Coronavirus (COVID-19) Updates in the District Final Guiding Principles for Continuous Education, Supporting Resources, and the 2020-21 School Year LEA Continuous Education & School Recovery Plan Application Questions: The District’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the continued use of social distance measures to protect public health will require schools to prepare for both in-person and distance learning for the 2020-21 school year. While we need to keep students and staff safe, ensuring that students continue to learn and grow is critical now more than ever. In response to this need, OSSE developed a set of guiding principles to provide LEAs and families with clear and consistent expectations for the continuous education that should take place during the 2020-21 school year. We solicited feedback from a diverse group of stakeholders earlier this month on a draft of these guiding principles and are now publishing the final guiding principles along with a collection of resources to support the effective implementation of these principles.
In order to grant LEAs the calendar flexibility that will be needed for the 2020-21 school year, OSSE and the DC Public Charter School Board (DC PCSB) will require LEAs to develop Continuous Education and School Recovery Plans for 2020-21. OSSE and DC PCSB are sharing this LEA Continuous Education and School Recovery Plan jointly to streamline operations and reduce burden for LEAs so each entity may fulfill its lawful functions. The application is aligned to OSSE’s Continuous Education Guiding Principles and the questions can be found on OSSE's website. The application is due Friday, July 31.
At this time, OSSE and DC PCSB are providing LEAs with the application questions, so they may begin to work on their responses. In mid-July, OSSE and DC PCSB will provide information on the process for submission and review. For additional questions, please contact Justin Tooley at Justin.Tooley@dc.gov.
2019-20 School Year Approved Distance Learning Plans Published: In May, LEAs submitted distance learning plans as part of their application to waive school calendar requirements of 5-A DCMR 2100.3. LEAs were allowed this flexibility in order to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. These plans have been approved and OSSE sent LEAs their approval letters. As we communicated earlier with LEAs, these plans are being shared publicly on OSSE's website. For additional questions, please contact Justin Tooley at Justin.Tooley@dc.gov.
Guidance Defining Attendance for the 2020-21 School Year: Earlier this month, OSSE released draft policy guidance on attendance for the 2020-21 school year. OSSE extended the opportunity for stakeholders to provide feedback on the draft. OSSE has updated the guidance document to lay out the attendance collection for the 2020-21 school year in response to the feedback gathered. You can find the final guidance on OSSE's website. This guidance is being issued to prepare LEAs and schools for attendance collection for the beginning of 2020-21 school year. OSSE will move forward to emergency and proposed rulemaking based on the policy outlined in this document. For additional questions, please contact Justin Tooley at Justin.Tooley@dc.gov.
Serving English Learners During Distance Learning FAQs: As a part of the District of Columbia’s response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, OSSE has released the Serving English Learners (ELs) During Distance Learning FAQs on the responsibilities of states and LEAs to ELs and their parents during extended school closures and remote learning. This document accompanies guidance issued by the US Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. LEAs should use these FAQs as a reference when developing plans for serving EL students in the coming school year. For questions, please contact Jennifer Norton at Jennifer.Norton@dc.gov.
Important Immunization Reminder and Requirements for In-Person Learning: As a result of the COVID-19 public health emergency, District physicians have recorded an extremely low rate of pediatric immunization administrations this year. According to DC Health, the rate of pediatric immunization administrations has dropped by 70 percent in the District as families have avoided or not had access to well-child care during the emergency period. Due to this, many children in the District are not fully immunized, creating a high risk for an outbreak of a vaccine-preventable infectious disease such as measles among our students. DC Health has advised that such an outbreak of another infectious disease could be as much, or even more, of a public health risk for school communities than COVID-19 itself, and would add another complex obstacle for school operations this year.
The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the importance of protecting children against contagious diseases. Now, more than ever, families should make appointments and receive their necessary immunizations and flu shots. DC Health is prepared to support schools and families by providing more information on the importance of immunizations and details on where to access immunizations in the District. A list of health providers and locations offering pediatric immunizations is available on the DC Health website. Health providers are prepared to continue accepting appointments for administering immunizations throughout the duration of the health emergency and are taking protective measures to ensure safety of patients.
Due to the dangerously low pediatric immunization compliance and in an effort to protect the health and safety of all students, DC Health and OSSE have advised that all schools are to adopt the Immunization Policy for In-Person Attendance beginning in the 2020-21 school year. This includes notifying and potentially removing non-compliant students from in-person instruction after a 20-school day period due to the public health risks of in-person congregation without up-to-date immunizations. We request your assistance with communicating immunization requirements to all families now to give them as much time as possible to make appointments with their health care providers before the start of school.
OSSE's website has resources, training and information available for schools and families to support meeting immunization requirements. For questions about the Immunization Policy for In-Person Attendance, please contact OSSE.SchoolHealth@dc.gov. For questions about immunization information, data, and locations where families can receive immunizations, schools can contact DC Health at SHS.Program@dc.gov or visit the DC Health Immunization Program webpage.
DC Tuition Assistance Grant (DCTAG) 2020-21 Deadline Extended (reminder): OSSE is extending the deadline for applicants to complete the DCTAG application and submit all supporting documentation from Thursday, July 23,2020 to Monday, Sept. 7, 2020. View guidance on OSSE's website.
The DCTAG application opened Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020 for the 2020-21 academic year, which includes the fall 2020 and spring 2021 semesters. Applicants must submit certain supporting documentation to prove domicile in the District of Columbia. A prior year Certified D-40 Tax Return from the DC Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR) is a commonly used document to demonstrate domicile.
In response to coronavirus (COVID-19), Mayor Bowser and OTR extended the District of Columbia’s tax filing deadline from April 15, 2020 to July 15, 2020. OSSE’s extension of the DCTAG application deadline to Sept. 7, 2020 will allow families taking advantage of the extended tax filing deadline to use the Certified D-40 Tax Return to demonstrate domicile for DCTAG. Also, DCTAG has been allowed to make an exception to accept non certified D-40 taxes for the 2020-21 school year only. For students who are planning to apply for DCTAG for the 2021-22 school year, the certified 2019 D-40 and the certified 2020 D-40 will be required.
For more information, please visit the DCTAG website.
OSSE Guidance: For access to all COVID-19-related published guidance from OSSE, please visit OSSE's website.
For resources and information about the District of Columbia Government’s coronavirus (COVID-19) response and recovery efforts, please visit coronavirus.dc.gov.
My School DC Post-Lottery Application Period is Open (reminder)
Families can complete a post-lottery application with My School DC today if they seek a public school option (DCPS or charter) for the 2020-21 school year. This includes families who missed the lottery application deadlines, recently moved to the District, applied in the lottery and want to add schools to their children’s applications, or are waitlisted at all the options they applied to in the lottery. Completing a post-lottery application adds a child to a school’s waitlist below lottery applicants, unless they qualify for a lottery preference (e.g., sibling preference). Read more here. For a list of schools with short waitlists, visit the My School DC website, or begin a school search with the School Finder. The My School DC Hotline is available Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. to support families through the process: (202) 888-6336 or Info.Myschooldc@dc.gov.
School Finance Data Available on the DC School Report Card (reminder)
I am excited to share an update to the DC School Report Card: All school and LEA pages on the report card now include per-pupil spending data from the 2018-19 school year. States are required to report these data under a new requirement in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). As you may remember, OSSE collected financial expenditure data from every LEA earlier this year.
Until this point, actual spending data for each public school in the District was not publicly available. Reporting school- and LEA-level spending is another step toward providing a more transparent, equitable District of Columbia education system, with students at the center of critical decision-making. We hope that these data will help you center discussions with your staff and school community about how you are currently allocating resources and how you plan to in the future.
We created a School Finance brochure to help you understand and explain these data. For those of you who want to conduct more in-depth analyses, a new school finance data file is available alongside the other report data files. We also published on our website each LEA’s centralized expenditure methodology template. This template explains how multi-site LEAs allocated their centralized expenditures to the school-level.
Summer 2020 Virtual PD Sessions for DC Educators
OSSE's Division of Teaching and Learning (TAL) is offering a robust Summer 2020 PD Series, all of which will be hosted through virtual platforms. Our summer series includes a diverse range of content topics, but a common theme of preparing educators to meet the needs of students this fall, whether that be inside the walls of a classroom, through distance learning, or a blended learning model.
Who Can Attend? Sessions are open to all educators serving in public and public charters schools in the District. Most courses will provide OSSE professional learning units (PLUs). Please reference the individual course descriptions for more details on PLU requirements, target audience, and session objectives.
How Do I Register? Beginning this summer, and moving forward into the fall, all OSSE TAL PD trainings will be advertised and open for registration within the OSSE Training Registration app in QuickBase. To view a list of all summer 2020 PD sessions, please view the June 2020 TAL PD Bulletin. For questions, please contact the relevant member of the TAL PD Team.
Fiscal Year 2021 ConApp Training Webinars
To support an efficient application process for Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Titles I-A, II-A, III-A and IV-A for fiscal year 2021 (FY21), which spans the 2020-21 school year, OSSE is providing the following training and technical assistance opportunities. Each webinar will be offered multiple times from July through September.
Schoolwide Program Plan Design: This training explains the requirements of school-wide programs to assist LEAs and schools in developing their plans and templates.
Suggested audience: LEA grant managers and academic program officers
Suggested audience: LEA grant managers and academic program officers
Thursday, July 16, 2020, 3-4 p.m.
Thursday, July 23, 2020, 11 a.m.-12 p.m.
Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020, 2-3 p.m.
Title I Pre-application Training: The webinar explains allowable uses of funds, the application process and required policies, activities, planning and financial reporting for Title I-A sub-grantees.
Suggested audience: LEA grant managers, academic program officers and financial officers
Monday, July 6, 2020, 2-2:30 p.m.
Monday, Aug 3, 2020, 10:30-11 a.m.
Monday, Aug. 31, 2020, 2-2:30 p.m.
Title II Pre-application Training: The webinar explains allowable uses of funds, the application process and required consultation, activities, and planning for Title II-A sub-grantees.
Suggested audience: LEA grant managers, academic program officers and financial officers
Monday, July 13, 2020, 2-2:30 p.m.
Monday, Aug. 10, 2020, 11-11:30 a.m.
Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020, 2-2:30 p.m.
Title III Pre-application Training: The webinar explains allowable uses of funds, the application process and required consultation, activities, and engagement for Title III-A sub-grantees.
Suggested audience: LEA grant managers, academic program officers and financial officers
Monday, July 20, 2020, 2-2:30 p.m.
Monday, Aug. 17, 2020, 11-11:30 a.m.
Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020, 11-11:30 a.m.
Title IV Pre-application Training: The webinar explains allowable uses of funds, the application process and required consultation, activities, and planning for Title IV-A sub-grantees.
Suggested audience: LEA grant managers, academic program officers and financial officers
Monday, July 27, 2020, 2-2:30 p.m.
Monday, Aug. 24, 2020, 11-11:30 a.m.
Monday, Sept. 14, 2020 11-11:30 a.m.
Completing the ConApp in EGMS: The webinar explains how to complete the ESEA Consolidated Application in the Enterprise Grants Management System (EGMS) for sub-grantees receiving Titles I-A, II-A, II-A and IV-A funds. The training shows how to navigate the application in EGMS and submit a complete ConApp including consolidation and transferring and all required components.
2020 Virtual DC Data Summit
Join us July 20-24, 2020 as we go virtual for the 11th Annual DC Data Summit. The DC Data Summit provides public and public charter school teachers, leaders and staff with an opportunity to learn the latest trends and best practice for data-driven instruction, decision-making and performance management. Attend virtual workshops focused on data analysis, operations, continuous improvement, and more! Registration is free and open to all. Register to get access to the event app with the event schedule.
Reimagining Schools through Reopening: Instructional Planning Support Cohort (reminder) Instruction Partners will be offering reopening and recovery instructional planning support to a cohort of interested school leaders in DC for the 2020-21 school year. The series “Reimagining Schools through Reopening” is divided into two parts: five summer sessions in July 2020 open to all DC school leaders, and an invite-only monthly professional learning community (PLC) during the 2020-21 school year to reconnect on learning and assess national learning trends anchored in leading through the pandemic. The intended audience is Chief Academic Officers (CAOs) or their equivalents leading academic programming at the LEA level. This support will most benefit LEAs who can participate consistently for the duration of the PLC cohort experience rather than for individual webinars or meetings. View additional details, including summer session descriptions and the PLC scope and sequence.
For LEAs that are interested but may have additional questions, Instruction Partners will be holding a 30-minute info session the week of July 6-10, 2020 (date TBD). To RSVP for the info session, please contact Annette Thacker-Bartlett at Annette.Thacker@dc.gov. Attendance at an info session is not required for participation in the series. The summer series will take place virtually on July 15, 17, 22, 24 and 29, from 10-11 a.m. on each day. Register
Listening, Learning and Leading Series: School Leaders Aspiring Together for a Strong Re-entry(reminder)
The District of Columbia is looking ahead to a school year that will be unlike any we have experienced before. This will be a tremendous undertaking for school leaders, who are tasked with re-envisioning educational delivery models in a span of weeks while ensuring that the educational experience for all students is consistent across different settings and transitions between them are seamless. Recognizing that schools across the District have many common areas where problem solving is critical, OSSE will convene the Listening, Learning and Leading Series to provide a space for school leaders to share challenges, ideas, and potential solutions around school re-entry.
This series will take place in a virtual meeting format on each Tuesday in July 2020, 9-10 a.m. OSSE staff will act as the convener and facilitator of these sessions, but the primary focus will be on peer-to-peer sharing between school leaders, as we aspire together to have the strongest possible start to the new school year. The first session will take place on Tuesday, July 7, 2020, 9-10 a.m. and will focus on the question: “Which online learning tools provide schools with the most functionality in a hybrid learning environment?” Subsequent session topics will be determined based on participant interest and input.
To RSVP for any of the July sessions, please complete this online registration form,which also provides a space for participants to share additional topics of interest they are grappling with, and would like to discuss in future sessions. School leaders may invite relevant members of their leadership team to participate as well. For questions, please contact Annette Thacker-Bartlett at Annette.Thacker@dc.gov or Shavonne Gibson at Shavonne.Gibson@dc.gov.
Trauma Informed Responses to School Re-entry & School-Focused Consultation Sessions (reminder)
OSSE, in collaboration with InSite Solutions, will host virtual trauma-informed care trainings tailored to school-based educators and staff. Given the impact of COVID-19 on the educational system, re-entry to school this fall is anticipated to be a challenge for many educators. This seminar will apply brain-based and trauma-informed principles and practices to inform the re-entry process for educators. Each school that participates in the training will receive an opportunity (subject to availability of hours) to complete a case consultation session with InSite Solutions. The consultation session is designed to support sustainability in competency areas around school-focused trauma-informed care. Register today for an upcoming three-hour session: Tuesday, July 7, Thursday, July 16, or Thursday, Aug. 13.
LEA English Learner Coordinator 2020-21 School Year Kickoff Series (reminder)
OSSE is offering a virtual summer series that will provide guidance, strategies and tools for assessing and supporting English learner (EL) students’ needs following emergency remote learning in spring 2020. These actionable strategies and tools are grounded in recently released US Department of Education guidance, state policy, and OSSE’s foundational principles and vision for success for the District's EL students. They can be used to inform schools' plans to specifically address EL students' needs and growth. Each session will be interactive and solutions-oriented, with opportunities for participants to problem-solve and share their own practices and goals for supporting EL students' success in the coming school year.
New LEA English Learner Coordinator Orientation:Wednesday, July 15, 2-4 p.m.Register
Re-Entry to the 2020-21 School Year: Strategies and Tools for Supporting English Learners
Part 1: Value English Learners’ Cultural and Linguistic Backgrounds,Tuesday, July 21, 10-11:30 a.m.Register
Part 2: Partner with English Learners’ Families,Tuesday, July 28, 1-2:30 p.m.Register
Part 3: Provide Language Development and Academic Instruction Programs to English Learners,Wednesday, Aug. 5, 10-11:30 a.m.Register
Part 4: Use Multiple Data Sources to Support English Learner Students and Programs, Thursday, Aug. 13, 10-11:30 a.m.Register
Facilities Financing Available for Public Charter Schools (reminder)
The Office of Public Charter School Financing and Support (OPCSFS) has funding available for the construction, renovation, expansion, and acquisition of public charter schools. Eligible projects can obtain up to a $2 million direct loan for a maximum five-year term. Beginning Wednesday, July 1, 2020, through the end of the calendar year, direct loans will be available at an interest rate of 1.00 percent for the term of the direct loan. Credit enhancements in the form of debt guarantees or lease guarantees are available up to $1 million.
For guidance on eligibility, process, and submission requirements for a direct loan or credit enhancement financing, please contact Darryl Brantley at Darryl.Brantley@dc.gov.
Funding Opportunity: CTE Certification Program Grant (reminder)
OSSE is pleased to announce a funding opportunity for the Career and Technical Education (CTE) certification. The CTE Certification Program Grant is open to all public high schools located in the District of Columbia and to the University of the District of Columbia Community College (UDC-CC). The purpose of the CTE Certification Program is to (1) increase the number of students who earn industry certification within high-wage and high-demand fields, and (2) to provide employers with qualified District resident applicants as vacancies arise. Specifically, the funding supports District students who have participated in CTE priority programs of study but might not be able to take the associated exam because of financial hardship. The total available funding for this grant is $140,000. The period of performance for this grant Oct. 1, 2020 through Sept. 30, 2021. The CTE Certification Program Grant application will be released on Thursday, July 9, 2020.
Applicants should be prepared to submit a notice of intent to apply, along with their projected funding request by Monday, July 6, 2020. For more information or questions, please contact Simone García at (202) 727-4312 or Simone.Garcia@dc.gov.
OSSE will continue to update and redistribute these resources quarterly. If you have a question not addressed in these resources, please contact OSSE Communications at OSSE.Communications@dc.gov.
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