Idaho Digital Learning Wins Blackboard Catalyst Award

Idaho Digital Learning was named a winner of the Blackboard Catalyst Award for Staff Development, which honors those members of the community who use Blackboard solutions to create, support and enhance faculty and staff development skills, providing a better organization-wide learning experience.

The Staff Development Award is part of the annual Blackboard Catalyst Awards program. Recognized at both the program and individual level, winners are acknowledged for implementing effective and creative ways to support faculty that went beyond a help desk. Several of the highlighted programs shared and created course content for entire program usage, leveraged tools effectively to internally support their programs and provided innovative training methods for faculty and staff.

The Blackboard Catalyst Awards program annually recognizes and honors innovation and excellence in the Blackboard global community of practice, where teachers and learners work every day to redefine what is possible when leveraging technology.

"I am excited that we have been able to develop a program that allows teachers at various levels of experience and skill to improve upon their craft. Our goal was to create a program that would meet each teacher at their level with content focused on technology, pedagogy, best practices, and institution updates. This award recognizes our attempt to do so and reaffirms our motivation to continue to enhance our professional development program. I most humbly and graciously accept this award on behalf of IDLA," said Jeff Simmons, Idaho Digital Learning’s Instructional Manager.

“We applaud the Blackboard Catalyst Award winners and their accomplishments,” said Ray Henderson, Chief Technology Officer and President of Academic Platforms for Blackboard.  “Their work represents some of the most innovative thinking in education today, and offers great models for how technology can help shape an improved education experience. We congratulate the award winners for their leadership, creativity and passion that is clearly evident in their work.”

Idaho Digital Learning will be honored alongside other Blackboard Catalyst Award winners during BbWorld^®, Blackboard’s annual user conference to be held in July in New Orleans, La.  

Blackboard is a global leader in enterprise technology and innovative solutions that improve the experience of millions of students and learners around the world every day. Blackboard’s solutions allow thousands of higher education, K-12, professional, corporate and government organizations to extend teaching and learning online.

For a complete list of Blackboard Catalyst Award winners please visit: http://blackboard.com/catalyst.

Idaho Digital Learning was established as Idaho's state virtual school by the Idaho Legislature in 2002.  The state virtual school serves 100% of Idaho School districts at over 17,500 enrollments in 2011-2012. Idaho Digital Learning is a nationally recognized program that was ranked 3rd in the U.S. for Online Learning Policy and Practice (Center for Digital Education, 2008) and is currently the fourth largest State Virtual School in the United States based on statewide per capita online enrollments (Keeping Pace, 2011)

Find a Summer Food Program Site Near You

Free meals are available to all children age 1-18 through the Idaho Summer Food Program!  Find a site near you, your family and your friends.

The Summer Food Program is a federally funded program operated by sponsors who combine a feeding program with a summer activity. During the school year, many Idaho children rely on the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs for meals, but those programs end when school ends for the summer. Children in your community do not need to go hungry this summer. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Summer Food Service Program helps fill this hunger gap.

Through Idaho's Summer Food Program, sponsors serve more than 1,000,000 meals to children in need during the summer months. Idaho's children, families and communities benefit from sponsor’s commitment to feed children nutritious meals. Thanks to our sponsor's dedication, more of Idaho's children had access to meals when school was out for the summer!

Find a site near you on our website, where you can search using your zip code or address, or just search the interactive map!  The Summer Food Program is where children find food, fun and friends. Food that’s in when school is out.

U.S. Department of Education Announces Race to the Top Grants for Districts

The U.S. Department of Education announced today the opportunity for local school districts to apply for federal Race to the Top grants.

In 2010, states had the opportunity to apply for these federal grants to encourage reform efforts in states across the nation. Idaho applied in the first round, but chose not to apply in the second round. Idaho accomplished most of what it applied for in its Race to the Top application by passing the Students Come First reform laws in 2011 – without the one-time funding or oversight from the federal government.

