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ARP ESSER PLAN

 

 

America Rescue Plan (ARP)/Elementary & Secondary School

Emergency Relief (ESSER) Plan

(ESSER III)

July 31, 2021

 

Safe Return to In Person Instruction and Continuity of Services Plan

 

On March 11, 2021, a third ESSER Fund (ARP ESSER) was authorized by the enactment of the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act.  This act includes moneys for The ARP/ESSER funds that will be spent over the course of a three-year period.  During the planning process for the ARP ESSER LEA Plan, the Pike County School District conducted consultation with required stakeholders.   Stakeholder feedback was solicited from students, parents, teachers, local PCEA President, community members, businesses, and city and county leaders.   An intentional effort was given to reach out individually to families with potential economical and geographical barriers. The district plans to seek additional input on the needs of the community and how we can best serve those needs as we prepare to reopen and stay in school.  

 

Based upon feedback from stakeholders regarding the Pike County Schools’ use of the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act Elementary & Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund will be used in the follow manner.

 

Part 1:  Prevention and Mitigation Strategies Consistent with CDC Guidance for Safe Return to Schools

 

The safe return to in-person instruction is the top priority of the Pike County School District.  The focus is on the safety and well-being of students and staff to both begin and stay in school for in-person instruction.  The district will continue to follow CDC and KDE recommendations and mandates.  At present, we are continuing our coordinated preparedness efforts for sanitation and disinfection practices that adhere to strict preventative measures and layered prevention strategies.  For instance, our plan for the safe return to in-person instruction involves the following measures of safety and use of funds:

  • Continue COVID Program Coordinator that communicate with schools and community members
  • Required mask mandate for all students and staff riding buses and in school buildings regardless of their vaccination status

 

  • Offer services of school health nurses for all students and staff
  • Offer telehealth services as supported by the Pikeville Medical Center
  • Offer of COVID-19 vaccines to all students age 12 and up, faculty, and staff with COVID19 Vaccine FAQs available to all members of the community through the Pike County Health Department
  • Continual monitoring of community transmission of COVID-19 for positive cases and using the positivity rate to make informed decisions about in-person, blended, and/or virtual learning options
  • Install touchless hand sanitizer stations at each facility and at multiple locations within each facility
  • Allow time between usage spaces for custodial staff to sanitize and cleanse high traffic areas throughout the school day
  • Provide students and staff with PPE, and thermometers as well as other health equipment  to safeguard against disease and illness as needed
  • Promote physical distancing of 3 feet by enforcing safeguards such as hiring class- size reduction teachers when applicable, purchasing individual student desks versus tables, etc.
  • Enact quarantine and contact tracing in collaboration with the Pike County Health Department (PCHD) guidelines to limit exposure to infected persons
  • Purchase, installation, and/or usage of air purifiers in existing ductwork/air handlers and prioritize air purification in classrooms/areas without air return (i.e. flooring, HVAC, etc.)
  • Provide additional custodians, as needed, to help with required cleaning and sanitizing
  • Purchase and maintain electrostatic fogger/ionizer preparing for COVID-19

 

Part 2:  How the Pike County Schools will use funds to address the academic impact of lost instructional time through the Implementation of Evidence Based Interventions

 

As the Pike County School District prepares to accelerate student learning, as well as, respond to the social, emotional, and mental health needs and the academic needs of all students because of the COVID-19 pandemic for the reopening of schools in the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school year, we are aware of the academic impact of lost instructional time during the previous year. In our efforts to mitigate this learning loss, we will:

