona high school seniors.

AzCAN’s College Access Professional (CAP) Training will help professionals develop an understanding of their role in developing a college-going mission for all students, particularly students in poverty or facing other barriers in postsecondary planning. All the courses are designed for anyone who provides direct service to students, no matter what their role may be. Cohorts of staff are encouraged to participate in the courses together as creating an action plan is a course component.

Courses are self-paced, with a one-hour commitment a day! You can view the full course list here. Initial courses include:

• Building a College Going Future for All Students
• Financial Aid & College Applications
• College & Career Advising in the Middle Grades
• College & Career Advising for Non-School Counselors

LEA ESSER III Grant Approvals

Thank you to all our LEAs who submitted applications to receive their allocations of ESSER III funding. We’re so grateful that this additional funding is being used to support students, teachers, and communities.

Our ESSER team is reviewing these applications and working diligently to complete the reviews in a timely manner. We appreciate your patience as our small but mighty team reviews the applications.

After your ESSER III application is approved, we request that LEAs do a monthly drawdown of funds. Learn more on our ESSER III page.

ESSER Data Collection to resume

The US Department of Education is ready for LEAs to resume ESSER (I, II, and III) data reporting as required by the federal covid relief packages. These new requirements are comprehensive and include fiscal, programmatic, and personnel data that will need to be submitted from LEAs regarding their ESSER (I, II, and III)-funded activities that occurred between July 1, 2020 – June 30, 2021.

Join us for our weekly education leaders call on March 9th for a high-level overview for leaders on the new ESSER data reporting requirements. Do you need to be added to our weekly education leaders call? Sign up here. 

Additionally, ADE is partnering with ASBA, ASA, AASBO, and ACSA to host a deep-dive next steps webinar for LEAs on these reporting requirements on March 14th from 2-3:30 PM. You can sign up for the joint webinar here.

ESSER Data Reporting: Next Steps for LEAs Webinar Registration

Happy new year, school leaders!

The final deadline to apply for your LEA’s eligible ESSER III Funds is fast approaching – February 1, 2022.

Our team is here to help you in the final stretch to the deadline. We know you have additional grants due this month and are juggling competing priorities.

We will be hosting an Office Hours session every week where you are free to ask questions, discuss potential uses of funds, and work with an ESSER director or specialist. You can pop in any time during the hour.

January ESSER Application Office Hours

Registration not required – simply join a session during the hours listed below.

• January 13, 2022 2:00-3:00
• January 18, 2022 11:00-12:00
• January 27, 2022 8:30-9:30 AM

You can reach an ESSER specialist directly by emailing [email protected]. Better yet, give us a call directly. We’d rather answer your questions up-front and make sure your application is as impactful as possible.

Devon Isherwood, Deputy Associate Superintendent of School Support & Improvement

(602) 364-0379

[email protected]

Allison Barbor, ESSER Director

(602) 542-3068

[email protected]

Creative Uses of ESSER Funds

Ahead of the February 1 deadline, we are featuring creative examples of how Arizona LEAs can leverage ESSER Funds. 

We know that each school community has unique contexts and needs – and ADE’s ESSER Team is available to discuss how to leverage your ESSER dollars to best to meet those needs.

ESSER funds can be used to improve sanitation, facilities, and policies that support safety & health in their school communities. Consider these ideas:

• Vape detectors that detect particles in the air and alert mobile phones, to keep air quality in the bathrooms or classrooms clean.
• Renovating bathrooms to be touchless (flushing, soap, water, hand dryers) to improve sanitation challenges.
• COVID-19 Sick Leave Pay. ESSER I, II, and III funds can be leveraged pay for sick leave for staff who have tested positive or were exposed to COVID-19.
• Sports, PE, and the Arts can all be supported using the 20% Set Aside for SEL. Learn more about integrating sports, PE, and the Arts by visiting our Title IV-A website.

In need of other ideas? Visit ADE’s Evidence-Based Clearing House.

If you are using a Tier 4 Evidence-Based resource, you can complete this Evidence Based Summary Form and upload it to the related documents section of your ESSER III application.

