September 4, 2024 at 10:30 AM - Educational Resources Committee Meeting

Discussion:  Call to order at 10:30 AM.  

Staff: Larianne Polk, Deb Hericks, Scott Isaacson

Discussion:  Amy Rhone gave updates for NDE Special Education.  Focused Monitoring has started for Part B and C. They are being monitored by the Federal departments for Part B.  IDEA applications are due and need to be completed by September 15.  

Discussion:  Tami Clay was present to give ESPD updates.  They met prior to Admin Days.  Spent time working with NDE on support systems.  

Discussion:  The Technology Director gave updates for SRS.  After extensive internal testing, it was decided that the major update of the software environment needed more work and was not released in July. Instead, some essential fixes were made to the current system and the environment update will move forward for a December, 2024 release. The advisory team has decided to use a schedule of two updates per year in December and July. The enhancements included in the December release in addition to the newer software platform are to include enhancements to the IEP form related to recent findings and feedback from file reviews and investigations. A sub-committee has continued to meet and design these changes. The SRS system was certified in mid-August to publish ADVISER data for 2024-2025 and that is available for all schools when their student information system has published ADVISER data.

Discussion:  The Technology Director also gave updates on Project Para.  The Canvas team has used the Canvas catalog to develop a new, smoother registration process for Project Para users. This is being tested internally and then with districts who use the current system with plans to roll out the new registration system during this fall. When testing is successful, the current system will stop taking new registrations. The current target is October 1st. Users already in progress with the current system will have time to complete their courses, while new users will be redirected to the new registration process. The next work in Project Para during this 2024-2025 school year will be to review and modernize the course content and presentation in collaboration with the NDE, University, community college, ESU and school district partners.

Discussion:  The last training for CPBL will be held next week during PDO.  This will finish up the work for HQIM.  

Discussion:  Amy Schultz and Dianah Steinbrink gave updates for SDA.  This is the year they will be revising their mission, vision, and bylaws.  SDA connections was held on August 22.  These are held on the off months of SDA meetings/training.  The first SDA meeting will be next Thursday, September 12.  They in the process of their needs' assessment.  This will drive the learning for 2025-2026.  November training will be on presenting and facilitation skills.  Jane Ellison from Training Collaborative will be doing the training.  They continue to work on the April training.  

Discussion:  Kristen Slechta was present to share information on creating the new HAL Cadre.  

Discussion:  Dr. Polk gave updates on Literacy work with NDE.  There will be a statewide literacy coach that will do a train the trainers process to create more literacy coaches across the ESUs.  They will have a common language for a coaching model.  They will be coached on the Science of Reading.  There are also some private philanthropists that will be involved in this work.  There will be a co-hort of three schools - OPS, Alliance Public Schools, Crete Public Schools will be doing a course through UNL.  All teachers through 3-4 grade, including Special Education teachers, will be trained (7000+).

Discussion:  PDO Meetings will be this next week, September 10 and 11.  CBPL will be the work on day one. Day two will begin with content areas and then, at 10:15 AM will move to the actual PDO meeting and training on AI and the work on MOU.  

Discussion:  Shirley Vargas was present for NDE. The NDE Board's priorities will be Foundational Literacy, Excellent Educators, and Engagement.   SBOE will be asked to approve the 2024 Nebraska College and Career Ready Standards for Science on Friday, September 6th.  

Discussion:  Andrew Easton spoke about Behavior Intervention Training (BIT). The information has been shared with ESUs.  Scott Isaacson gave updates on the Behavior Intervention Reporting Tool (BIRT). This is where the school will be reporting the training of staff.

• Access the BIT one-pager+FAQ for details...
• Copy made available to districts
• Note: Several Updates Have Been Made
• Copy for ESU personnel ONLY

Discussion:  Dr. Polk gave updates on the TextBook Loan program.  A draft procedure has been created for this process.  

Discussion:  Dr. Polk shared that CANVA Premium is free for ESUs.  Contact Andy Shaw at andyshaw@canva.com.

Discussion:  Meeting adjourned at 11:32.