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Nevada Family Engagement Newsletter
September 21, 2021 | Volume 3 | Issue 9
Welcome Message
Hello Everyone,

Welcome to the September Nevada Family Engagement Newsletter. To improve your experience of the newsletter and its content, I have created a survey for you to participate in. The survey should take no more than 5 minutes to complete and will be 100% anonymous. Here is the link to the survey and enjoy this month's family engagement content.

Survey Link

P.S. P
lease feel free to reach out to me if there are additional resources you are looking for that are not covered in this newsletter. My contact information is located below.

Sincerely,

Alberto Quintero
Education Programs Professional | Family Engagement
Nevada Department of Education
albertoquintero@doe.nv.gov
Resource Spotlight
Hispanic Heritage Month Booklist and Authentic Titles from myON That Support Social-Emotional Learning
Please download the PDF booklist below shared by Renaissance for Hispanic Heritage Month! Once you download the PDF, just click on the book in the calendar to log in and get access. 

Also, there are more than 1,500 titles in the myON Core Collection that correlate to the five core competence areas that have been identified in the CASEL 5 Framework for SEL. Educators and students can search the myON library to find specific titles by typing in keywords. Students and teachers in Nevada have unlimited, 24/7 access to myON digital resources.
Download the Booklist PDF
Engaging Families and Communities to Support Special and Underserved Populations in CTE
Career and technical education (CTE) programs are increasingly engaging a broad range of stakeholders, including parents and community organizations, to improve CTE programs, better serve students and help communities in need. This resource will focus on ways that CTE educators can communicate with, collaborate with and support current and prospective learners’ families and communities, particularly for learners and communities who have been historically underserved. This publication describes general strategies for engaging these stakeholders, more specific strategies aimed at breaking down barriers to engagement for particular special and underserved population groups, and examples of CTE and career development programs doing promising work in this area. 
Download the Resource Here
Announcements
U.S. Department of Education Approves Nevada State Plan for Use of American Rescue Plan Funds
The U.S. Department of Education announced the approval of Nevada’s American Rescue Plan Act Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER) plan and distributed remaining ARP ESSER funds to them. Nevada’s plan details how the State is using and plans to use ARP ESSER funds to safely reopen and sustain the safe operation of schools and equitably expand opportunity for students who need it most, particularly those most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nevada’s ARP ESSER State Plan shows how the State is using federal pandemic resources to support safe in-person instruction and meet the social, emotional, mental health, and academic needs of students—with a focus on the students most impacted by the pandemic. For example:
  • Safely Reopening Schools and Sustaining Safe Operations: For the 2021-2022 school year, the Nevada Department of Education (NDE) provided guidance and resources to ensure safe and welcoming learning environments for all students and maximized opportunities for in-person learning. In addition to detailing emergency plans for distance education in their reopening plans, Nevada districts continue to promote vaccinations among teachers, staff, families, and eligible students by providing information about COVID-19 vaccination, encouraging vaccine trust and confidence, and establishing supportive policies and practices that make getting vaccinated as easy and convenient as possible.
  • Investing in Expanded Afterschool Programs: NDE will award $10.7 million in funds reserved for afterschool programs to districts through a competitive grant process that ensures afterschool programs are evidence-based and address the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on traditionally underserved student groups. Based on stakeholder feedback and data, the afterschool programs will support early learning, instructional support, credit recovery, and social and emotional support for students.
  • Supporting Students’ and Educators’ Social, Emotional, and Mental Health Needs: NDE will allocate $7.5 million to support districts and charter schools in hiring 100 additional school-based mental health professionals, including school counselors, school social workers, school psychologists, and school mental health workers. Additionally, NDE will spend $1.7 million to hire a Multi-Tiered System of Support coach for every district.
Read the Full Press Release
“What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up” Art Contest
The Nevada State Treasurer’s Office – College Savings Division is proud to announce the “What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up” Art Contest. The Contest encourages Nevada students in pre-K through 12th grades to use their artistic skills and creativity to produce a work of art demonstrating what they’d like their future career to be, all while getting them and their families excited about post-secondary education.
 
