TO:
Principals and Administrative Assistants
FROM:
Brad Sorensen, High School Level AOS
Please return the attached form to Marilyn Smith in the High School area office within two weeks after your conference dates.
Middle School Parent-Teacher Conference Report – Spring 2025
TO:
Principals and Administrative Assistants
FROM:
Cody Curtis, Middle School Level AOS
Please return the attached form to Kyla Robertson in the Middle-Level offices within two weeks after your conference dates.
What’s the Latest in T&L for February 2025?
TO:
Administrators
FROM:
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching & Learning
Jared Covili, Consultant in Teaching & Learning
Check out the links below for the latest updates from Teaching & Learning for February. Learn Tips and Tricks, Sign Up for Upcoming PD, and Learn about Important Updates from the T & L team.
Special Education Newsletter – February 2025
TO:
All Administrators
Administrative Assistants
FROM:
Lisa Robinson, Administrator of Schools
Kim Lloyd, Director of Special Education
Brian King, Ph.D., Assistant Director of Special Education
Mike Trimmell, Ed.D., Special Education Administrator
Attached is the Special Ed Newsletter for February 2025.
Special Education Budget Closeout for the 2024-25 School Year
DATE:
February 1, 2025
TO:
Principals
Special Education Staff
School Secretaries
FROM:
Lisa Robinson, Administrator of Schools
Kim Lloyd, Director of Special Education
SUBJECT:
Special Education Budget Closeout for the 2024-25 School Year
Please note that Special Education purchase orders/requisitions/reimbursement requests for the 2024-25 school year must be received by Thursday, March 6, 2025 @ 5:00 p.m. Remember that the SLPs/SLTs who received their legislative funds through the SpEd department this year are under these same guidelines and deadlines for those funds as well.
Please remember the following:
- Budgets are not carried over from one year to the next.
- Remember to deduct any previously submitted amounts from your Special Education budget (so that you know your balance) before submitting new orders. This includes reimbursements submitted through your school. No orders will be processed that exceed your budgeted allocation.
- Please check with your school secretary to make sure all Special Education reimbursements have been submitted to the Special Education Department by the March 6th deadline.
- When ordering supplies, follow Skyward procedures.
- Be sure to follow the ordering guidelines outlined in the attached budget information page, as you close out your current year budgets.
- Any purchases that were inadvertently charged to the Special Ed budget or do not qualify using the guidelines should be removed from the budget using a journal entry form prior to March 6th.
Staff will be notified of the new budget allocation amount prior to the start of the new school year. Keep in mind that new purchase orders/requisitions will not be processed until late July.
As you close out your budgets for the current school year, please note the following:
- All purchase orders/requisitions, should be routed through Amanda Hamblin in the Special Education Department.
- Use the following codes for Purchase Orders/Requisitions, P-Cards, and ECHECKS submitted through the year.
Coding for P.O.s/Requisitions, NPOs, P-Cards, ECHECKS:
| FUND | TYPE | LOCATION | PROGRAM | FUNCTION | OBJECT |
| 10 | E | (School #) | 1295 | 1090 | Use object code |
If you have questions regarding your Special Education budget, please contact Amanda Hamblin at
(801) 567-8177.
Licensed Early Notification Incentive – Final Tiered Deadline, February 15, 2025
TO:
Directors
Administrators
Administrative Assistants
FROM:
April Gaydosh, Administrator, Human Resources
Upcoming Events and Opportunities – LICENSED EARLY NOTIFICATION
Valued Licensed Employee:
The Human Resource Department is contacting you with important information regarding upcoming events and opportunities.
LICENSED EARLY NOTIFICATION (Resignation or Retirement)
Licensed employees resigning/retiring at the end of the current contract year, who give official early notification in SKYWARD – EMPLOYEE ACCESS, will be eligible for a tiered incentive. To qualify, notification must be submitted on or before the following dates:
- February 15, 2025 $200.00
The incentive will be paid on the last regular paycheck. Notifications of resignation/retirement received after the dates listed above will not qualify for an incentive. The official District “Notice of Resignation” form is found in Skyward Employee Access under “Task Processes”. Please see District policy DP318 for more detailed information regarding resignations. If you do not know your Skyward username or password please contact the Help Desk at 801-567-8737.
