Summary of Needs for the REL Southwest Region.pdf

Summary of Needs for the REL Southwest Region

April 2022

This document provides a summary of regional needs that were identified from September 2021 through February 2022, as reported by the current Regional Educational Laboratory Southwest contractor in their Monthly Progress Reports. They are being shared so that potential offerors for the 2022-2027 Regional Educational Laboratory Southwest competition can better understand the perceived needs of the REL Southwest region as reported to the current contractor. It is possible that offerors will have a different assessment of regional needs based on their own needs sensing process.

IES expects successful offerors to leverage publicly available information on the educational needs in their region and conduct their own needs sensing activities in addition to leveraging the information in this summary.

Cross-State Needs

September 2021

Some Oklahoma school districts allow parents to opt into full-time virtual learning with an agreement that the parent will bring the student to the school during an “off” time of the day (early morning before in-person classes start or evenings after school and other on-campus activities end for the day) for assessments. However, an increasing number of parents are not bringing their student in for assessments. Representatives from Arkansas and Louisiana reported that they, too, have significant numbers of districts that are having difficulties assessing remote learner students in person.

The number of newcomer students enrolling in Arkansas schools is increasing and, with that, the need for more consistency in transcript evaluation is increasing. Some newcomer students at the secondary level have the equivalent of a high school diploma from their home country but want to earn a high school diploma from the United States as well. A representative from Oklahoma sees the same situation in his state.

November 2021

Across the region, states have suffered from a teacher shortage. In Arkansas, talks are ensuing between teachers and North Little Rock school board members for a pay raise after the board denied the proposed $4,000 raise. Louisiana has similarly been reviewing ways to retain and attract more teachers in the state; New Schools in New Orleans received a $14 million federal grant that they will put toward a pay raise for teachers among other strategies. New Mexico Public Education Department (NMPED) secretary (designate) Kurt Steinhaus used Veteran’s Day as a way to honor those who have transitioned to teaching after their military service. He stated that in order to meet the need for quality educators, that pipeline must continue.

December 2021

This month, states again focused on declining teacher numbers. Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) set forth a new Teacher Residency Model to train and keep teachers in the state. In Louisiana, the Teacher Recruitment, Recovery and Retention Task Force turned in a preliminary report of solutions to the Louisiana Board of Regents and Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE). New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham proposed a 7 percent increase to teacher salary align with the national average. Oklahoma’s paid student teacher program was labeled as a “game changer” for combatting teacher shortage; the program will provide up to $3,250 to an estimated 1,300 qualified student teachers. In Texas, the Austin Independent School District (AISD) is taking teacher’s feedback into account for their proposal for next year’s academic calendar. The proposal includes two possible new holiday observations, a one-hour early release every Wednesday, and a minimum of one day off per month.

English Learner Community of Practice (CoP) members engaged in a robust conversation about one-way language immersion programs and discussed the challenges associated with monitoring of these programs. Members from Louisiana shared that they are working with a French immersion school that conducts almost all academic activities in French, thereby disregarding their responsibility to provide opportunities for students to learn English to their proficiency level. The program receives federal funding and is obligated to ensure that federal requirements are met. Students receive instruction in both English and French. The state education agency is working with the school’s administration to correct the imbalance between the frequency with which English is integrated into the academic day. Similar concerns were shared by the Texas CoP member. Parents seem largely unaware and, in some cases, unconcerned about the disproportionate amount of time their student receives instruction in the non-English language and English. Furthermore, districts often struggle to help families understand that participation in bilingual programs does not include English as a second language services even though districts must still assess and measure student learning in English.

Arkansas

January 2022

The Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) awarded 72 applicants $2.5 million in Career and Technical Education State Start-up Grants to assist with the development of new CTE programs of study.

February 2022

The Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) launched its ACT NOW campaign encouraging students to take the ACT exam multiple times to increase scores, which thereby increases chances at scholarships and admissions to postsecondary education institutions.

Louisiana

Hurricane Ida landed in the Gulf Coast, slamming Louisiana and affecting about 35 percent of the student population in the state. It has been a slow transition back to “normal” for those affected.

January 2022

A new report by the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) showed that reading skills for more than half of Louisiana’s kindergarten through grade 3 students were below grade level last fall.

New Mexico

October 2021

New Mexico gave their bus drivers a pay boost to keep the drivers they have and incentivize new drivers to join.

New Mexico is using Canvas as a statewide LMS, but local education agency participation is voluntary. It is problematic and creates inconsistencies when districts share data with NMPED across platforms.

January 2022

The New Mexico Public Education Department (NMPED) opened up the new Anti-Racism Anti- Oppression Hotline for students, family members, and community members to report bullying and racism in schools as part of 2021 legislation.

February 2022

To mitigate the ongoing workforce crisis and encourage New Mexicans to apply for school jobs, the New Mexico Public Education Department (NMPED) put a halt on all fees for licenses and background checks.

Oklahoma

Governor Stitt requested the first-ever audit of the State Department of Education, which Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister called “yet another attack on Oklahoma’s public education system.”

October 2021

As a study in Oklahoma showed that one in four teachers are ready to leave the classroom, the numbers of nonaccredited teachers receiving emergency certification in the state is reaching an all-time high.

November 2021

The Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) announced the investment of $5 million to a high-dosage tutoring initiative: Math Tutoring Corps to help mitigate the impacts of unfinished learning due to COVID.

January 2022

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt issued an executive order allowing state employees to become substitute teachers to combat the substitute shortage.

February 2022

The Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) awarded 68 schools and community partners a total of $18 million under OSDE’s High-Quality Afterschool and Summer Learning Programs initiative.

Texas

October 2021

Texas had its eye on the lingering effects of COVID-19 as the Texas Education Agency announced that it would be allocating $16 million to combat the “COVID slide” of learning loss.

January 2022

Governor Greg Abbott looks to include a “Parental Bill of Rights” in the Texas Constitution to reinforce parents as decisionmakers and expand families’ access to the course curriculum so that all lesson materials are available online.

February 2022

In Texas, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) announced the requirement of new charter schools to sign a “statement of assurance” that the school will follow “critical race theory” laws before opening.