Five categories based upon grade level will be judged. Three winners from each category will receive a $1,000, $500, or $250 prize deposited into an SSGA 529 college savings account.
 
Winning artwork will be displayed at the Las Vegas - Clark County Windmill Library Art Gallery from November 9, 2021 - January 25, 2022.
 
Submissions for the Contest are being accepted now through Friday, October 15th.
 
To learn more, visit www.nvigate.gov/contest.
Department and Office Updates
To help mitigate the spread of COVID-19, most Department personnel are working from home. The family engagement office will still operate between the hours of 7:30 am – 4:00 pm (PDT) Monday – Friday. Please note that the family engagement office has full access to email (preferred) and voicemail and will respond to you as soon as possible. Other offices within the Department may have slightly different operating hours but also still have full access to email and voicemail.
Council Updates
The Advisory Council for Family Engagement is currently not scheduled to meet until further notice.
Family Engagement Tools and Resources
Trusting Relationships First Tool Kit
Parent-Teacher Home Visits (PTHV) supports student success and school improvement through relationships, research, and partnerships to foster best practices in relational home visits using a family engagement strategy. PTHV released a Trusting Relationships First Back-to-School tool kit for healing and recovery. The tool kit supports equitable family engagement for families, students, and educators as back-to-school season begins.

PTA Podcast: Notes from the Backpack
This season of the PTA's award-winning podcast has new episodes designed to give busy families real-life advice and ideas they can use to navigate life during these unusual times. First up, they speak with the CDC to get the info you need to know on how to keep your child safe and healthy this school year. The podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and TuneIn. Just search for "Notes from the Backpack" on your favorite podcast app. Listen here, too.

ACT College Planning Guide for Families
It’s never too early to start planning for your child’s future. Get college planning resources, tips, and test prep solutions from the makers of the ACT. Your child is embarking on many life-changing experiences as they prepare for success in high school, college, and beyond. These resources in the college planning checklist will help you guide them every step of the way.

College and Career Prep Resources for Parents
It’s never too early to start thinking about higher education for your student. Use these checklists from Federal Student Aid to prepare, from supporting your child in his or her studies to setting up a college savings account. Go for gold when the 2022–23 FAFSA® form launches this fall. 

Understanding the Roles of Parents and Caregivers in Community-Wide Bullying Prevention Efforts
This resource is tailored for parents and caregivers as a guide to the StopBullying.gov training module. For more information on bullying prevention, including the definition, statistics, best practices, and common myths or misdirections, please consult the StopBullying.gov training module at www.stopbullying. gov/communityguide.

Helping Your Child With Homework
As families return to school, the U.S. Department of Education shares tips so your child is on schedule for success. For example, getting enough sleep is important for staying engaged (and awake!) at school. Elementary-age kids should get 10-12 hours of sleep each night; teens should get 8½-9½ hours. Use this checklist to set your child up for success.

Helping Students Thrive
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Adolescent and School Health Adolescents (DASH) recognizes that youth are returning to school after a difficult year. As students return to school, it’s important they feel safe and may need extra support. Resources are available in DASH’s digital tool kit. DASH also has resources for parents to support keeping their teens safe and healthy.

Attendance Tools
Mentoring has proven an especially effective strategy for teens who are chronically absent or at risk of becoming so. The nonprofit MENTOR has a portal with tips and resources for e-mentoring. As highlighted in an April 14 Attendance Awareness Campaign webinar, peer mentoring is also an invaluable approach.

Family-to-Family Video Series Launched
Research by Frameworks Institute reports that families learn about effective ways of supporting their child’s education through other parents and caregivers as “messengers.” The Ohio Statewide Family Engagement Center’s Family-to-Family videos feature Ohio parents and caregivers sharing what they do at home and how they partnered with their child’s school. Recent videos share how families are ensuring a smooth transition back to in-person learning.

New Translated Versions of Activities to Support English Learners at Home
REL West is excited to share that the family and caregiver activity sheets to strengthen language development are now available in eight different languages: English, Spanish, Arabic, Traditional and Simplified Chinese, Vietnamese, Haitian Creole, and Somali.

