Accelerated Learning Resources
IU1 will be holding an Accelerated Learning webinar series/open discussion for administrators every other Friday at 10am beginning January 21st. During each 1-hour webinar, an accelerated learning topic will be presented with plenty of time for administrators to share out what they are doing and ask each other questions during open discussion. Topics will include creating and supporting an accelerated learning plan, stakeholder engagement tools, creative scheduling, and more. Through this administrator webinar series, we will share ideas to support one another around curriculum and instruction as we continue to feel the impacts of COVID on our students academically.
May 13
Implementation of New Standards:
Year 1: 2022-2023
Year 2: 2023-2024
Year 3: 2024-2025
Year 4: State Assessment 2025-2026 (Spring '26 will be the first measure/assessment)- Until this point, students will still take the Keystone Biology State Assessment
Opportunities and Resources for Teachers
Join Alyssa Moore for a 4 session series where educators will receive an overview of the new standards and their components, design their science vision, and learn about 3-Dimensional Teaching and Learning through Phenomenon-anchored instruction
Science PLC Virtual Sessions Coming Year 2022-2023
Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences MWEEs
Environment and Ecology Investigations Framework
Chesapeake Bay Foundation What is a MWEE?
2. Fall 2022- IU1 will have a MWEE kit added to their Lending Library full of watershed testing supplies for educators to borrow, Western PA MWEE workshop coming Fall 2022!
Engineering is Elementary - EiE (PreK-8)
Strong literacy integration
Supplemental, fully supported, turn-key program
Engineering by Design - EbD (K-12)
Supplemental, Free access to all PA Educators 2021-2022 School year (contact Alyssa Moore for more details)
Free, high-quality instructional materials and units for K-12 (Middle School Units are available, HS lessons being finished winter 2022-2023, Elementary units coming later)
April 1, 2022 - Mental Health
https://youtu.be/PkuOgMDrDOk - video SEL and its importance
https://sites.google.com/a/midwestpbis.org/midwest-pbis-network/materials/special-topics/trauma - Trauma Integration with PBS
Move This World - SEL curriculum for Elem and MS
Strong Kids - SEL curriculum for HS
Trauma PD through IU1 through all 4 trauma lens to incorporate trauma informed awareness in school; we have all experienced trauma through the pandemic and have interpreted it in different ways depending on previous trauma experiences (Contact Charisse Bowman for PD on the Continuum of Trauma though IU1)
The Continuum of Trauma - Trauma Awareness, Trauma Sensitivity, Trauma Informed, Healing Center
Encourage mental health activities for staff and students to take care of themselves; must be incorporated into daily schedules
Alcohol and Other Drugs
The target audience is school districts that want to host the 1 hour (plus 15-30 minutes for live Q+A after) virtual event for their parent community. This program educates parents, teachers and social services providers on indicators of drug use/abuse, alcohol use/abuse, and other poor lifestyle choices among teens. The goal is to identify a child who may be in crisis and intervene before the crisis is reached. Hidden refers to stash devices meant to hide and conceal; High refers to drugs in 2022 including THC, CBD, vapes, and paraphernalia; Hammered refers to alcohol infused items and deceptive alcoholic packaging meant to attract a younger consumer.
Equity
Free Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) resources are below in honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
What is the Model Minority Myth?
https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/what-is-the-model-minority-myth
The model minority myth that paints Asian Americans as inherently successful and problem-free, particularly in contrast to other minority groups, has masked an appreciation that young AAPI children and their families are as diverse as any other group. This article shares some of the facts on this topic.
Appreciating the Diversity Among Asians
This is a brief article that highlights the diversity among Asians, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders.
Language, Race, and Ethnic Diversity Among Asian Americans
This report highlights the diversity among Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities and details the need for better data collection and reporting of AAPI English learners.
Asian Pacific Americans with Disabilities: Our Stories, Our Lives
https://disabilityvisibilityproject.com/2016/03/20/apa/
This summary of an informal survey highlights issues of intersectionality among race, disability, and other aspects of identity, with many insights provided in the words of the survey participants.
Learning About the Contributions and Challenges of Asian Americans
https://www.pbs.org/video/breaking-ground-ibdgjq/
Asian Americans is a five-hour film series that chronicles the contributions and challenges of Asian Americans, the fastest-growing ethnic group in America. Personal histories and research provide a fresh lens on U.S. history and the role Asian Americans have played in it.
Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Children’s Books
https://socialjusticebooks.org/booklists/asian-americans/#early
Teaching for Change, the project that produced this list, carefully selects the best multicultural and social justice books for early childhood families and educators.
Curated STEM Book List: Asian and Pacific Islanders
https://stemie.fpg.unc.edu/storybook-conversations-celebrating-asian-pacific-heritage
The STEMIE staff has curated this list of books that embrace and celebrate Asian Pacific heritage in STEM and have lots of engaging illustrations and photos to talk about with young children.
Storybook Conversations: Luna’s Yum Yum Dim Sum
https://stemie.fpg.unc.edu/storybook-conversations-luna%E2%80%99s-yum-yum-dim-sum
In this book written by Natasha Yim and illustrated by Violet Kim, Luna is having Dim Sum on her birthday. She and her brothers are talking about how to share buns fairly. Click on the Storybook Conversations link to access ideas for how use this story to build understanding of STEM concepts. The link will also give you access to ways in which to support the use of this book with children with disabilities. Another Storybook Conversation to explore is Up to My Knees by Grace Lin (https://stemie.fpg.unc.edu/storybook-conversations-my-knees).
Helping Your Kids Understand and Cope with Anti-Asian Racism
https://answers.childrenshospital.org/anti-asian-racism/
Recently there has been an alarming increase in anti-Asian sentiment and discrimination in the United States. This article offers ideas for talking with children about racism and identity, as well as the importance of speaking up about hate incidents they may encounter.
Additional equity focused resources:
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has revealed deep-seated inequities in health care for communities of color and amplifies social and economic factors contributing to poor health outcomes. Recent news reports indicate that the pandemic disproportionately impacts communities of color, compounding longstanding racial disparities.
Many interventions designed to support or improve outcomes among children and youth have been evaluated, but few evaluations assess the long-term effects of interventions. A new report (and accompanying digital feature) from Child Trends and the Urban Institute presents findings from simulations of interventions aimed at improving key “crossroads moments”—or critical moments that can set adolescents and young adults on an upward or downward path of economic mobility. These simulations use the Social Genome Model (SGM), an analytic tool that can project the effects of approaches that support the development of children and youth.
Mental Health
Six Things Parents Should Know About Mental Health Before Sending a Kid to College
What can parents do to support the mental health of their children who are away at college? Experts, including Dr. Sarah Cain Spannagel, offer advice on making a plan and keeping the lines of communication open.
As many as 1 in 5 children and youth will experience some form of mental health problem. The toll that takes, not only on the children but on parents, too, is enormous. This guide focuses on parents, with practical tips and information on how to prioritize wellness and start making things better for them and their families.
The United States is experiencing an extreme teenage mental-health crisis. According to a new CDC study, from 2009 to 2021, the share of American high-school students who say they feel “persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness” rose from 26 percent to 44 percent. This is the highest level of teenage sadness ever recorded. The government survey of almost 8,000 high-school students conducted in the first six months of 2021 found a great deal of variation in mental health among different groups. More than one in four girls reported that they had seriously contemplated attempting suicide during the pandemic, which was twice the rate of boys. Nearly half of LGBTQ teens said they had contemplated suicide during the pandemic, compared with 14 percent of their heterosexual peers. Sadness among white teens seems to be rising faster than among other groups.
A new report by The Trevor Project, the world’s largest suicide prevention and mental health organization for LGBTQ young people, explores the mental health and well-being of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) LGBTQ youth. This report is one of the first to analyze the mental health outcomes among youth who are both AAPI and LGBTQ.