Licensed employees who do not submit an official “Notice of Resignation” form in Skyward Employee Access with at least thirty (30) calendar days’ written notice WILL BE FINED $500, which will be deducted from their final check. Informing your principal/school administrator either verbally or in writing is not sufficient. See District Policy DP318 – Resignations - Licensed.
School/District Administrators must submit an official “Notice of Resignation” form in Skyward Employee Access with at least sixty (60) calendar days’ written notice WILL BE FINED $500 in accordance with District Policy DP318A – Resignations-Administrators.
IEP Notes on Embrace
DATE:
January 28, 2025
TO:
All Principals
FROM:
Lisa Robinson, Administrator of Schools
Kim Lloyd, Director of Special Education
Brian King, Ph.D., Assistant Director of Special Education
Mike Trimmell, Ed.D., Special Education Administrator
SUBJECT:
IEP Notes on Embrace
We are implementing a change in the process for handling Special Education meeting notes.
We encourage you to use the new Embrace Notes starting now, however, the PDF notes on the Forms page will still be available until March 1st. The PDF notes on the Forms page will no longer be available after March 1st. This adjustment aims to simplify our workflow and enhance accessibility to meeting notes.
You can access Embrace through the Google App Launcher. The document is named, “IEP Meeting Notes and Summary”. See the link below for a detailed guide to accessing the Embrace IEP Meeting Notes and Summary document.
If you encounter any access issues, or have questions, please reach out to Brenda Cruz at 801-567-8145, brenda.cruz@jordandistrict.org.
SCSC Transitioning Meetings – February 2025
DATE:
February 3, 2025
TO:
All Principals
FROM:
Lisa Robinson, Administrator of Schools
Kim Lloyd, Director of Special Education
Brian King, Ph.D., Assistant Director of Special Education
Mike Trimmell, Ed.D., Special Education Administrator
SUBJECT:
SCSC Transitioning Meeting for Elementary to Middle School and Middle to High School
To support the transition of students to their new Self-Contained Support Classroom (SCSC), the Special Education Department is providing an opportunity for SCSC teachers to meet with the teachers or team leads of the new SCSC setting for their students.
The transition meetings:
- Elementary to Middle School will be on February 28, 2025, from 9:00 - 11:00 am through Zoom.
- Middle to High School will be on February 21, 2025, from 8:00 - 10:00 am through Zoom.
The schedule and transition paperwork that needs to be filled out for each student transitioning to a new SCSC school have been emailed to all teachers.
Please contact your teacher specialist if you have any questions.
AAPPL for DLI Results Updated in Tableau
DATE:
Thursday, February 6, 2025
TO:
Elementary and Middle School Administrators
FROM:
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching and Learning
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability
SUBJECT:
AAPPL for DLI Tableau Dashboards Updated with 2024-25 Results
AAPPL for DLI results have been updated in Tableau. The dashboards contain district, school, and individual student data. In addition, viewers will be able to see results by teacher as well as by individual students. Tableau users may filter data by various demographic and student groupings as well.
AAPPL for DLI results may be accessed here:
Explore Menu > Assessments > AAPPL for DLI Analysis > AAPPL for DLI Analysis, 2017-Present
Please contact Ben Jameson in Assessment, Research & Accountability with questions about these dashboards.
2025 Helpful Tableau Dashboards for School LAND Trust Planning and Reporting – High School
DATE:
Thursday, February 6, 2025
TO:
All High School Administrators
FROM:
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching and Learning
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability
SUBJECT:
Tableau Dashboards for School LAND Trust and TSSA Planning and Reporting
The following Tableau dashboards may be helpful to school administrators as they plan for the 2025-26 school year LAND Trust and TSSA plans. As you look at each of these dashboards, please remember to change the School Name filter to your school.