These activity sheets offer simple, fun ideas for how families can help children develop their language skills at home. Additional resources include an Educator's Guide that provides tips and strategies for educators to help families and caregivers make the most out of the activity sheets and a webinar archive that showcases the activity sheets and how they can be used to strengthen language development.

Whole-Child Design Blueprint
Educators are given the critical and challenging task of creating learning experiences that truly support each child and their holistic development. This process requires us to confront, dismantle and reimagine the systems of education we have inherited that do not yet equitably or effectively serve our students. Turnaround’s framework for school transformation is meant to be used as a visioning tool — supporting educators to look through the lens of whole-child development and take action toward the change they seek. The framework’s components and core practices are a way to think about, organize and integrate the non-negotiables for settings created with the science of learning and development in mind.
Download the Blueprint
Immigrant Students: How Schools Can Help
Recently, schools are welcoming families arriving from Afghanistan and Haiti due to violence and natural disasters. This updated SchoolHouse Connection brief provides basic information about eligibility for education services for different immigrant populations and practical suggestions for schools.
Family Engagement Webinars and Trainings
Please Note: For those who want to attend some of the webinars but do not have time in the day to attend live, I highly recommend you still register since a lot of webinars now send you a recording of the webinar after. You can always come back to watch the recording when you have some free time.

Learning from McKinney-Vento Liaisons
For 30-45 minutes every Thursday (and one Tuesday) throughout the fall, school district homeless liaisons will discuss specific strategies to assist families who are at risk of, or facing, eviction, as well as how to use American Rescue Plan Homeless Children and Youth funds to identify and support children and youth experiencing homelessness. 
  • Tuesday, Sept. 28, 12:00 pm PT, Richmond Public Schools, VA
  • Sept. 30, 12:00 pm PT, Cincinnati Public Schools, OH
  • Oct. 7, 12:00 pm PT, Metropolitan School District of Warren Township and Indianapolis Public Schools, IN
  • Oct. 14, 12:00 pm PT, Ohio Valley Educational Services Center, Cambridge, OH
  • Oct. 21, 12:00 pm PT, Toledo Public Schools, OH
Register Here
Transforming Education Systems Through Family-School Collaboration
September 30, 2021, 7:00 - 8:00 am PT
 
The Brookings Institution will host a virtual event to launch its new report Collaborating to Transform and Improve Education Systems: A Playbook for Family-School Engagement. After a short presentation on the playbook’s key findings, lead author and Co-Director Rebecca Winthrop will moderate intimate chats with members of the Family Engagement in Education Network and other education decision-makers about the role of family-school engagement and why it is so urgently needed—showcasing both speakers’ on-the-ground experiences and other findings from the playbook. The discussions will focus on how effective family engagement approaches can transform education systems to address growing inequality and give all children the breadth of skills needed to thrive in the 21st century—and the practical strategies for doing so.
RSVP to Watch
Free Virtual Event for High School Students and Their Parents
October 30, 2021

Questions about the college and career planning process? ACT is here to help. You might not know where to go or how to start. And that’s okay. It’s important to remember that while everyone’s journey to college and career follows a unique path, there are things you can do to make the best decisions about the future.   
Join ACT for this free virtual event to learn from experts how to prepare for college and career—from finding scholarships to transitioning to life on campus. Sign up to be notified when registration opens. 

Nevada PEP Webinars
Great opportunities to learn information to improve education opportunities for your child. Click the links below to get a description and register for these amazing FREE trainings. For a complete list of our on-demand webinars click here.

Virtual STEMIE Fest: Save the Date!
October 4-8, 2021
The U.S. Department of Education-funded STEM Innovation for Inclusion in Early Education (STEMIE) has an exciting program lined up for this year’s STEMIEFest. Last year, over 1,800 early childhood, early childhood special education, early intervention professionals and faculty, STEM industry professionals, and families joined STEMIEFest for five days of interactive learning and discussions on early STEM learning for every child. All sessions will have ASL interpreters, captioning, and Spanish translation. You can apply for continuing education units (CEUs) and/or professional learning certificates. Registration to the event is FREE for everyone and will open in early September! In the meantime, check out last year’s program and sessions.

Supported: Leveraging Attendance Data to Ensure Ongoing Success
September 29, 2021 | 11 am-12:30 pm PT 

Attendance Works will explore what can be done at the local and state level to mitigate the impact of the pandemic and engage students and their families. They will examine how chronic absence data can be used to identify students, families, and schools that need additional support. Drawing on the experiences of the past year and proven strategies used before the pandemic, speakers will share approaches including home visiting, strategic communication with families and youth, collaboration with community partners, and creative use of technology. 
Register today.
 
Find the webinar recording, presentation slides, and discussion guide for this webinar series on their website.

National Network of Partnership Schools (NNPS) Leadership Institute on School, Family, and Community Partnerships ($)
October 14, 15, and 22, 2021

Join district, organization, and state leaders from across the country at this intensive institute on research-based partnership program development. This Institute will enable you to guide schools’
Action Teams for Partnerships (ATPs) to develop excellent and equitable programs of family and
community engagement for student success in school. Due to restrictions on large meetings at Johns Hopkins University, NNPS will conduct the full October Leadership Institute live online in three parts. BONUS: Celebrate the NNPS 25th Anniversary: ONE registration will cover all colleagues. Click here to learn more.
Family Engagement Articles
Addressing Chronic Early Absence: A Critical Component of COVID-19 Recovery
Attendance Works answer questions about how schools and districts can engage with families with young children when individuals, or groups of students, have missed too many days of school, and offer insights on how attendance data can determine which families should receive additional support. Read the blog post.

Family Engagement in Uncertain Times by Ready4k
How can schools rebuild trust when the pandemic continues to change the most basic aspects of education? Ready4K set out last month to find the answer to this by listening to parents. The outcome was a group of touching stories and valuable insights that can help everyone reach families successfully. Read here.

‘Community Schools’ See Revival in Time of Heightened Need
Though their popularity has waxed and waned for more than a century, a full court press is underway from the White House, states and education officials to make community schools stick. Read more here.

Felicitas & Gonzalo Mendez High School: A Community School That Honors Its Neighborhood’s Legacy of Educational Justice
As states and districts deepen their investments in community schools, a new brief from the Learning Policy Institute provides an up-close look at Felicitas & Gonzalo Mendez High School (Mendez), a high-performing community school located in East Los Angeles. Named for the plaintiffs in a 1946 landmark desegregation case, Mendez has deep ties to the Boyle Heights neighborhood in which it is located, including a robust network of partnerships that engage and support its students and their families. In the brief, LPI Research and Policy Associate Charlie Thompson details the structures and practices that create the conditions for deep engagement, shared leadership, and a school culture that combines rigorous and engaging academics in a nurturing and inclusive environment.

Present and Engaged
Principals can make a difference by taking a team approach and using data to inform decisions and actions, as well as creating engagement with students and families as schools reopen. NAESP’s Principal magazine describes the important role principals play in improving engagement and attendance. Read the article.
Grant and Event Information
Ready4k Equity Grant
Ready4K is an evidence-based family engagement curriculum delivered via text messages that build on several years of research that includes multiple randomized controlled trials and several ongoing evaluations with researchers from Stanford, Brown, Notre Dame, and Texas A&M. 
 
Ready4K received new grant funding to help organizations support their economically disadvantaged families. Ready4K Equity Grant awards, which are based on the percentage of economically disadvantaged families an organization serves, help cover the costs of Ready4K for up to 3 years. Awards of up to 100% off the first year are granted on a first-come, first-served basis. 
Learn more here.
InterConnection Nonprofit Grants
November 1, 2021 - November 30, 2021

Computer grants are awarded to organizations that deliver necessary and valuable services to underserved communities like technology training, health care, education, and job training, but need upgraded computers to better manage their organization and improve their capacity to deliver those valuable services. Learn more here.
Nevada Family Engagement Newsletter Survey
We want to hear from you so we can continue to improve the newsletter and your experience. Your time and feedback is very important and will be greatly appreciated. The survey should take no more than 5 minutes and all responses are completely anonymous.
Survey Link
Contact Information
Alberto Quintero
Education Programs Professional | Family Engagement
Nevada Department of Education
Phone: 702-668-4334 | Email (preferred): albertoquintero@doe.nv.gov
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