Now, local school districts have the opportunity to apply for Race to the Top grants on their own or to partner with other school districts to apply for these grants.

The U.S. Department of Education today released a draft executive summary of the application process and is requesting feedback from local school districts and other educational stakeholders. It plans to obligate this grant funding before December 31, 2012.

Many of the requirements outlined in the Race to the Top – District Program are aligned with Students Come First, including higher academic standards, incentives for teachers and principals, evaluations tied to student performance, more technology and data in the classroom, and increased transparency at the district level.

Here is an overview of the Race to the Top – District Program:

• Local Education Agencies (LEAs) – local school districts or charter schools authorized by the Idaho Public Charter School Commission – are eligible to apply for grants on their own or as part of a consortium of LEAs. LEAs can join with LEAs in other states to apply.

• An LEA (or consortia) must serve at least 2,500 students a year to apply. If not, it must join with other LEAs to apply. At least 40% of the students the LEA plans to serve through the grant must qualify as low-income.

• The LEA (or consortia) can apply on behalf of all schools in the district, or can apply on behalf of just some schools, some grade levels, some subject areas, some student groups, etc.

• The LEA (or consortia) must demonstrate it will meet the following core education assurance areas:

1. Adopting standards and assessments that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace and to compete in the global economy;
2. Building data systems that measure student growth and success, and inform teachers and principals about how they can improve instruction;
3. Recruiting, developing, rewarding, and retaining effective teachers and principals, especially where they are needed most; and
4. Turning around our lowest-achieving schools.

• The LEA (or consortia) must have a plan to implement teacher, principal, superintendent, and school board evaluation systems that meet the U.S. Department of Education’s definitions. All must be tied to student achievement or performance.

• The LEA (or consortia) must get signatures from the superintendent, school board, and union president.

• The State Department of Education must have the opportunity to review and comment on an LEA’s (or consortia’s) application before it is submitted to the U.S. Department of Education. 

• An LEA (or consortia) serving up to 5,000 students may apply for up to $20 million. Districts serving up to 9,999 students may apply for up to $22 million. Districts serving more than 10,000 students may apply for up to $25 million.

Read more about the Race to the Top – District Program and provide your feedback.

~ Melissa M.

CENTURYLINK AWARDS PHILANTHROPY GRANT TO LOCAL SCHOOL

CenturyLink, Inc. announced today the grant winners from its Middle School Philanthropy program chosen by students at Sawtooth Middle School in Meridian. 

Student Council members, under the direction of advisor Jim Core, researched nonprofit organizations in the Treasure Valley area and chose the St. Luke’s Cares Program, the Women and Children’s Alliance and Big Brother, Big Sister of Southwest Idaho to share the $3,000 grant. The grant was awarded at 2 p.m. today at Sawtooth Middle School.

“CenturyLink is dedicated to enhancing the communities we serve in a meaningful way,” said Jim Schmit, vice president and general manager for CenturyLink in Idaho. “This program is a unique opportunity to enable students to connect with their community in a way that will raise awareness of needs and hopefully plant a seed with them for a lifelong interest in giving back.”

Sawtooth Middle School was one of eight middle schools in Idaho who participated in the program to determine how to each distribute $3,000 among nonprofit organizations impacting their particular community. A total of $24,000 will be awarded to local nonprofit organizations across the state through this program.

The program’s purpose is to increase awareness among middle school students of various needs in their communities. In addition, the program aims to create a lifelong interest in volunteerism and community involvement, develop skills to allocate limited resources and increase civic engagement.

“With the generous donation from CenturyLink, the Sawtooth Middle School student leaders were given the great opportunity to make a real difference in their community,” said advisor Jim Core who oversaw the project.  “After researching the numerous non-profit groups in Meridian, the students, after much debate, agreed on these three.  The best thing is that all of the groups work directly with children in our school and community.  This was something all of the students thought was most important.  Thank you to the forward thinkers at CenturyLink for allowing these students, and all the students here at SMS, to see that giving to those in need is indeed a life-long responsibility.”

