Coastal Plains RESA

As we all know, April is one of the busiest months of the school year. As our systems begin the Race to the Finish Line for this school year I want to wish everyone smooth sailing! Even when testing, banquets, field days, awards night, etc. all feel overwhelming remember that you are making a difference in the lives of students! Also remember, "This Too Shall Pass!"

Lance Heard

Executive Director

Georgia educators may be issued endorsements in addition to their full-field certificates. Endorsements recognize additional expertise held by the teacher. Endorsements may be required to be considered in-field in certain designated areas. Endorsements that are not required strengthen and enhance competency levels. Next year, Coastal Plains RESA will offer four endorsements. They are Online Teaching, Teacher Support and Coaching (TSC), Gifted, and Reading. Additionally, CPRESA works with Middle Georgia RESA to offer the Dyslexia endorsement.

Coastal Plains RESA is proud to announce that scholarships will be available for the TSC and Reading endorsements. These scholarships are provided through a GaDOE TSLD grant. Each district will receive scholarships to award to teachers interested in their district.

Applications for endorsements will open May 2nd. Applications may be found on our website.

Regina Purvis

PL Director

Competition RESA Winners have been selected!

Coastal Plans RESA would like to thank everyone who participated in the Young Georgia Authors Writing Competition 2022. Winners from our region will now move

on to state-level competition.

Congratulations to the 2022 YGA Regional Winners!

K Brayden Kean Hahira Elementary

1 Avery Waldon Doerun Elementary

2 Jace Vickers Berrien Primary

3 James Tyson Berrien Elementary

4 Annabelle Geiger Turner County Elementary

5 Grant Anderson S.L. Mason

6 Megan DeSantiago Brooks Middle

7 Rhiana Escobar Irwin Middle

8 Lauren Hall Hahira Middle

9 Lexie Bone Echols High

10 Abigail Gardner Berrien High

11 Timari Albritton Valdosta High

12 Lillie Lyons Lanier High

Jenni Anderson

ELA Specialist

Georgia’s K-12 Mathematics Standards were approved and adopted with 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years slated for professional learning with full implementation to begin FALL 2023. Pictured here are teachers from Lanier County and Colquitt County previewing the new standards.

Paulette Shoupe

Math Specialist

Teams of teachers and teacher leaders from across Georgia have served on Resource Revision and Development Teams to create curriculum maps, grade level/course overviews, and interactive instructional units aligned to the newly adopted math standards. (Units and grade level overviews are forthcoming in the near future.)

• All curriculum maps show a logical, mathematical progression of learning for each grade level.

• All curriculum maps have a focus on key competencies/standards.

• All curriculum maps show a clustering of expectations around key competencies/standards for each grade level/course.

• All curriculum maps show the organization of standards into big ideas for the grade level/course.

• All curriculum maps have a project-based learning focus.

• All curriculum maps have open access to mathematics pathways based on each student’s interests and post-secondary goals.

Curriculum Maps for Georgia’s new math standards are now available in DRAFT form.

https://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment/Curriculum-and-Instruction/Documents/Mathematics/Georgia-K12-Mathematics-Standards/Georgia-Mathematics-Curriculum-Maps/GA-Mathematics-Curriculum-Maps-2023.pdf

Paulette Shoupe

Math Specialist

Registration is now OPEN. Engage in sessions and network with math colleagues at this summer’s math conference for gamified professional learning. Sessions will be recorded and resources will be made available on the website.

https://mathcon.gadoe.org/

You’ve heard of Wordle; try Nerdle. Uses numbers and symbols to create equations instead of letters to make words. I’m addicted. Go to nerdle.com or nerdlegame.com to enjoy!

Paulette

Most educators have been involved in school wide initiatives that wane in intensity, enthusiasm, and results. One of the strengths of the PBIS framework, the plate upon which all other work in the school is placed, is the emphasis on developing “Systems” to guarantee and sustain a strong implementation. Systems are the written in stone procedures that become the standard practice for everyone in the school regardless of personnel changes. New leadership? We follow the system. New teachers? We follow the system. New bus drivers, administrative assistants, paraprofessionals, cafeteria managers, school resource officers? We follow the system.

