Welcome from the Early Learning Team
We know this year, like last year, will be stressful and trying at times – in ways we never would have predicted before the pandemic. We also know that young children - like Keni, pictured here on his way to his first day of kindergarten - are starting school with as much excitement and enthusiasm as ever. We hope that connecting with students, families and colleagues this fall brings you joy and that you give yourself the grace you deserve for the incredible work that you do.
Thank you!
Early Learning Team
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As schools bring students back this fall, child care and youth development programs, like before and after school care, tutoring/mentoring, and wrap-around services, will be an important part of the support system families rely on. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, these programs have offered academic and social-emotional support; access to computers and Wi-Fi; provided meals and snacks; connected students and families to financial, health, and other resources for families.
Increased collaboration and communication between schools and child/youth-serving community-based providers will be important for maintaining safety and continuity for children between school and programs, especially if there are instances of COVID-19 exposure. Working together in the months and years ahead, will also help ensure that the child/youth-serving sector can continue to thrive so that families have access to the programs they need. As the pandemic continues, many programs are facing staffing and funding challenges due to fluctuating enrollment.
Schools can take steps to support students and families by engaging with local child care and youth development programs to ensure good communication channels are in place; especially around children who are served in common. Below are some easy ways to help families and communities manage back to school as successfully as possible:
- Identify someone in the district as a point person between child care and youth development programs and share the contact information with those programs.
- Prioritize referrals to existing programs before standing up additional child care options.
- Plan for sharing information about known exposures between school and child care settings serving the same children, when possible, especially if the child care program regularly transports the child to school, or the school transports the child between care and school. Check with appropriate legal counsel when establishing information sharing agreements.
- Communicate changes in the school’s schedule/practices directly to child care and youth development programs to allow time to make adjustments to support families as needed.
- Connect with licensed child care providers in your area by contacting Child Care Aware.
- Visit School’s Out Washington’s Open Programs & School Age Childcare Map.
- Include child care and youth development programs in family-facing communications where appropriate. For instance, if the district sends regular updates to families via email, send to providers as well. If you need a list of child care providers. please send a request to kathryn@childcareawarewa.org.
- Encourage staff and families to sign up for WA Notify (also known as Washington Exposure Notifications), a free tool that works on smartphones to alert users if they may have been exposed to COVID-19 without sharing any personal information.
- Direct families needing child care to the Child Care Aware of Washington Family Center website or to call 1-800-446-1114.
- Direct families needing assistance with paying for child care to Working Connections Child Care.
- Be open to creative ways to continue or begin sharing dedicated space with child care and youth development programs, including the use of classrooms, the gym, multipurpose room, cafeteria/kitchen, outdoor/grounds, and entry ways.
Additional opportunities and considerations can be found under “Child Care” on the OSPI COVID-19 Guidance and Resources page.
For more information about:
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PreK-3rd Grade Resources for Fall 2021 was created as a resource to educators across the earliest years of school, PreK–3rd grade. It is intended to support a smooth transition this fall for students who are just beginning their formal education or who may have experienced disruptions to their early education due to COVID-19.
Curated by staff across OSPI and Educational Service Districts, this resource acknowledges that children’s development across PreK–3rd grades is naturally wide-ranging. Students who are the same age or are in the same grade can often display differing skills and abilities from one another, based in part on what experiences and opportunities they have had as well as their innate biology and tendencies. In addition, students this age can also experience periods of rapid growth as well as stagnation, and even regression, at times. Differences in development in the early grades are normal under typical circumstances and may be even more exaggerated due to the pandemic. The many tools and resources shared here reinforce prioritizing relationship development and taking time to learn about the strengths and needs that students bring.
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Thoughtful kindergarten transition practices are important every year, but with a high likelihood of children entering kindergarten having experienced inconsistent, or no preschool experience, Family Connection provides critical opportunity for educators and families. During Family Connection Meetings, discussions should involve challenges and successes families and children had prior to entering kindergarten, the strengths and needs of each child, and how families and educators can collaborate. Through WaKIDS, educators and families begin a collaboration around children’s healthy growth and development that sets the tone for the whole year.
WaKIDS Whole-child Assessment expectations are the same. Even when/if learning is fully remote, teachers will need to do their best to observe children and finalize the assessment. This can be done through a combination of one-on-one and small group interactions with children and families, collected work samples and documentation of observational evidence provided by families. Only on those rare occasions when certain observations prove to be infeasible, should teachers select “Not Observed,” and select “Other” and fill in “N/A.”
Because the assessment is “observational”, it’s looking for demonstration of what children know and can do. The assessment is not separate from learning, it is embedded within it. Teachers conduct the assessment by engaging children in learning activities designed so that children can put the skills they have into action. Teachers will have until November 12th to finish the assessment and should take the entire period to collect the documentation they will use to make assessment determinations. The assessment should be done slowly over the course of this period focusing on building the relationship with families and children.