Addressing Disrupted Learning

Curious what other districts and charters are doing to address Disrupted Learning? Review their submissions on our website to find out more.

Upcoming ESSER Set-Aside Opportunities for LEAs

Reminder: "ESSER Set-Aside" refers to federal dollars to spent by the Arizona Department of Education. These funds are separate than the ESSER funds allocated directly to LEAs. Learn more.

The following professional development opportunities are funded and supported by the Arizona Department of Education’s ESSER set aside investments:

Arizona SEL Course

The Arizona Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Course is a free online, self-paced, self-guided course that will focus on the development and understanding of the Arizona Department of Education adopted CASEL Competencies and how to develop a systemic implementation of the social emotional learning within their school or organization.

Note: This course is designed to be taken as a school team, leadership team, or district teams but individual educators may choose to take this course on their own as well. Please choose the class that best fits your needs

Discovery Ed Sessions

• Thursday, January 13, 2022, at 3:30 PM – Social Emotional Learning
• Thursday, January 20, at 3:30 PM - English Language Learners
• Thursday, January 27, 2022 at 3:30 PM – Career and Technical Education 

AzCAN College Access Professional (CAP) Training

AzCAN’s College Access Professional (CAP) Training will help professionals develop an understanding of their role in developing a college-going mission for all students, particularly students in poverty or facing other barriers in postsecondary planning. All the courses are designed for anyone who provides direct service to students, no matter what their role may be. Cohorts of staff are encouraged to participate in the courses together as creating an action plan is a course component.

Courses are self-paced, with a one-hour commitment a day! Initial courses include:

• Building a College Going Future for All Students
• Financial Aid & College Applications
• College & Career Advising in the Middle Grades
• College & Career Advising for Non-School Counselors

*See the full course list here.
 

ESSER Updates & Deadlines

Safe Return to In-Person Learning Plans: Spring 2022

Starting January 2022, Safe Return to In-Person Learning plans will be submitted via EMAC.

If you are not yet a part of EMAC, contact your ADEConnect Administrator and request to be added.

If you already have access to EMAC, perhaps through Title I or Title III, please reach out to your EMAC Admin to be added to the ESSER Group.

This quarter, you will receive an EMAC welcome email with set-up instructions and more information.

Resources:

• Contact [email protected] with any EMAC questions.
• How to add new users in EMAC (for ADEConnect Administrators)
• EMAC Portal User Guide

If you are not making any changes to your LEA’s Safe Return to In-Person Learning Plan this semester, please feel free to take the information from your previous approved plan and enter it into the new form in EMAC. You will complete this same form once every six months until September 30, 2023.

After you have submitted your plan, an ESSER Specialist will review your plan and then email you letting you know if it’s been approved or denied. Once approved, it will updated on the website.

NOTE: If you have not yet submitted your Fall 2021 Safe Return to In-Person Learning Plan, please do so immediately. You must complete this template and submit it to the online form (to be used for fall 2021 only. Spring 2022 plans must be submitted through EMAC).

Data Reporting

ADE continues to await new guidance from ED on the requirements for LEA ESSER Data Reporting requirements. We will email school leaders & federal programs contacts as soon as we learn more and have guidance and instructions to share.
 

ESSER Set Aside Update

The Arizona Department of Education received an incredible 130+ submissions for ESSER III Set-Aside dollars. Our team is reviewing submissions and plans to announce recipients by the spring.

Greetings school leaders! We are thrilled to send you the first installment of our monthly ESSER newsletter.

The goal of this newsletter is twofold. First, we want to keep you apprised of all of the opportunities and resources that your LEA can leverage and that are funded by federal recovery dollars (we refer to these as ADE’s ESSER set-aside projects.)  
Second, we want to provide information regarding the ESSER I, II, and III monies your LEA are allocated to fund your own activities. Think of this newsletter as a one-stop-ESSER shop.