How does a school develop a sustainable PBIS system?

• Document a shared vision of support for students and why PBIS implementation is so important.

• Develop a strong PBIS team and have enthusiastic backbenchers ready to step in when needed.

• Develop an unalterable schedule for team meetings to include data analysis and plans for needed action steps.

• Create a plan to keep the entire faculty informed of data results, methods of teaching and acknowledging appropriate student behavior, and practices demonstrated by research to be effective.

Claudia Parker

Creacy Sermons

School Climate Specialists

Minimum Subgroup Size = 15

CCRPI utilizes a minimum N size of 15 students for an indicator or subgroup to be included in reporting and scoring.

A minimum N size of 15 provides the best balance between

1. protecting student confidentiality

2. maximizing reliability, and

3. maximizing the number of students and student subgroups included in accountability.

Full Academic Year (FAY)

Full Academic Year is used to determine students who are included in several CCRPI indicators.

Elementary School and Middle School Students in EOG Courses: FAY is calculated by determining if the student was enrolled 65% of the number of calendar days from the start date of the school year to the close of the state testing window (May 20).

High School and Middle School Students in EOC courses: FAY is calculated by determining if a student was enrolled in a course 65% of the number of calendar days from the start date to the end date of the course as defined by marking period.

Test Participation Requirement (95% for All Students and each Subgroup)

If a school’s test participation rate for “All Students” (or any subgroup) falls below 95%, a reduction in the achievement rate is imposed. See the example below when a 40% Achievement rate is reduced by more than 6% because only 80% of the group was tested.

Bobby Smith

School Improvement Specialist

GLRS has been busy with many trainings over the last few weeks. We were happy to be able to provide Co-Teaching training, Specially Designed Instruction, Behavior Interventions that Work with Amie Dean, several Job Alikes, Mobile Audiological testing and our last session of the Teacher Retention Provider Program during the month of March. During the last 3 months, South GLRS has provided training to over 1000 participants from our 12 districts as well as Scintilla Charter Academy. We are currently planning our trainings and programs for FY 23 and look forward to continuing to serve the Coastal Plains RESA region.

Dane Heard

GLRS Director

Teachers! The end of the school year is coming, and among other things, that often means ... certificates! Recognition of all sorts for your students. If you've never tried Canva online, now is a great time to check it out. Canva is a graphic design platform, used to create social media graphics, presentations, posters, documents and other visual content, like certificates. There are lots of attractive and easy-to-use templates to get you started. For more information, visit Google Certified Innovator Sarah Millican's blog "Tech You Can Do" or watch her video tutorial on accessing the education templates in Canva here.

Also worth a look if you have time for some self-directed professional learning: Check out Eric Curts at Ctrl+Alt+Achieve; he's contributing to a "Did You Know?" series of free webinars on Google Workspace for Education. The series covers topics like "You Can Do That with Docs, Slides, and Sheets?" and "Getting the Most out of Google Classroom". You can watch live or get links to the session recordings now through the end of May.

Leanne Nesmith

Technology Specialist

What is the difference between principal and principle? Well, this is what Google said:

A principle is a rule, a law, a guideline, or a fact. A principal is the headmaster of a school or a person who's in charge of certain things in a company. Principal is also an adjective that means original, first, or most important.

Through the years of principaling I received the occasional end-of-the-year gift from families as a means of saying thank you for the great year their child had. I'll never forget the year that one of my less fortunate families gave me an unexpected gift that I'll never forget: a notepad that read at the top: Thanks Mr. Fisher, Best Principle ever. Yep. I smiled and received that gift like it was $1,000,000 and to them it probably was. They personalized a notepad just for me and were very proud to give it as a thank you. That was their last year at my school before moving on to the big middle school. Now, what does a principal who is in charge of a successful school do with hundreds of memo pads with a noticeable typo on them? Do I quietly slide them into my desk drawer, never to be seen again, or do I use them and let others think I don't know how to spell?