The following assessment timeline is directed to District Assessment Coordinators (DACs), although it has information that may be useful to teachers and principals, as well:
By October 29:
- Kindergarten teachers confirm their classes within the online assessment platform MyTeachingStrategies®, archiving any students no longer in their classes. There will be no more transfers allowed after this date.
- Kindergarten teachers relay any questions to DACs about how to finalize data, and have a plan in place for meeting the November 12 deadline.
The week of November 1:
- DACs and principals run an Assessment Status Report within MyTeachingStrategies® to review the status of teacher progress. Please note that there can be a short lag between when teachers enter data and when it is updated in the Report. The Assessment Status Report can be found in the Reports section of MyTeachingStrategies®.
- DACs and principals communicate with teachers about the approaching assessment deadline and support assessment implementation.
No later than November 12, 9pm:
- Teachers must finalize data for all students in the online platform, MyTeachingStrategies® by 9 p.m. on November 12.
- Teachers run an Assessment Status Report within MyTeachingStrategies® to confirm 100% completion in the areas of Social-Emotional, Physical, Language, Cognitive, Literacy and Math. Areas for Spanish Language Acquisition are optional and may remain at 0% if not required by the district. The Assessment Status Report can be found in the Reports section of MyTeachingStrategies®.
- OSPI monitors WaKIDS assessment completion for each district, noting which districts have incomplete data. If we notice any unusual patterns, we will alert the district prior to November 12.
By November 17:
- DACs assure the WaKIDS assessment is complete for their district, using the Assessment Status Report to confirm 100% completion in the areas of Social-Emotional, Physical, Language, Cognitive, Literacy and Math. Areas for Spanish Language Acquisition are optional and may remain at 0% if not required by the district. The Assessment Status Report can be found in the Reports section of MyTeachingStrategies®.
- DACs resolve issues with incomplete data.
- We ask DACs to kindly let us know that you have confirmed 100% completion of the assessment for your district with an email to wakids@k12.wa.us
November 18:
- OSPI reviews WaKIDS assessment completion for each district, contacting any and all districts with incomplete data to understand what prevented the district from meeting this state requirement.
You can find many resources available to administer WaKIDS, as well as to guide your instruction in times of remote learning, on the OSPI WaKIDS website:
Family Connection
Early Learning Collaboration
Whole-child Assessment
Open Educational Resources Commons Washington Early Learning
There will be WaKIDS Office Hours every other Thursday at 1:30-3:00. This drop-in time is optional for administrators to stop by and ask questions. Bring your questions and Yoona Park, WaKIDS Assessment Specialist, will be more than happy to support you. If she is not able to provide an answer on the spot, she will follow up with you to provide the support you need!
- Dates: Sept. 16, & 30, Oct. 14 & 28, Nov. 11. All Office Hours are from 1:30-3:00 pm.
- Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83426214883(link is external)
- Meeting ID: 834 2621 4883 One tap mobile +12532158782,,83426214883# US (Tacoma) +16699006833,,83426214883# US (San Jose)
WaKIDS 101
Teachers must successfully complete WaKIDS 101 in order to administer WaKIDS. Teachers new to WaKIDS may be eligible for compensation for taking WaKIDS 101.
WaKIDS 101 is the one-time asynchronous online training required for all kindergarten teachers new to WaKIDS which includes Transitional Kindergarten and certificated special education teachers who provide instruction to kindergarten children with disabilities. This training is self-paced and takes approximately 12 hours to complete. Participants will have approximately two weeks from the start date of the online session to complete the course and an optional Interrater Reliability (IRR), for additional compensation.
WaKIDS 101 Refresher
The WaKIDS 101 Refresher course is a five-hour, self-paced asynchronous course designed for kindergarten teachers, Transitional Kindergarten teachers, certificated special education teachers who provide instruction to kindergarten children with disabilities who previously completed WaKIDS 101 but wish to refresh their knowledge. This five-hour online course offers a light review of Family Connection, Early Learning Collaboration, and components of a high-quality full-day kindergarten classroom. The WaKIDS 101 Refresher course offers a deeper exploration into the Whole-child Assessment, collecting and leveling documentation, and leveraging components of MyTeachingStrategies®. Teachers who complete the WaKIDS 101 Refresher course will receive five clock hours.
Introduction to WaKIDS for District & Schools Administrators
The Introduction to WaKIDS for District and School Administrators course is designed for district and school administrators, including principals, assistant principals, early learning coordinators, district office administrators and school board members. This three-hour asynchronous course provides contextual information for the three components of WaKIDS (Family Connection, Early Learning Collaboration, and the Whole-child Assessment), as well an overview on how to leverage MyTeachingStrategies® report functionalities to support teachers, data collection, and analysis.
WaKIDS Support Staff
The Support Staff course is a three-hour, self-paced asynchronous course for staff supporting the implementation of WaKIDS. This training is designed for paraprofessional, specialists, librarians, coaches, counselors, psychologists, etc. who plan to support kindergarten teachers, Transitional Kindergarten teachers and certificated special education teachers who provide instruction to kindergarten children with disabilities. Participants who complete the WaKIDS Support Staff course can assist teachers in collecting documentation for the Whole-child Assessment.
WaKIDS 101 trainings for Transitional Kindergarten (TK) teachers
We are pleased to offer additional WaKIDS 101 trainings for TK teachers. TK teachers need to successfully complete the training before they are allowed to access the MyTeachingStrategies® platform and begin assessing their students. Regular kindergarten teachers must complete their WaKIDS 101 training by October 4. Below dates are additional trainings we added and newly hired TK teachers will have priority in receiving spots:
Registration for all trainings below open on October 4, 2021!
- WaKIDS 101 October 11-October 25
- WaKIDS 101 November 1-November 15
- WaKIDS 101 December 6-December 20
- WaKIDS 101 January 10, 2022-January 25, 2022
- WaKIDS 101 February 1, 2022-February15, 2022
Visit our website to learn more about each course and to register.
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, requires states to report the number and percentage of students enrolled in preschool (PreK) programs and the per-pupil expenditures of PreK disaggregated by source of funds.
All students enrolled in and receiving preschool education/services must be reported to CEDARS with a valid value that describes the funding source(s) used in the Attributes and Programs File (I). If multiple funding sources are used, a unique record of each must be submitted to Attributes and Programs File (I). This includes Preschool students with IEPs.
The following will be required when submitting data for PreK students to CEDARS:
- District and school enrollment
- Ethnicity and Race
- PreK program funding sources in Student Attributes and Programs File (I), Element 106 – Program Code, valid values 56-66, respectively.
- All other appropriate program information
Districts will not be required to submit student course, student/staff schedule or staff file information.
CEDARS PreK Programs Reporting Codes
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CEDARS Program Code
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CEDARS PreK Program Types
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Fiscal Reporting Information
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56
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Special Education preschool
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Exclude from Per Pupil Expenditure; 0-2 Sped PreK FTE is already reported in P223H
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57
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ECEAP
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Included in Per Pupil Expenditure (88)
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58
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Head Start
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Included in Per Pupil Expenditure (61)
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59
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Title I
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Included in Per Pupil Expenditure (88 - Federal Fund)
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60
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GRADS (parenting teen) preschool
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Included in Per Pupil Expenditure (88)
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61
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Family and Consumer Science preschool
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Included in Per Pupil Expenditure (88)
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62
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Private pay/Tuition-based
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Included in Per Pupil Expenditure (88)
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63
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Grant-funded
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Included in Per Pupil Expenditure (88)
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64
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Working Connections Child Care Subsidy
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Included in Per Pupil Expenditure (88)
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65
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Parent Cooperatives
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Included in Per Pupil Expenditure (88)
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66
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Play & Learn Groups
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Included in Per Pupil Expenditure (88)
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Transitional Kindergarten
Students in Transitional Kindergarten should be enrolled in the district’s Student Information System (SIS) and enrollment, ethnicity/race, program, and attribute data must be captured/entered in the same manner as all other students.
Transitional Kindergarten (TK) students must be submitted to Student & Attributes Program File (I) –
- Element I06 – Attribute or Program Code a valid value of 67 – TK-Transitional Kindergarten
- Element I07 – Start Date, identifying the date the TK services began
If a student exits Transitional Kindergarten services during the school year, in addition to being reported as exited from school/district you will need to submit the following to Student & Attributes Program File (I) –
- Element I08 – Exit Date
- Element I09 – Exit Reason Code
If you have questions about PreK reporting contact Student Information at askSI@k12.wa.us
If your district is planning, or considering, to implement Transitional Kindergarten (TK) this school year, please complete this survey at your earliest convenience. This profile will let OSPI know of your intention with TK and will let district administrators know when TK WaKIDS data is due.
In 2021, OSPI released two mini-grants to test out strategies in TK. The two mini-grant opportunities had certain consistent elements and other areas of difference to support quality with curriculum, professional development for teachers and for administrators, and classroom materials. These mini-grants will inform school districts with best practice in inclusive TK.
