ESSER Funding Opportunities

Using ESSER funding to invest in an aligned PreK-3rd grade curriculum, assessments and professional development system will ensure a strong early learning foundation that exceeds our state’s 3rd grade reading and math benchmarks, as well as set the trajectory for success in 4-12th grade.

Explore our recommendations here.

Utilizing funds on Reading Academies allows Early Education Allotment dollars to instead be used to expand Pre-K and training more teachers in a single year

While Reading Academies now have until June 2023 to be completed, we recommend using ESSER funding to accelerate completion of the K-3 Reading Academies in 2021-22. Reading Academies provide early grades teachers with foundational pedagogical and literary content and concrete strategies that can support students with individualized reading supports, critical to ensuring students get back on track to reading proficiency. By prioritizing Reading Academies this school year, teachers will have the knowledge and skills to support student learning post-COVID and early education allotment funds previously allocated to Reading Academies can be used for other strategies, like Pre-K expansion.

Explore our recommendations here.

The Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) is a classroom observation tool that measures the quality of interactions within a classroom. It is a nationally researched and implemented tool used in classrooms from infant to 12th grade. Locally, since 2013, Dallas ISD CLASS observation results have shown an 82% - 99% correlation between BOY K-2 Literacy Assessment and prior-year CLASS quality measures. Teachers who receive CLASS observations and coaching from instructional specialists aligned to the CLASS framework see greater student academic growth than those who just receive observations.

CLASS has demonstrated its impact on student social, emotional and academic outcomes and provides teachers with the critical building blocks of how to support student learning, before and during COVID. We believe that CLASS can be a integral COVID recovery coaching tool that will support teachers to build back a strong instructional and social-emotional learning environment that meets the needs of all students and unprecedented ESSER and ARP funds can cover the one-time, upfront costs to train teachers, administrators, and instructional coaches in the next 1-3 years through a sustainable model that will then allow each district to continue using the tools and frameworks in perpetuity at a minimal cost per student.

For more information on CLASS implementation and three-year phase-in recommendation, see our implementation toolkit here <link coming soon>.

Explore our recommendations here.

ESSER funds can be used to launch or expand Universal Pre-K options in districts including allocating funding to public and private/non-profit Pre-K partnerships with childcare providers. Now is the time to align recovery resources and efforts across sectors.

See TEA’s website for information on Early Learning Partnerships.

Read about the current context of Collective Trauma and then learn about the importance of using ESSER funding for trauma-informed trainings and practice in this post by Conscious Discipline.

See here for some upcoming training sessions offered by the Momentous Institute.

Explore our recommendations here.