Category: Elementary Action Required

Schools should update current hiring totals for 2023-24 on their enrollment dashboards as soon as possible so that accurate districtwide data can be monitored and appropriate adjustments made. Hiring totals should be kept current with changes made throughout the summer as needed. Positions do not need to be filled to be counted (i.e., a position that is planned for next year but not yet filled should be recorded on your dashboard as FTE that has been used). Contact Planning & Enrollment with questions about updating staffing totals.

DATE:   
Thursday, February 23, 2023

TO: 
All School Administrators

FROM:  
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching and Learning
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability

SUBJECT:   
2022-23 USBE School Climate Survey

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HB 120 (53G-8-802) and R277-623 mandate the administration of a statewide school climate survey. For this year, the USBE School Climate Survey will be administered in place of the district’s Stakeholder Input Survey.

Please see the memo below for all the details.

The STEM Action Center Math Personalized Learning Grant has opened. This is an excellent opportunity to acquire digital math licenses for your students.

DATE:
Thursday, February 2, 2023

TO:
All School Administrators

FROM:
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching and Learning
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability
Michelle Love-Day, Director of Language & Culture Services

SUBJECT:
Navigating Parental Exclusion Requests with the WIDA Access

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The annual administration of the WIDA Access is mandated by the federal government, which uses this assessment to hold schools accountable for providing an equitable education for multi-language learners. This accountability stems from the 1974 Supreme Court case Lau v. Nichols where a California school district was sued because it was not providing language services to many of its ML students. This Supreme Court case essentially ensures that students’ civil right to an equitable education and the government has chosen to use the WIDA Access as a way to hold school districts accountable for doing so.

The WIDA Access is federally mandated, which means that parents cannot opt their students out of taking the test. Because of the part this assessment plays in a student’s educational rights, parents do not have the power to revoke a student’s civil right to take the WIDA Access. Thus, the state was required to remove the WIDA Access from the parental exclusion form a few years ago.

So, what happens when a parent insists that their child not take the WIDA Access? Basic procedures are outlined below:

• The school administration should discuss any or all of the attached talking points with the student’s parent.
• If the parent still insists that their child not participate in the WIDA Access, then the school should document the parent’s refusal. Schools may use this Google tracking sheet for documentation or their school opt out log already available to school test coordinators.
• When testing is complete, the school will share the Google tracking sheet with JoLynn Snelgrove in Evaluation, Research & Accountability using this email address: snelgrove@jordandistrict.org. JoLynn will also check school opt out logs.

Please contact Ben Jameson in Evaluation, Research & Accountability with any questions or concerns regarding these procedures.

DATE:
Thursday, February 2, 2023

TO:
All School Administrators

FROM:
John Larsen, Business Administrator
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching and Learning
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability
Michael Heaps, Director of Information Systems
David Bowman, Systems & Security Manager

SUBJECT:
Chromebooks with Expiring Hardware that Will Be Used for Testing

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When Chromebooks are purchased, they come with a pre-defined time at which the vendors will stop giving updates to the software that makes the computers run. With Chromebooks this is almost always 5 years or a bit more.

This is called the Auto Update Expiration (AUE) Date.

When a Chromebook hits that date it may continue to work, but it stops getting updates from Google. Over time, this will decrease its functionality with the internet where things will stop working properly. Websites won’t load right; extensions and apps either work partially or won’t work at all.

This can become an issue when older Chromebooks won’t be able to update to the minimum device specifications outlined for a testing secure browser such as the RISE Secure Browser, TestNav (Utah Aspire Plus and ACT), DRC Insight (WIDA Access), etc. If the older testing device can’t update to the secure browser’s minimum specifications, it is possible that the testing platform will be glitchy or not work at all.

In some cases, more than 60% of a school’s Chromebooks are already expired. To see how many and what percentage of your school’s Chromebooks are expired, please click here.

As testing season approaches, school administrators will want to think about how to mitigate possible technology issues if the majority of the school’s Chromebooks that will be used for spring testing are expired. Also, school administrators are strongly encouraged to run an infrastructure test prior to ACT, RISE, and/or Utah Aspire Plus summative testing. If schools are unable to replace expired Chromebooks prior to spring testing and many of the school’s devices failed the infrastructure test, school administrators should develop a plan for rotating through newer devices to complete spring summative testing.

Hello Principals,

The JEF Challenge Run is on for 2023!

A representative from the JEF Challenge Run Committee would like to meet with your faculty to discuss the Challenge Run sometime in the next 30 days.  We have a short 10-minute presentation we'd like to share at your next soonest faculty meeting.

Below is a Google Link.  Would you please select a date and time in the next 30 days that would work for you?  Thank you!

https://forms.gle/7VVHvz3zdpsDP4Yo6

Dear Administrators,

During 2021-22 and continuing through the 2022-23 year, schools were given the option to hire benefit-eligible substitutes for which the school paid half the cost (including benefits) and the District paid half.  This position was originally intended to be temporary through 2022-23.

GREAT NEWS!  As this option has shown to be a benefit to schools, it will now be available going forward.

CURRENT SUBSTITUTES
For schools who are currently taking advantage of the benefit-eligible substitute position, the following information will apply:

• The position will continue for the 2023-24 and future years. You will not need to submit a change form unless you need to change the budget codes.
• If your current benefit-eligible substitute resigns, you have the option to repost the position. Please follow the job posting steps below.
• If your funding availability changes in the future, the substitute position will be subject to a Reduction in Force. Please contact Brent Burge to work through this process.

POSITION INFORMATION

• Benefit-eligible substitutes will be contracted to work 180 days per year.
• Pay is equivalent to the ESP Lane 4 Step 1 at eight hours per day ($18.52/hour or $148.16/day for the 2022-23 year). (The District may modify this amount as needed) The contract will be paid over 10 months, September to June.
• This position is eligible for benefits, including insurance, leave time and Retirement.
• The benefit-eligible substitute is expected to arrive 15 minutes prior to students arriving and stay 15 minutes after students leave. These benefit-eligible substitutes will be paid full days on Fridays/shortened days as long as they stay 15 minutes after students leave.
• This position must be posted in Frontline and the schools must follow all hiring procedures established for Contract ESP positions, including:
  • Requisition submitted
  • Position posted for a minimum of five working days
  • All applicants must be screened by the administration to determine interview eligibility
  • Interviews conducted following best practices
  • Recommendation for hire submitted, prior to any job offer, including submitting all interview notes
  • Minimum of two references complete. One must be with the current/most recent supervisor

Please contact a Human Resource Administrator or Recruiter if you have questions regarding this position.

Are you interested in or currently pursuing a STEM endorsement? Let USBE PAY FOR YOUR EDUCATION! This is called the STEM Endorsement Incentive Program (EIP).  See our EIP website for a full list of endorsements.

Reimbursement applications for courses completed in Fall/Winter 2022 will be reviewed after the January 27, 2023 deadline. Another round of reimbursements will be available for classes taken in Spring 2023.

See the attached flyer and link to our EIP website for more information. If you have any questions, please reach out to your content consultant. We would love to talk to you!

DATE:
Thursday, January 12, 2023

TO:
All School Administrators

FROM:
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching and Learning
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability

SUBJECT:
CSI/TSI Calculations Released by USBE for All Schools

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Targeted School Improvement (TSI) and Comprehensive School Improvement (CSI) are two school designations under the state’s ESSA plan and are part of the state’s school accountability system. The purpose of these two school improvement programs is to help schools identify and support student groups that are struggling academically.

Schools are designated as TSI if one or more of its student groups’ total school report card points earned is in the bottom 5% statewide for two consecutive years.

Schools are designated as CSI if one of the following conditions are met:

• They are a high school with a low graduation rate in the year CSI was calculated (every three years).
• They are a Title I school that has one or more student groups identified as TSI that haven’t exited after four years.
• They are a Title I school where the total student population’s school report card points earned is in the bottom 5% of Title I schools statewide in the year CSI was calculated (every three years).

For your information, CSI was calculated for the 2021-22 school year.

USBE has recently released the school report card calculation data for TSI designations, and the results may be accessed in school administrator Tableau accounts. School administrators may use this information to identify student groups that are close to being designated as TSI, or in other words, student groups that have one year below the state’s 5% threshold of the two consecutive years required. The 2021-22 TSI Calculations for All Schools Statewide dashboard may be accessed here.

Title I schools may also see a similar view for CSI calculations for their total student population here. Using this dashboard, school principals will be able to see how close to the 5% threshold their student population came to being designated as CSI for each of the school report card indicators.

For questions about TSI, CSI, school report cards, or the state’s school accountability system, please contact Ben Jameson in Evaluation, Research & Accountability.

 

DATE:
Thursday, January 12, 2023

TO: 
All School Administrators

FROM:
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching and Learning
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability

SUBJECT:
Identifying School Procedures to Prevent Plagiarism During WIDA Testing

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In order to provide targeted supports to multi-language learners, educators need valid and reliable data from assessments that help pinpoint a student's academic language ability. Plagiarism negatively effects the validity and reliability of that data.

As part of normal classroom instruction, many ML students are accustomed to using their device (cell phones or smart watches) to help them communicate and understand their learning. Thus, they have a natural tendency to want to use that technology to help them understand and communicate their learning on the WIDA Access. WIDA test proctors must explicitly communicate to students that their devices are not allowed or needed for the test because we need to understand what they can do without the aid of their device. WIDA test proctors must also implement procedures to ensure students do not have access to their personal technology devices during testing.

The 2022-23 WIDA Access Test Administration Manual states (see page 4):

"A key responsibility of all staff involved in testing is to ensure students are actively monitored during testing and do their own work. Test proctors are to ensure students don't use internet-connected devices, such as cell phones, while testing. Follow your state's test security policies and, whenever possible, have students leave their devices outside the testing room. The use of unapproved devices during testing or the submission of copied or plagiarized responses can result in student scores being invalidated."

The WIDA Access test vendor has the capacity to detect plagiarism from other websites. When this occurs, actions will need to be taken to investigate the issue by the school administration in collaboration with Evaluation, Research & Accountability.

To help schools formulate their procedures regarding student personal technology during the WIDA Access test administration, we are asking school test coordinators, in collaboration with their school administration, to fill out a survey form prior to test day that outlines the step-by-step procedures test proctors will use so that students do not have access to their personal technology devices during testing. The form may be accessed here. A copy of the questions is attached with this memo. In addition, school test coordinators will need to ensure that all WIDA Access test administrators and proctors are aware of and follow the outlined procedures to prevent plagiarism so that ML students have the best opportunity to demonstrate what they know and can do.

Please contact Ben Jameson in Evaluation, Research & Accountability with any questions regarding this new requirement.