HIGHLAND TEACHERS, STUDENTS FIND SUCCESS WITH NEW CLASSROOM TECHNOLOGY

Throughout this school year, we have heard positive stories from across Idaho of how Students Come First is aiding Idaho’s teachers and helping change our schools into more innovative and flexible places for staff and students, especially through technology.

As part of Students Come First, the state distributed $9 million this year to help Idaho schools integrate advanced technology and other 21st century tools in classrooms across all grades. This funding will be ongoing next year and in future years. Each district had to submit a plan to the state on how they would use this funding to raise student achievement.

The state also is funding $3 million a year in ongoing funding for professional development for teachers to help integrate this technology into the curriculum.

All this funding is in addition to the rollout of the one-to-one laptop devices that will begin this fall with high school teachers and principals and continue next year with the deployment to students in the first one-third of high schools across the state. 

Just this week, we received the following e-mail from Cindy Orr, the superintendent of the Highland School District. She describes the positive impact this new technology is having in Highland, a small, rural district about an outside of Lewiston.

Dear Superintendent Luna,

I wanted to share with you the success we are all ready having with our iPad project. Three weeks ago, we handed out our iPads to every certified and paraprofessional in our district. They were to spend the next five months (last two months of school and summer) learning about the iPad. I told them I expected the teachers to take them to every staff meeting and inservice. They are to take them home and use them. Take pictures and videos with them. Read a summer novel. Surf the net. Use it however you want with the expectation to share what you have learned.

On April 23, the staff members took them to their first inservice. It was an inservice that was mainly a review of knowledge. The teachers were using them by trying to learn how to use them in this setting. They checked email, worked on their calendar, etc. However, on Friday, April 27, at the CCSS/MTI conference, the teachers used it as a tool. When the presenter used a term he or she did not understand, the teacher looked it up. When the presenter talked about a website, the teachers checked it out. When they were to solve a problem, they used the tools on the iPad to solve the math problem. I stopped them and said, "this is how your students will use these tools." Lightbulbs went off! Now, I rarely see a staff member without his or her iPad.

One week later, I was walking down the hall and two paras were sharing the latest apps they downloaded for a kindergartener. Another was on the floor with a student using the iPad to practice the alphabet. Teachers are asking for more staff meetings to learn from one another.

I have been in education for over 20 years. I have never seen an initiative create such a positive and exciting atmosphere. It has been a huge morale booster. I figured a couple would sit in the box and others would never see the students. I observed a teacher using the iPad as part of her lesson, and she only had one. She said, "I cannot wait until we get a class set!"

We were excited to receive the Professional Development Grant to continue this initiative. I am currently seeking other grants so that we can speed up the process.

We are not the most innovative or techie, but we actually feel like we are leading our region for the first time. It is very exciting!

Thank you for supporting our program. I thought you might like to hear how things are going.

Have a great Tuesday!

Cindy Orr, Superintendent/Elementary Principal
Highland School District #305

U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT NAMES SEVERAL IDAHO SCHOOLS AS BEST IN NATION

U.S. News & World Report every year publishes a list of the Best High Schools in the nation, and several Idaho schools continue to top the list!

The magazine measures schools based on student-teacher ratio, college readiness based on AP tests, and student proficiency in mathematics and English.

The following high schools received a gold or silver medal. Here are their rankings among schools in Idaho:

1. Coeur D'Alene Charter Academy (#115 nationally ranked)
2. Boise High School (#413 nationally ranked)
3. Timberline High School (#774 nationally ranked)
4. Eagle High School (#1169 nationally ranked)
5. Borah Senior High School (#1486 nationally ranked)
6. Thomas Jefferson Charter (#1779 nationally ranked)
7. Sugar-Salem High School (#1824 nationally ranked)

See the full list of Idaho schools that were recognized nationally by U.S. News & World Report.

Superintendent Luna Recognizes Teacher Appreciation Week

 A message from Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna about the great work teachers do each and every day in Idaho to improve the lives of children.