Assessments:
ACT (11th Grade Administration)
Utah Aspire Plus Proficiency and Growth
WIDA ACCESS Composite Results
Listening Results
Reading Results
Speaking Results
Writing Results
AP Distribution of Scores and Pass Rates
School Accountability:
2023-24 TSI Calculations for All Schools and All Demographics
Breakdown of TSI/ATSI/CSI Identification Data (for TSI/ATSI/CSI schools only)
Other Relevant Data
Advanced Course Enrollments Over Time
Graduation and Dropout Rates
Graduation Rates, Compare by Student Group
Elementary Parent Teacher Conference Report – Spring 2025
TO:
Elementary Principals
Elementary Administrative Assistants
FROM:
Odette Desmarais, Administrator of Schools
Meredith Doleac, Administrator of Schools
Becky Gerber, Administrator of Schools
Lisa Robinson, Administrator of Schools
Please find your school tab in this Google sheet and complete the Elementary Parent/Teacher Conference Reporting Form within two weeks of your conferences. If you have any questions, please contact Shannel Hooper.
2025 Helpful Tableau Dashboards for School LAND Trust Planning and Reporting – Middle School
DATE:
Thursday, February 6, 2025
TO:
All Middle School Administrators
FROM:
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching and Learning
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability
SUBJECT:
Tableau Dashboards for School LAND Trust and TSSA Planning and Reporting
The following Tableau dashboards may be helpful to school administrators as they plan for the 2025-26 school year LAND Trust and TSSA plans. As you look at each of these dashboards, please remember to change the School Name filter to your school.
Assessments:
RISE ELA Proficiency and Growth
RISE Math Proficiency and Growth
RISE Science Proficiency and Growth
Utah Aspire Plus Proficiency and Growth
WIDA ACCESS Composite Results
Listening Results
Reading Results
Speaking Results
Writing Results
AP Distribution of Scores and Pass Rates
School Accountability:
2023-24 TSI Calculations for All Schools and All Demographics
Breakdown of TSI/ATSI/CSI Identification Data (for TSI/ATSI/CSI schools only)
Other Relevant Data
Advanced Course Enrollments Over Time
2025 Helpful Tableau Dashboards for School LAND Trust Planning and Reporting – Elementary School
DATE:
Thursday, February 6, 2025
TO:
All Elementary School Administrators
FROM:
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching and Learning
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability
SUBJECT:
Tableau Dashboards for School LAND Trust and TSSA Planning and Reporting
The following Tableau dashboards may be helpful to school administrators as they plan for the 2025-26 school year LAND Trust and TSSA plans. As you look at each of these dashboards, please remember to change the School Name filter to your school.
Assessments:
Acadience Reading Benchmark Status and Pathways of Progress
RISE ELA Proficiency and Growth
RISE Math Proficiency and Growth
RISE Science Proficiency and Growth
WIDA ACCESS Composite Results
Listening Results
Reading Results
Speaking Results
Writing Results
School Accountability:
2023-24 TSI Calculations for All Schools and All Demographics
Breakdown of TSI/ATSI/CSI Identification Data (for TSI/ATSI/CSI schools only)
Other Relevant Data
School Counselor Week and February 2025 School Counselor Trainings
DATE:
February 6, 2025
TO:
Principals
Assistant Principals
Counselors
FROM:
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services
Stacee Worthen, School Counseling Consultant
SUBJECT:
February 2025 School Counselor Training and Professional Development
This memo includes all school counselors’ training and professional development this month.
Highlights
- February 3 - 7, 2025, National School Counseling Week
- Ideas to celebrate your school counselors:
- Publicly recognize your school counselors' hard work through morning announcements, a dedicated email, or a social media post highlighting their impact. A heartfelt message during a staff meeting or a personalized thank-you note from leadership can go a long way.
- Surprise your counselors with a lunch delivery, coffee, or a favorite snack as a token of appreciation. If budgets are tight, consider partnering with the PTA, student leaders, or local businesses to sponsor a small treat.
- Give them a small but meaningful token of appreciation, like a "Counselor Appreciation Certificate" or a simple sign on their door that says, “We ❤️ Our School Counselor!” Little gestures like these require minimal effort but can brighten their day.
Training & Professional Development Dates
See the memo below
Teaching, Leading, Learning – Instructional Leadership Conference Opportunity (BYU CITES)
TO:
Principals
Teacher Leaders
FROM:
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching and Learning
The Teaching, Leading, Learning Conference associated with CITES will be held on March 20 & 21, 2025 at Utah Valley Convention Center in Provo. Teaching & Learning is able to pay for 1 person from your building to attend. Please use this Google form to submit a name for registration. You may register others for the conference using this link to the conference website. All other registrations should be covered by individual schools or departments. There is a discounted rate for each participant, whether registering as a team or separately, because we are a part of the BYU-Public School Partnership.
The 2025 Instructional Leadership Conference has an incredible line-up of speakers! See the attached information.
Safety Talk: Housekeeping
TO:
All Administrators
FROM:
Scott Thomas, Administrator of Auxiliary Services
A Clean Work area is a Safe Work Area.
Good housekeeping is one of the surest ways to identify a safe workplace. You can tell how workers feel about safety just by looking at their housekeeping practices. Good housekeeping isn’t the result of cleaning up once a week or even once a day. It’s the result of keeping cleaned up all the time. It’s an essential factor in a good safety program, promoting safety, health, production, and morale.
See the flyer below for more information.
New Cluster Question Format for RISE ELA and Math
DATE:
Thursday, February 6, 2025
TO:
All Elementary and Middle School Administrators
FROM:
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching and Learning
Ben Jameson, Director of Assessment, Research and Accountability
SUBJECT:
RISE ELA and Math Cluster Questions
Principals are encouraged to share the following information with their RISE-tested ELA and math teachers.
Beginning with the 2025 summative assessments, RISE ELA and math question items will be presented to students in a cluster format, similar to the RISE Science assessment. Cluster questions will appear in summative assessments for all grade levels in both content areas. Beginning, February 18th, cluster questions will also be available on the RISE Benchmarks for both ELA and math.
For RISE ELA, students will be presented with reading passages and will be required to answer several sections or clusters of questions that are both related to the passages and to each other. For example, a student will be asked to identify a main idea from the story in one question. Then another question will ask students to select sentences from the passage that support their answer to the first question. In addition, students will be presented with a variety of question types, including multiple choice, multi-selection, sentence selections, drop-down menus, tables, timelines, etc.
Similarly for RISE math, students will be presented with a math task accompanied by several sections or clusters of questions. Question items may be multiple choice, multi-select, drop-down menus, inputting numbers or equations, drag and drop, graphing/plotting, etc.
For a sample of how question items will work, please refer to the Training Tests on the RISE Portal. Please see these step-by-step instructions for accessing the Training Tests.
Recommended next steps to prepare teachers and students for these format changes:
- Communicate these changes to your teachers as soon as possible. Additional communications will be sent via JEM and directly to RISE-tested teachers.
- Encourage teachers to view sample items on the Training Tests in the RISE Portal.
- Encourage teachers to administer the Training Test to students before summative testing day.
- Encourage teachers to further prepare students for RISE summative testing by administering RISE Benchmarks (see this video for how to administer a RISE benchmark). The benchmarks are aligned to the same standards and presented at the same rigor level as the summative assessments but are shorter. Teachers may preview benchmarks from the RISE Benchmark Previewing Module on the RISE Portal and use the RISE reporting suite to view student responses and aggregate results. The RISE Benchmarks are a great way to assess both student learning and help them learn how to adequately answer questions presented in a cluster format.