Strategy

Activities

Evidence Based Citation
  • Continue to enhance our usage of the Canvas virtual platform to personalize and improve blended learning
  • Utilize Canvas to develop personalized learning/blended learning activities
  • Conole, G. (2010). Personalization through technology-enhanced learning. In J. O’Donoghue (Ed.), Technology-supported environments for personalized learning: Methods and case studies (pp. 1–15). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
  • Spend funds to ensure our students’ technological capacity is 1:1
  • Promote the EBB Broadband ACT to provide discounts to households for internet
  • Provide virtual learning activities/Chromebooks for students that test positive or are in quarantine as well as assist in transition from in-person to virtual learning with minimal interruptions in coursework
  • Procure devices as needed to support student virtual learning
  • Communicate opportunities to families concerning programs to reduce cost of internet services
  • Cheung, A. & Slavin, R.E. (2013).  Effects of educational technology applications on reading outcomes for struggling readers:  A best-evidence synthesis.
  • Towndrow, Phillip A.; Vallance, Michael Making the Right Decisions: Leadership in 1-to-1 Computing in Education.  International Journal of Educational Management, v27 n3 p260-272 2013.
  • To ensure these remediation and interventions are successful, we will hire certified Intervention Specialists to work with students one-on-one and/or in small group settings as needed.   Assess and address student-learning loss using reliable benchmark and progress monitoring tools
  • Utilize CERT, MAP, and ACT for benchmark and progress monitoring
  • McBride, J. (2020). Research Foundation for Star
  • Northwest Evaluation Association. (2017, February). Measures of Academic Progress Interim Assessments for Grades K 12.   

https://www.nwea.org/content/uploads/2015/11/MAP-Teachers-and-School-Leaders-Brochure-FEB17.pdf .

 

 

 

 

 

 

Strategy

Activities

Evidence Based Citation
  • Provide high quality professional learning for instructional program implementations
  • Assess and address learning loss using reliable benchmark and progress monitoring tools
  • Provide training and high quality resources in all core areas to address learning loss and gaps

  • Slavin, R.E. Lake, C, & Groff, C. (2008) Effective Programs in Middle and High School Mathematics:  A Best Evidence Syntheses.  Baltimore, MD:  Johns Hopkins, University, Center for Data-Driven Reform in Education.

·Bay-Williams, J., Kling,G. (2019)  Math Fact Fluency: 60+ Games and Assessment Tools to Support Learning and Retention.  National Council of Mathematics.
  • Provide nutritional meals for students
  • KyMTSS Framework
  • Provide additional staff as needed to meet needs of the varied student feed plans, and
  • Purchase materials needed to deliver food in  alternative manners
  

Strategy

Activities

Evidence Based Citation
  • Use evidence-based interventions to decrease academic deficits incurred as a direct result of COVID-19 restrictions.
  • Use Guidance Counselors to help respond to social and emotional and mental health needs of all students
  • Additional funding  to coordinate intensive RTI efforts across the district
  • Guidance Counselors will meet monthly to be trained
  • Create, organize, and share multi-tier level student supports to RTI staff
  • Staff trained and high quality resources provided for interventions to address student learning loss

KyMTSS Framework 
  • National Center on Response to Intervention (2010).  Essential components of RTI- A Closer Look at Response to Intervention.   Washington, DC:  U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, National Center on Response to Intervention.
  • Evidence Review The Transformative Potential of Tutoring.  High Dosage Tutoring.

 

 
  • ARP ESSER Funds will be utilized to purchase various instructional support materials with the intent of targeting academic deficits and mastery of grade level content standards (textbooks, intervention materials, etc.)

 
  • Purchase math, and ELA textbooks
  • Purchase Xello

 
  • Achieve. (2010). Comparing the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics and NCTM’s Curriculum Focal Points. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved February 8, 2018, from http://www.achieve.org/CCSSandFocalPoints.
  • Abrami, P., Lou, Y., Chambers, B., Paulsen, C., & Spense, J. (2000). Why Should We Group Students Within-Class for Learning? Educational Research and Evaluation: An International Journal on Theory and Practice, 6(2), 158–179. https://doi.org/10.1076/1380-3611(200006)6:2;1-E;F158

 

 

 

Part 3:  Plans for Spending Remainder of Funds

 

Strategy

Activities

Evidence Based Citation
  • Provide instructional software and systems for learning
  • Purchase instructional software programs (Apex, Edgenuity, Canvas, Mastery Prep)
  • Alshammari, M., Anane, R., & Hendley, R. J. (2016). Usability and Effectiveness Evaluation of Adaptively in E-Learning Systems. Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 2984–2991. https://doi.org/10.1145/2851581.2892395
  • Conole, G. (2010). Personalization Through Technology-Enhanced Learning. In J. O’Donoghue (Ed.), Technology-Supported Environments for Personalized Learning: Methods and case studies (pp. 1–15). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
  • Bjerede, M., Laufenberg, D., & Ray, K. (June 2016). Guide to Choosing Digital Content and Curriculum. Center for Digital Education. State Educational Technology Directors Association. (March 2015). Ensuring the Quality of Digital Content.

 

 

 

 

Strategy

Activities

Evidence Based Citation
  • Provide tutoring (after school, summer school intervention during school, etc.)
  • Create, organize, and share multi-tier level student supports to RTI staff
  • Staff trained and high quality resources provided for interventions to address student learning loss

KyMTSS Framework
  • National Center on Response to Intervention (2010).  Essential components of RTI-A Closer Look at Response to Intervention.   Washington, DC:  U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, National Center on Response to Intervention.
  • Evidence Review The Transformative Potential of Tutoring. High Dosage Tutoring.
  • Professional Learning for teachers (blended learning, math, ELA, etc.)
  • Provide training and high quality resources in all core areas to address learning loss and gaps
  • Slavin, R.E. Lake, C, & Groff, C. (2008) Effective Programs in Middle and High School Mathematics:  A Best Evidence Syntheses.  Baltimore, MD:  Johns Hopkins University, Center for Data-Driven Reform in Education.

·Bay-Williams, J., Kling,G. (2019).  Math Fact Fluency: 60+ Games and Assessment Tools to Support Learning and Retention.  National Council of Mathematics.
  • School Facility Improvement and construction
  • Provide updates as needed
  • Fisher, K. (2001) Building Better Outcomes: The Impact of School Infrastructure on Student Outcomes and Behavior.

 

 

 

 

 

Strategy

Activities

Evidence Based Citation
  • Support Pike County Virtual Academy for high school and elementary students (staff, supplies, technology software)
  • Provide virtual learning options for students who choose not to attend face to face
  • Conole, G. (2010). Personalization Through Technology-Enhanced Learning. In J. O’Donoghue (Ed.), Technology-Supported environments for personalized learning: Methods and case studies (pp. 1–15). Hershey
  • Training used with fidelity to mitigate COVID-19 loss of learning and its associated mental health issues , social and emotional learning (SEL)
  • Guidance Counselors will meet monthly to be trained
  • Create, organize, and share multi-tier level student supports to RTI staff
  • Staff trained and high quality resources provided for interventions to address student learning loss

KyMTSS Framework 
  • National Center on Response to Intervention (2010).  Essential Components of RTI-A Closer Look at Response to Intervention.   Washington, DC:  U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, National Center on Response to Intervention.
  • Evidence Review The Transformative Potential of Tutoring.  High Dosage Tutoring.

 

 
  • Provide coordinated communication between home/school/community
  • COVID Program Coordinator that  communicate with schools and community members
  • Howland, A. (2006)  School Liaisons: Bridging the Gap Between Home and School.  School Community Journal.16(2), 47-68. Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs Canberra, Australia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The implementation of the plan will be monitored through frequent meetings of committee members to ensure meaningful consultation.  The committee will consist of teachers, students, community members, district office staff, administrators, and classified staff.   An agenda from the meeting along with sign in sheet of those attending, will be on file at district office.  In addition, implementation will be monitored by use of CSP, CDIP, loss of learning plans, and 45/45/90 day school plans, as well, as state assessment and survey results.