Upcoming ESSER Set-Aside Opportunities for LEAs

Discovery Education

Discovery Education's state-of-the-art edtech learning platform, including a vast collection of compelling high-quality, standards-aligned content, ready-to-use digital lessons, and professional learning resources, is now available at no cost to Arizona’s public district and charter schools. Learn more about resources available on Discovery Education:

• November Highlights for Discovery Education (Newsletter)
• Virtual Field Trips: November 2021
• DEN VIRTCON: Light Up Your Lessons on November 9th
• How to sign up your district, charter, or school

New Pathways for Youth

As a beneficiary of ADE federal recovery funding (ESSER), New Pathways for Youth will be able to expand its reach to more than 1,000 youth in Maricopa County. You can join in these efforts by volunteering as a mentor. New Pathways for Youth works with high-school-aged kids who have experienced high levels of adversity. Youth are matched with a volunteer mentor who serves as a caring and stable adult in their life and learns the New Pathways research-based curriculum with them. Interested in learning more? RSVP for an upcoming info session in November or December to learn about possibly getting matched with youth as soon as January: npfy.org/get-involved/

For questions about these opportunities, please email [email protected].

Upcoming ESSER Application Office Hours

Struggling with your ESSER I, II, or III application or revision? Attend one of our standing office hours with an ESSER specialist! Registration is not required – simply click the links below to access the office hours on the given time and date.

November

• November 5 from 11:30 AM-12:30 PM MST
• November 10 from 8:00-9:00 AM MST
• November 18 from 2:00-3:00 PM MST

Have a question before one of these dates? Reach an ESSER specialist at any time at [email protected].

Creative Uses of ESSER Funds

Each month, we will highlight creative uses of ESSER investments in LEAs across the state. However, we know that each school community has unique contexts and needs – and ADE’s ESSER Team is available to discuss how to leverage your ESSER dollars to best to meet those needs.

Don’t hesitate to start a conversation with our team. Devon Isherwood @ 602-3640379 [email protected] or Allison Barbor @ 602 542-3068 [email protected] or email [email protected] .

Creighton is using ESSER funds to subsidize afterschool care – leveraging federal recovery dollars to bolster existing systems in their school community.

In the Creighton School District, leaders leveraged existing structures and teams to gather stakeholder feedback very intentionally for the use of ESSER funds. The team members represented of a variety of stakeholder groups, including families, staff, community partners, and higher education. They agreed on beliefs and goals as guiding principles and potential investment outcomes – and all feedback was considered and categorized for possible funding.

One area of focus they identified is intensified learning – which they are supported by staffing and implementing intensified learning pods, and by extending the school day with tutoring opportunities. For social-emotional well-being, another focus area, Creighton will partner with community agencies to provide additional counseling resources and expertise.

There was another substantial need among Creighton families that was identified in the feedback process – high-quality, affordable childcare. Creighton is addressing this need while also focusing on the identified needs of additional intensified instruction and social-emotional learning and trauma-sensitive practices by identifying community partners for afterschool childcare that include both academic and SEL evidence-based practices. ESSER funds will be used to contract with these childcare providers.

By listening to stakeholders, Creighton has developed a comprehensive, inclusive plan to use the ESSER funds to improve outcomes for all students.

Interested in learning more? Reach out to contacts at Creighton directly.

Eric Dueppen, Chief Academic Officer [email protected]
Pam Burkhardt, External Programs Director [email protected]
Donna Lewis, Superintendent [email protected]

Addressing Disrupted Learning

Curious what other districts and charters are doing to address Disrupted Learning? Review their submissions on our website to find out more: /esser/addressing-disrupted-learning

At Az-Tech High School, school leaders plan to holistically address academic and SEL impact, especially for students disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 by utilizling their allocated ESSER monies to fund a portion of the salary and benefits for an appropriately certified, highly qualified teacher for FY22 and FY23 whose primary job is to raise the educational level of all our students who have been impacted by lost instruction time. In addition, this funding will pay a portion of the salary and benefits of a school counselor for FY22 and FY23 who will conduct interventions that will focus on the social, emotional, and mental health needs of all students and particularly students who have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic.