Oregon K-12 ARRA Implementation

ODE received the allocation tables for the American Recovery & Reinvestment (ARRA) funds on March 25th.  Districts will receive 50% of the ARRA allocation, not the base IDEA allocation.   We expect to have this notification of funds to districts no later than the last week in April.  Our contractor has been notified to run the formula as quickly as possible so that we can get these funds to you.  Details on accessing the funds, tracking funds, measuring the outcomes, etc will accompany the notification.

Last week ODE published a list of possible uses of these funds, given the guidance from the law.  That list is below.  If you have plans for using these funds (whether they are on this list or not), please let Nancy Latini know what they are.  The Governor’s team is asking for details on ways these funds will be used and we would like to share your ideas.  We will not identify you by name or district.   You can send your ideas to Nancy Latini at nancy.latini@state.or.us. This is a wonderful opportunity to support the programs and trainings that Oregon has not been able to do before.

Student Focus

• Purchase state of the art assistive technology and conduct subsequent professional development in its use
• Purchase new resources and materials for use in instruction
• Contract with experts in behavioral intervention or instructional intervention to improve instruction for students

Staff Focus

• Provide intensive professional development on evidence-based practices for academics and behavior
• Conduct district-wide training on use of a single progress monitoring tool
• Develop or expand the capacity to collect and use data to improve teaching and learning and to monitor progress
• Create development time for staff to align IEP with content standards
• Create planning time for school teams to prepare for IEP meetings, data review meetings, and improvement planning
• Provide intensive district-wide professional development for special and general education teachers that focuses on scaling up, through replication, proven and innovative evidence-based school-wide strategies in reading, math, writing and science, and positive behavioral supports to improve student outcomes

Expand Certification Options

• Assist special education teachers in meeting the HQT rule under NCLB for teaching core reading
• Fund internal candidates to become certified in speech pathology (utilizing the new on-line program)
• Fund internal candidates to become speech pathology assistants

Expand Staff to Support Student Outcomes

• Fund coaches in reading and behavior for RTI and PBS
• Support development of the more intense services under PBS and RTI (red and yellow zones)
• Employ Instructional Assistants to assist in the inclusion efforts that enhance access to the general education curriculum (including techniques for students with autism and their families)
• Employ transition coordinators to work with community employers to develop job placements for youth with disabilities
• Employ secondary transition staff to improve post school outcomes for students with disabilities