For questions about the RISE assessment, please contact Ben Jameson or Kassidy Towery in Assessment, Research & Accountability.
RISE Summative Teacher Trainings
DATE:
Thursday, February 6, 2025
TO:
Elementary and Middle School Administrators
FROM:
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching and Learning
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability
SUBJECT:
RISE Summative Training
The RISE summative testing window is from April 7-May 30, 2025. RISE passwords get reset each year, so please be sure your teachers log in and reset their passwords for this year at utahrise.org.
As testing is nearly underway, please make sure all testing teachers complete the yearly RISE test administration training. Many teachers only use the RISE systems once a year, so yearly training on how it all works is needed. Only teachers who will administer the RISE test need to be trained. For your reference, here is a link to the Testing Ethics Policy.
School administrators are responsible for making sure all testing teachers get trained in RISE test administration. Should you choose to hold a training at your school, this fulfills the training requirement. Teachers have two additional options to be trained for RISE testing:
RISE Canvas Course
The RISE test administration training requirement can be fulfilled by completing the Canvas course online. All teachers in grades 3-8 have been added to the course, should you choose to have them complete the training through this method. A certificate of completion for relicensure points will be available for download at the end of the course.
Zoom RISE Training
Teachers can attend one of the following Zoom RISE trainings to fulfill the training requirement.
Here is the Zoom link for these trainings:
https://uetn-org.zoom.us/j/5266134800
Meeting ID: 526 613 4800
- Friday, March 7 @ 8:45 AM or 1:30 PM
- Friday, March 14 @ 8:45 AM or 1:30 PM
- Friday, March 21 @ 8:45 AM or 1:30 PM
- Friday, March 28 @ 8:45 AM or 1:30 PM
- Friday, April 11 @ 8:45 AM or 1:30 PM
- Friday, April 18 @ 8:45 AM or 1:30 PM
- Friday, April 25 @ 8:45 AM or 1:30 PM
For questions about RISE training or test administration, please contact Kassidy Towery in Assessment, Research & Accountability.
Utah Aspire Plus Teacher Trainings
DATE:
Thursday, February 6, 2025
TO:
Middle and High School Administrators
FROM:
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching and Learning
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability
SUBJECT:
Utah Aspire Plus Summative Training
The Utah Aspire Plus summative testing window is from March 3-May 9, 2025.
As testing is nearly underway, please make sure you complete the yearly Utah Aspire Plus test administration training. Only teachers who will administer the Utah Aspire Plus test need to be trained. For your reference, here is a link to the Testing Ethics Policy.
School administrators are responsible for making sure relevant teachers get trained in the Utah Aspire Plus test administration. Should school administrators choose to hold a training at their schools, this fulfills the training requirement. There are two other training options available:
Utah Aspire Plus Canvas Course
The Utah Aspire Plus test administration training requirement can be fulfilled by completing the Canvas course online. All teachers in grades 9-10 have been added to the course.
Zoom Utah Aspire Plus Training
Teachers can attend one of the virtual Utah Aspire Plus trainings through Zoom to fulfill the training requirement.
Here is the Zoom link for these trainings:
https://uetn-org.zoom.us/j/5266134800
Meeting ID: 526 613 4800
- Friday, February 21 @ 8:00 AM or 2:15 PM
- Friday, March 7 @ 8:00 AM or 2:15 PM
- Friday, March 14 @ 8:00 AM or 2:15 PM
- Friday, March 21 @ 8:00 AM or 2:15 PM
- Friday, March 28 @ 8:00 AM or 2:15 PM
- Friday, April 11 @ 8:00 AM or 2:15 PM
- Friday, April 18 @ 8:00 AM or 2:15 PM
For questions about Utah Aspire Plus training or test administration, please contact Kassidy Towery in Assessment, Research & Accountability.
CTE Month 2025
TO:
All Administrators
FROM:
Jason Skidmore, Director of CTE
Follow along as Jordan CTE Celebrates
