Academic Services Newsletter

Issue 1

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Dear CCS Family,


First, I wanted to say thank you for all you do especially during a time when our students need you the most to provide them with some sense of normalcy and security at a time when anxiety and fear likely visit all of us. You are valued and important. You are a vital and crucial part of our district’s mission to offer a high quality educational experience to all students. Regardless of the challenges we have faced in the last few weeks, our teachers, administrators and staff have worked tirelessly to meet the needs of our students in new and creative ways.


Our Academic Services team wants to continue to support you. To that end, our team has created this resource as the first installment to provide you with regular communication and resources to support you as you deliver our district’s guaranteed and viable curriculum while facing our new, temporary reality. Please reach out to the contacts listed in each area for the additional support you may need. We have seen remarkable work from teachers across the district and we continue to look forward to your input as we make our way through this very temporary period in time – and be hopeful – this is temporary.


Thank you for rising to the challenge. I have been encouraged and inspired by you! We are in this together and together we are going to do great things for students!


Dr. Tracy Ocasio

Chief Academic Officer


Columbus City Schools

3700 S High St

Columbus, Ohio

614-365-8776

Cell: 484-818-1208

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Be Mindful Of Your Habits

“Whenever there is a gap between your habits and your goals, your habits will always win.”


- James Clear

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Office of Teaching & Learning

Elementary Resources (PK-5)

The goal of this site is to provide a " One Stop Shop" for teachers and administrators to access information and resources to support students and families through distance learning and virtual communication. You will find standards grids, planning guides and brief videos introducing the guides and videos. Information regarding access to the district supported digital sites, supplemental websites to support extended learning and up coming PD can also be found on this site. Finally you will also find resources to support PreK students and links to additional Academic Services Google Sites.


Site Link: https://sites.google.com/columbus.k12.oh.us/ccselementaryvirtualplanning


Please direct questions to the following:

PK - K:

Ann F. Lockett, Division of ECE, Director - alockett@columbus.k12.oh.us

Elementary:

Leslie Kelly, Director of Elementary Curriculum - lkelly@columbus.k12.oh.us

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Secondary Resources (6 - 12)

This site is designed to help you navigate online instruction and the resources available to teachers. There are quick guides for the tools as well as professional development opportunities. The site will be updated regularly.


Site Link: https://sites.google.com/columbus.k12.oh.us/ccssecondarycurriculumonline/home?authuser=1


Please direct questions to the following:

Alyse Clark, Director of Secondary Curriculum - aclark2@columbus.k12.oh.us

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Library Media Resources

The goal of this site is to provide a resources for Library Media Specialist and Library Instructional assistants to support students and families through distance learning and virtual communication.


Site Link: https://sites.google.com/columbus.k12.oh.us/libraryservicesonlineresource


Please direct questions to the following:

Leslie Kelly, Director of Elementary Curriculum - lkelly@columbus.k12.oh.us

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Unified Arts & Electives Resources

This site is designed to help you navigate online instruction and resources available for Unified Arts and Electives. Browse this site for lesson planning guides, sample lesson plans, professional development opportunities, links to our community partners and additional resources to use in the planning of arts and physical education lessons and activities for students. The site will be updated regularly.


Site Link: https://sites.google.com/columbus.k12.oh.us/unified-arts-k-12/home


Please direct questions to the following:

Dr. Betty Hill, Supervisor of Unified Arts K-12

bhill1228@columbus.k12.oh.us

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ESL Resources

The site include links to CCS Virtual Learning Plan, different online learning platform, ESL supplemental resources and how to request interpreters for video/phone conference. This site will be continually updated as we receive additional information.


Site Link: https://sites.google.com/columbus.k12.oh.us/ccseslonlineresources/home


Please direct questions to the following:

Michael Sain, ESL Director - msain2444@columbus.k12.oh.us

Myra Talley, ESL Supervisor - mtalley5678@columbus.k12.oh.us

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Gifted & Talented Resources

This site contains resources to support teachers while we make our way to online learning with gifted students. Browse this site for sample lesson plans, extension activities, professional development, and family resources to use as you create engaging online instruction for your students, including your gifted learners


Site Link: https://sites.google.com/columbus.k12.oh.us/gifted-online-instruction


Please direct questions to the following:

Dr. Colleen Boyle, Director - cboyle@columbus.k12.oh.us

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Professional Learning & Licensure

Please visit the site below for the listing of district sponsored professional development opportunities.


Site Link: https://www.ccsoh.us/Page/7672


Please direct questions to the following:

Rhonda Rice, Director, Organizational Learning Professional Learning and Licensure

rrice2924@columbus.k12.oh.us

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Office of Special Education & Student Support Services

Special Education Resources

This website includes the curriculum plan for SWDs. All IEP team members will find will find professional development resources, expectations, and continual updates.


Site Link: https://sites.google.com/view/ccs-special-education/home


Please direct questions to the following:

Jill Lausch, Director of Special Education Administration and Policy jlausch@columbus.k12.oh.us

Kyra Schloenbach, Director of Academic Innovation & Related Services

kschloenbach@columbus.k12.oh.us

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High School Students and Families Resources

This School Counselor website provides many resources for students as they navigate high school. A student can learn about graduation pathways, testing resources or what a CCS high school counselor can provide! Social-emotional and community resources are included as well. In addition, high school students are given tips on how to make the most of their high school experience.


Site Link: https://sites.google.com/columbus.k12.oh.us/resources-studentsfamilies/home


Please direct questions to the following:

Bill Mitchell, M.S.E, M.Ed, Supervisor of School Counseling/

Student Support Services

wmitchell3385@columbus.k12.oh.us

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Social Emotional Resources

This website is a collaborative effort from school counselors and social workers to provide families with social emotional resources and support (Links range from How do I talk to my child about fears they may have? to How can I help my student finish coursework and stay on track to graduate?). There are also a great number of activities that parents/guardians can do with their children to promote healthy mindsets and learning. We are updating this website continuously.


Site Link: https://sites.google.com/columbus.k12.oh.us/schoolcounselingsocialwork/home


Creating a PBIS Behavior Teaching Matrix for Remote Instruction


Please direct questions to the following:

Cheryl Ward, Director, Social-Emotional and Student Support Services

cward1@columbus.k12.oh.us

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Office of College & Career Readiness

Career and Technical Education Resources

Making Every Opportunity for Students Count for Their Career!


CTE is made up of a team of people that supports the educational process. The information being shared is provided to keep that team of people informed and moving forward as the delivery process for instruction has changed. Within that change, CTE is constantly being updated with information of changes happening. As information changes within CTE happen, this newsletter will be updated to provide a the most current information that affects CTE students and staff.


CTE wants to extend their wishes for families to be healthy and safe during this pandemic and looks forward to the continued success CTE provides to the CCS educational system.


I hated every minute of training, but I said, “Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.” (Muhammad Ali)


Site Link: https://www.ccsoh.us/Page/7797


Please direct questions to the following:

Celeste M. Lewis, Director Career and Technical Education

clewis2@columbus.k12.oh.us

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Virtual Credit Advancement Program (VCAP)

Virtual Credit Advancement Program (VCAP) offers expanded learning opportunities for all CCS eligible students through our distance learning program. For helpful resources please see below.


Getting Started with Courseware

Courseware Instructor Guide

Courseware Start-Up


Here are two videos that could be utilized for Teachers new to Edmentum Courseware:

Courseware: Getting Started for Instructors

Study Island: Getting Started for Instructors


Please direct questions to the following:

Danielle E. Bomar, Ph.D., Supervisor of Alternative Education

dbomar@columbus.k12.oh.us

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Higher Education Partnerships Resources

Please see the doc linked below for College Credit Plus (CCP) FAQs Document that provides updates for students, parents, counselors, adjuncts, etc. The document is updated frequently with information from university partners to help support CCP students and families during these unprecedented times.


Doc Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dvucOKInsb5csCZNPcayqJMCd6gGtTmUJkr44Oh8vr0/edit?usp=sharing


Please direct questions to the following:

Tanya L. McClanahan, Supervisor, Higher Education Partnerships

tmcclanahan@columbus.k12.oh.us

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Guidance statement on distance learning

In accordance with the joint statement release by the District and CEA, and specifically the points outlined in the Expectations for Academic Services Professionals, educators should plan instruction suitable for teaching each student and provide the academic support each student requires.


District-approved applications are available in your Clever dashboard. These applications have active contracts and up-to-date Data Sharing Agreements in place.


Teachers who support students' specific needs in your classes (Tutors, Special Ed, GT, ELL, among others) can support students on their case-load with access to these instructional materials in Clever-synced applications by being added as a secondary teacher in Infinite Campus.


If the tools selected are not already supported within the CCS computing system, the legally-mandated student supports such as those accommodations in IEPs cannot necessarily be readily provided.


Additionally, in determining your instructional path forward, please also consider the District's privacy and security requirements. Please see the statement below from CCS IT department:


Reminder: The security and privacy of our student data and systems is always a priority, especially at this time of increased internet usage to support distance learning and working from home. District educators should not create any new accounts in different 'free' websites that require student personally identifiable information (PII) data to be uploaded from an Excel spreadsheet, manually entered, or imported through a .CSV file to reduce the chance of exposing our students PII.


If secondary teachers need added to Infinite Campus courses in order to support learners, please contact your building Infinite Campus scheduler to be added. The changes will sync through to Clever and the learning applications and be available within 2 days.

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Instructional Technology Professional Development

This document has information on the topics, times, and dates for upcoming Instructional Technology. It will be updated as we move forward so please check back regularly.

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Critical Time To Practice Empathy

Brené Brown on Empathy
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Iready and Edmentum PD Schedule