The Cultural Inclusiveness and Equity (CIE) Well-Being Information and Strategies for Educators (WISE), CIE WISE for short, is a Companion to ClassroomWISE. This training is intended for educators who want to know more about how to support the mental health needs of students through use of classroom practices that are culturally inclusive and equitable. CIE WISE is a 4-hour, self-paced, educator mental health literacy course, developed by a partnership between the MHTTC Network, the Danya Institute, and the National Center for School Mental Health. This course presents foundational knowledge on how social injustices and educator biases impact student mental health; describes how educators can engage in culturally inclusive action to promote student mental health and it provides concrete action steps for educators to support students experiencing distress from a cultural inclusiveness, anti-racist and equity lens. CIE WISE will be available soon! Modules include:
Understanding How Social Injustice Impact Student Mental Health
Understanding How Educator Bias Impacts Student Mental Health
Engaging in Culturally Inclusive Action to Promote Student Mental Health
Applying a Cultural Inclusiveness and Equity Lens to Support Students in Distress
Trauma
Trauma ScreenTIME Course is Now Available
Trauma ScreenTIME is an online training course on how to screen children for trauma. The Child Health and Development Institute of Connecticut (CHDI) developed the training in collaboration with families and national experts based on best practices. The ScreenTIME course provides staff working with children and youth the knowledge to effectively screen children for trauma and connect families with their preferred supports and services to help children recover from trauma exposure. The ScreenTIME course is available at no cost to child-serving professionals. Additionally, continuing education credits are available. Keep up the great work, CHDI!
Secondary Traumatic Stress: Understanding the Impact on Professionals in Trauma-Exposed Workplaces
Designed for all child-serving professionals exposed to details of traumatic events and individuals suffering from post-traumatic distress in the context of their work. Through the content in this course, participants will learn the risks associated with working with individuals suffering from traumatic stress symptoms, strategies to reduce the impact of secondary traumatic stress (STS,) and how to support wellness in staff. Finally, this course addresses how STS is an ethical mandate for organizations and individuals working in trauma-exposed environments.
UMD Research Finds Mental Health Help, Parenting Intervention Abates Generational Trauma
Without policies to ensure young parents have access to mental health services, preventing intergenerational trauma can be a challenge. Elizabeth Aparicio, University of Maryland assistant professor in the university’s public health school, conducted research that found children born to young parents are at an elevated risk of abuse and that young moms coping with stress from trauma need support to meet the needs of themselves and their children. This includes mental health treatment and essentials like food, housing, and diapers, but the two are often treated as separate.
“Self Soothing Techniques To Include in Your Self Care Routine”,
Published by OnlineMSWPrograms.com, this resource defines the difference between self soothing and self care, and provides activities to engage the five senses to promote calm and relaxation.
March 18 - Digging Deeper into Accelerated Learning Toolkit
March 4 - Scheduling for Accelerated Learning
Scheduling for K-12 and examples
PA Evidence Resource Center and ESSA tiers video - Refresher on ERC
February 18, 2022 - Academics (Assessment and Data)
Have you created a comprehensive academic assessment system?
How does your assessment plan reflect the district’s values for teaching and learning?
How do you know that all assessments are high quality, are rigorous, and are implemented with fidelity?
How do you know that all assessments are equitable, accessible, and inclusive? Does this system include local assessments?
Does this system include protocols for analysis and interpretation of data?
Does it include a direct connection to the impact on instruction?
How do you reflect, monitor, and share out information around your plan?
Sample Assessment Plan Template
Sample Accelerated Learning Plan from a district
IU1 offers sessions for ELA and Math on finding the root cause and looking at data and how that connects to curriculum and instruction. Contact Ron Gallagher (ronald.gallagher@iu1.org) for additional information.
February 4, 2022 - Staffing and Staffing for Scaffolded Supports (Intervention)
Staffing Resources
Sample Accelerated Learning Plan from a district
Classroom Monitors as Intervention Assistance
IU1 will offer asynchronous classroom monitor training beginning February 7, 2022
January 21, 2022 - Accelerated Learning Plans
What is Accelerated Learning?
Focus on High Quality Academics - Define the instructional changes needed for the new school year and cultivate a thriving data culture to ensure every student has access to the instructional strategies, resources and supports necessary to successfully engage with and master grade-level content.
Foster Supportive Learning Environments - Place equitable, trauma-informed principles at the core of planning to create a safe and inclusive space for learning, form positive and supportive relationships, and support students and staff mentally and socially recover.
Establish Healthy Systems Conditions - Engage stakeholders across your education community to fully understand the needs of your system and respond with staffing, technology, scheduling and continuous improvement processes that create the conditions for acceleration of learning.
Design a System of Scaffolded Support - Provide a continuum of evidence-based academic, behavioral, social, and emotional supports aligned with student needs.
Accelerated Learning Plan Resources: