Early Childhood News from ESC-6
October 22, 2019
It's Time for Some Fall Fun!
Is your staff in need of a Fall Pick-Me-Up? Here are some quick and easy ways to lighten things up and put smiles on faces!
- Have a Surprise Pumpkin Decorating Contest. Purchase (or have donated) a pumpkin for each grade level team of teachers and staff. Instruct groups that they have 15 minutes to take their pumpkin, gather whatever supplies they can find, and decorate their pumpkin. When time is up, reassemble, present each pumpkin, and get ready for some laughs! Give an award for the best and worst decorated, scariest, funniest, best impersonation, etc. Have refreshments and small prizes or ribbons for awards.
- Have an Estimation Jar for teachers and/or students to guess the number. Items could include candy bars, cookies, small apples, small oranges, candy corn, plastic spiders, plastic eyeballs, etc.
- No Tricks-Just Treats- Walk from class to class serving teachers a treat with punch on Halloween or any Fall Day.
DON'T LET YOUR TEACHERS MISS THE ESC-6 EARLY CHILDHOOD PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES COMING UP!
WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PRE-K OUTCOMES FRAMEWORK?
Help your Pre-K teachers plan student-focused lesson plans that are fully aligned with the Pre-K Guidelines and the Kindergarten TEKS. Go To: https://prekoutcomesframework.com/
CONTACT SUSAN CRYER (936) 435-8369 for more information
Keeping Up With Austin...!
1. THE EARLY CHILDHOOD DATA SYSTEM (ECDS)
Early Childhood Data System Up Dates:
-The ECDS application will be available to load prekindergarten data from November 11, 2019 through June 18, 2020.
See these links for more details:
ECDS TAA Letter
2. HB 3 Implementation: Early Childhood and CCMR Board-Adopted Plans and Goals
HB 3 Implementation Early Childhood and CCMR Board-Adopted Plans and Goals.pdf
- Presentation on Board District and Goal Setting (PDF)
- HB 3 Board Goals and Plans Support Templates (Excel)
House Bill 3 (HB 3) amends Texas Education Code (TEC) to add Sec. 11.185 and 11.186 to include plans that target early childhood (EC) literacy and math proficiency and college, career, and military readiness (CCMR). This letter provides guidance to schools in order to meet the requirements of the required plans.
Plan Requirements
Under HB 3, school boards are required to adopt plans in early childhood literacy and math, as well as college, career, and military readiness. All plans are required to include:
- at least one assigned district-level administrator or employee of the regional education service center for the district’s region to coordinate implementation and submit annual report to the board on the district’s progress;
- an annual review by the board at a public meeting;
- an annual report posted on district and campus websites; and
- specific, quantifiable, annual goals for five years at each campus.
Early childhood plans are required to include:
- annual goals for aggregate student growth on 3rd grade math and reading STAAR;
- annual targets for students in each group evaluated under closing the gaps domain;
- targeted professional development for classroom teachers in kindergarten through 3rd grade for campuses that the board identifies as not meeting the plan’s goals and that considers the unique needs of students in bilingual education or special language programs.
- annual targets that may be set for students in bilingual or ESL programs.
Schools should have all three required plans in place no later than the end of the 2019–2020 school year and should use the 2019–2020 school year to determine the best possible plan for their students. Templates to create board outcome goals, progress measures, campus plans, a monitoring calendar, and monitoring reports are available on the TEA website: www.tea.texas.gov/HB3-in-30.
3. House Bill 3 (HB 3) Implementation: Reading Practices
See- HB 3_TAA_Reading Practices_vF.pdf
All K-3 teachers and principals in Texas will need to have completed the Reading Academies by the 2021-2022 school year. This will likely require notable adjustments in professional development planning (including the timeline of in-service days to minimize the need for substitute teachers) and expenditures starting with the 2020-2021 school year. A more detailed discussion is found in the HB 3 in 30 video found at tea.texas.gov/hb3.
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OTHER TID-BITS FROM AUSTIN....
-UPDATED STUDENT ATTENDANCE HANDBOOK
- Version 2 of the Student Attendance Handbook is currently being updated to reflect the changes in the 86th Legislative Session. The updated version will be released soon.
-GET READY FOR THE 2020-2021 PRE-K CURRICULUM PROCLAMATION
- Textbook companies are currently in the process of developing new Pre-K Curriculum and getting it ready to present during the 2020-2021 school year. The new curriculum adoptions will be based on the current Texas Pre-K Guidelines and implemented during the 2021-2022 school year.
-EARLY EDUCATION ALLOTMENT FUND
- Teaching Materials/Curriculum/Books
- Support Specialists
- Funding PM portion of Pre-K Program
- Reading Academies
- Additional Teacher Salaries (full-day positions only)
- Coaching/Mentoring
- Family Engagement
- Inclusion Support Specialists
- Paraprofessionals
- Classroom Supplies
- Desks, Tables, Chairs, Bookshelves, etc.
- etc.
- Early Education Allotment Funds may be spent on Pre-K Classrooms as long as there are
qualifying Pre-K students in that classroom. (It is okay if there are non-qualifying students in
the classroom also.)
-Early Education Allotment Funds MAY NOT be spent for constructing new buildings.
-These funds should be received by School Districts very soon.
HAVE A GREAT WEEK!
Have Questions? Contact:
Susan Cryer
ESC-Region 6
Early Childhood Specialist
(936)435-8369