Schools can apply for food-service equipment grants

Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, schools can apply for a grant to obtain or replace equipment for their school food-service program. A memo explaining the grants was sent to your official school food service representative earlier today. The memo and an application are available online at the department's "stimulus" Web page at www.doe.sd.gov/stimulus. Look under the "Competitive Grants" heading. The deadline to apply is May 15.

Feds issue new ARRA guidance, district allocations coming

In other ARRA news today, the U.S. Department of Education issued guidance regarding the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund; Title I, Part A Recovery Funds; and IDEA Parts B&C Recovery Funds. You can access the federal guidance at http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/leg/recovery/index.html#apps. The documents are dated April 1, 2009. The South Dakota Department of Education expects to release district allocations for ARRA Title I and IDEA dollars by mid-April.

The Department has also announced which offices will be taking the lead in implementing AARA distributions:

Please note the below additional resources concerning ARRA:

• Establishing a system for identifying and training highly effective teachers to serve as instructional leaders in

Title I school-wide programs and modifying the school schedule to allow for collaboration among the instructional staff;

school in corrective action or restructuring status in order to train teachers to use a new reading curriculum

that aggressively works on improving students' oral language skills and vocabulary or, in some other way,

builds teachers' capacity to address academic achievement problems;

• Strengthen and expand early childhood education by providing resources to align a district-wide Title I pre‐K

program with state early learning standards and state content standards for grades K–3 and, if there is a plan

for sustainability beyond 2010–11, expanding high-quality Title I pre-K programs to larger numbers of young

children;

• Using longitudinal data systems to drive continuous improvement efforts focused on improving achievement

in Title I schools;

• Providing professional development to teachers in Title I targeted assistance programs on the use of data to

inform and improve instruction for Title I eligible students;

• Using reading or mathematics coaches to provide professional development to teachers in Title I targeted

assistance programs; and

• Establishing or expanding fiscally sustainable extended learning opportunities for Title I eligible students in

targeted assistance programs, including activities provided before school, after school, during the summer, or

over an extended school year.

– Providing intensive district-wide professional development for special education and regular education teachers that focuses on scaling-up, through replication, proven and innovative evidence-based school-wide strategies in reading, math, writing and science, and positive behavioral supports to improve outcomes for students with disabilities.