By Peg Waterman, Alternative High School Teacher & Truancy Liaison, Newport School District

As the 2020-2021 school year approaches, there are a lot of unknowns. What will OSPI mandate? What will the health department’s guidelines be? What models will schools use when they re-open? What will teachers teach? And all decisions are subject to the changing numbers in coronavirus cases. Our foundations of providing education are moving beneath our feet. We are feeling scared, uncertain, and anxious. And, that’s only how educators and administrators are feeling.

During these unprecedented times, many of our families and students are impacted by issues of food or housing insecurity, domestic violence, child abuse, racial tensions, anger in the home and community, and other traumas. And, as we all know, this trauma and crisis makes it very hard for learning to take place.
We do need answers to questions like, “Will sports occur? How will we social distance within classrooms? How will we hold students accountable during remote learning? What truancy will look like?”
But the essential question right now, during this transitional time, should be: How do we respond to student and family needs? We need to focus our attention on what really matters.
Amid these changes, our core principles Continue reading here

The Attendance Works annual Attendance Awareness Campaign 2020 theme is “Present, Engaged, Supported!” and OSSI LOVES it.  We wish we had thought of it.

Attendance Works acknowledges that students are more likely to participate, focus and learn in this new environment if they feel safe, connected and supported, and believe they can learn and achieve.

Tools to support Attendance Awareness:

1. Download Attendance Works 2020 Key Messages. 
2. Attendance Data framework and additional metrics for monitoring attendance

Credit: Attendance Works Sign up to receive their updates

By Amanda Klackner, District Attendance Coordinator, Washougal School District

When the Washougal School District learned classes would be operating remotely for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year, we knew the job of contacting unengaged students/families would be too daunting for building attendance secretaries to tackle alone.

To help in this effort, the district shifted classified staff from other assignments to help contact families. We used the Fostering Connections pyramid, to support their conversations.

The tool provides a framework for building relationships and followed Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as recommended by OSPI.  The tool supported staff to start conversations in a way that would build trust and learn about the needs of the student and family. This helped us to get those needs me and support the students to reengage. 

We paired the Fostering Connections tool with a list of local community and county resources. This allowed the staff member to connect families to food and emergency assistance immediately in addition to making referrals to our district Family Resource Coordinators and school counselors for follow-up and support/services. 

The Washougal School District found the Fostering Connections pyramid to be a very effective communication tool. Several of our families commented that they really appreciated the district’s caring outreach and support.

Credit: Tool developed by Kimberly Strong, Regional Capacity Builder for High Desert ESD.

Everywhere Education is offering a three track professional learning series. The three tracks are for leaders, classroom teachers, and anyone who serves youth with mental health needs. Each track includes five one-hour sessions delivered once per month for five months; sessions are recorded and available to watch anytime. At the end of each session, attendees will be given tools to take implementation steps to move the practices learned in the session into practice. Each series will be led by Greg Benner, who spent two decades supporting Washington educators with practical trauma-responsive social and emotional learning strategies. Find more information here. 

Email Phil Potter to get your school or district signed up today.

WCHSCR Fall Counselor Workshops
Join us this fall for WCHSCR’s first-ever virtual workshops, which will bring school counselors important updates from OSPI, the WA Student Achievement Council, and the 2-/4-year college systems’ organizations.

Participants will also get to hear recorded presentations from public and private colleges and network with fellow school counselors via live Q&A sessions. 

Go to https://washingtoncouncil.org/ for more information and a link to the registration for either event, which will be held on Sept. 15 and Sept. 17, 2020.

Promote Understanding: Eid-Al-Adha Adventure
Join Peg+Cat as they learn about the Muslim holiday Eid-Al-Adha from their friends Yasmina and Amir. In addition to exploring how Muslim's celebrate the holiday, students also explore the mathematical concepts of less than (<) and more than (>), fractions, and how to create equal amounts.

Culturally Responsive Education in the Classroom: An Equity Framework for Pedagogy by Adeyemi Stembridge

Providing a practice-oriented framework for understanding what equity entails for both teachers and learners, this book clarifies the theoretical context for equity and shares rich teaching strategies across a range of content areas and age groups. Unpacking six themes to understand Culturally Responsive Education (CRE), this powerful book helps teachers incorporate equity into behaviors, environments, and meaningful learning opportunities. Culturally Responsive Education in the Classroom provides specific, practice-based examples to help readers develop a culturally responsive pedagogical mindset for closing equity gaps in student achievement.