Then I remembered it's the principle of the gift. I enjoyed giving them to certain people that had the same sense of humor about life as I did but I more enjoyed sharing the difference my staff made in that child's life. As we are in the final stretches of the school year, be kind, be patient, and know that you are making a difference in the lives of not only students but also their families.

Richard Fisher

School Improvement Specialist

Want to understand what kind of year your students have had? Ask them. This is a great time to reflect on the school year experience of your students. This can be done electronically in ELA classes towards the end of the school year and will give you a wealth of insight into barriers students may be struggling with. Click here to view an example of a template from The Wraparound Guide by Leigh Colburn and Linda Beggs. This book is a great resource as a guide for gathering student voice. Reading your students’ responses will help you better understand their school experience and also finding trends throughout their experiences will help fuel school improvement.

Stephanie Butler

Wraparound Coordinator

stephaniebutler@cpresa.org

The Office of Whole Child Supports Webinars are continuing this month:

Information for Schools on How to Access the New Georgia Statewide Telehealth Contract and Vendors

April 14 @ 9:30 am – 10:30 am

On February 15, 2022, a new statewide contract for Telehealth Products and Services was released by the Georgia Department of Administrative Services (DOAS). The contract provides a vehicle to purchase HIPAA-compliant software for virtual healthcare visits and remote medical and behavioral healthcare services provided by professionals licensed to practice in Georgia. The contracts are offered as a convenience source of supply. This webinar will be led by Tetchjan Simpson from DOAS who will provide information on how schools and districts can access these contracts to serve students and beyond.

Register Here

Digging Deeper: Supporting Staff and Student Wellness

April 22 @ 9:30 am - 10:30 am

Ask any school what they do to support staff and student wellness, and you’ll likely get a long list of activities. From employee assistance programs to “leave early” days, from popcorn parties to homework passes, there is no doubt that schools are focused on supporting their staff and students. It can seem like a quick fix to host a classroom party or allow a jeans day, but are those long-term approaches to promote wellbeing? This presentation will dig deeper to go beyond one-time activities and rewards into creating a culture of positive wellbeing in school environments.

Register Here

A Day in the Woods is back! Enjoy an afternoon outdoors at Gaskins Forest Education Center, 3359 Moore Sawmill Rd, Alapaha, GA 31622 on Saturday afternoon April 23, from 1-5 p.m.

Gaskins Forest Education Center has organized an exciting team of presenters for this year’s event, including local individuals as well as presenters from GA Department of Natural Resources, Longleaf Alliance, GA Forestry Commission, GA Museum of Agriculture, Jones Center at Ichauway, NRCS, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, University of Georgia, Golden Triangle, and Berrien Middle School Wildlife Club.

These presenters will have interactive activities and demonstrations related to forestry, wildlife, and cultural history. There will be something to interest everyone—turkey calls, trapping, archery, BB range, making paper, as well as lots of activities with plants, soil, water, and crafts. Staff and volunteers from GA Museum of Agriculture will bring several activities: turpentine, blacksmith, and historical crafts. Several presenters will bring animals, including reptiles, amphibians, and insects. You can also check out the project raising gopher frogs for DNR Conservation. One of the attractions will be the mascot Burner Bob, who promotes using prescribed fire to improve wildlife habitat. DNR’s SE Burn Crew will demonstrate a live burn and ABAC’s Vanessa Lane will lead a nature walk. You can also take a walk by yourself to enjoy the native plants in the pollinator garden, bog garden, fernery, wetlands, and arboretum.

There is no admission charge, no vending, and no food provided. You can leave your wallets behind but bring snacks if you need them. Also bring a tote to hold all the things you make or collect during the event.

For additional information, contact Heather Brasell at 229-339-3966 or neather.brasell@gmail.com. If the weather is bad and the event needs to be cancelled, check the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/GaskinsForestEducationCenter/.