TK is an emerging approach to serving 4-year-olds who have been screened and identified as needing a high-quality, inclusive early learning environment. TK requires coordinated recruitment & enrollment to support families and Individualized Education Program (IEP) teams to select the least restrictive, high-quality learning environment. In 2020-21, CEDARS data indicates that 24 school districts offer TK in 39 school buildings serving approximately 664 four-year-old children.
In Phase I of the mini-grant, a cross-sector review team selected nine school districts in December 2020. In May 2021, the review team selected 8 districts new to TK.
OSPI summarizes the similarities and differences between the two phases in Table 1.
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Phase I: December 2020 to June 2021
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Phase II: May to October 2021
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MyTeachingStrategies® Creative Curriculum®
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One-year subscription to Cloud® materials and professional development
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One-year subscription to Cloud® materials and professional development
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Coaching to Fidelity sessions
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Administrators and principals take two 3-hour synchronous sessions with Teaching Strategies trainer
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Administrators and principals take two 3-hour synchronous sessions with Teaching Strategies trainer
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Budget of up to $5,000 for classroom materials
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Budget of up to $5,000 for classroom materials
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Same as WaKIDS requirements
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Same as WaKIDS requirements
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Early learning collaboration and coordinated recruitment & enrollment
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Required with neighboring Head Start, ECEAP, and Early Achievers.
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Required with documentation of process with neighboring Head Start, ECEAP, and Early Achievers.
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Certificated teachers, preferably with endorsement in ECE or ECSE
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Range of new and seasoned early learning and kindergarten teachers, some with experience only in upper elementary grades
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Range of new and seasoned early learning and kindergarten teachers or experienced in elementary education
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Staff: child ratios of up to 1:10 with paraeducator or specialists
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Most districts hired a paraeducator with ratios of 1:9 or 1:10
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In progress. All TK teachers have been hired, most with experience in early learning or kindergarten
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Interviews with Head Start and ECEAP Directors
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Range of impact from reduction in enrollment and financial instability of Head Start and ECEAP to productive partnership with shared services in MOU.
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Districts ready to implement TK in January 2021, including districts that had started implementing TK before the grant
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Districts that had never implemented TK and would prepare for fall implementation
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WaKIDS Whole Child Assessment
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Winter and/ or Spring Checkpoint
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Fall with optional Winter and Spring Checkpoints
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Focus in hiring teachers reflective of students’ racial and ethnic backgounds
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Not a requirement, but a recommendation. Over 90% of TK teachers are Caucasian.
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Support for administrators
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Four sessions of a synchronous virtual Community of Practice, with OSPI’s facilitation and guest speakers from Bellingham Promise K, DCYF Head Start Collaboration Office and ECEAP, OSPI Title I Part A, Migrant education, Bilingual Education, among others
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Asynchronous online course-- Administrators’ Best Practices—offered through OSPI’s online learning portal in Moodle. Course total 12-15 hours with self-paced instruction and required posts.
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Teacher training for Creative Curriculum®
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3 synchronous 4-hour sessions of training with Teaching Strategies trainer. 10-hours of coaching per TK classroom
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Training offered as part of subscription. Self-paced learning with options from 1-hour to 10-hours in the Develop tab of Creative Curriculum®
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Every other month: February, April, June 2021
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Every other month: May, August, October 2021
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Not a feature of this grant
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Overview provided in TK Administrators’ Best Practices Moodle and data documented in final report.
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Support with coordinated recruitment & enrollment
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Tools piloted in March 2021 after enrollment took place
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Tools available to document research on need, braided funding streams, and coordinated recruitment and enrollment.
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Colville School District (NEWESD 101), Clarkston School District (ESD 123), Kiona-Benton School District (ESD 123), North Beach School District (ESD 113), Sedro-Woolley School District (NWESD 189), Selah School District (ESD 105), Skamania School District (ESD 112), Vancouver School District (ESD 112), and Walla Walla School District (ESD 123)
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: Auburn School District (PSESD), Cascade School District (NCESD 171), Monroe School District (NWESD 189), Oakville School District (CRESD 113), Othello School District (ESD 123), Pasco (ESD 123), Quincy (NCESD 171), and Rochester School District (CRESD 113).
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Lessons Learned
OSPI applied lessons from Phase I to Phase II, including the following findings:
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Several TK teachers had completed the Creative Curriculum® training and could have implemented Creative Curriculum® in TK without this 12-hour time commitment.
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Coaching took place during the hours when children were in the classroom, forcing teachers to find a substitute to make the coaching possible. A few of the districts recommended making coaching optional provided teachers were familiar with Creative Curriculum®.
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Several districts hired teachers with no experience working with young children.
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The time commitment for 12-hours of Creative Curriculum and 5 hours of WaKIDS 101 made the first weeks of teaching in a pandemic very challenging.
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One district hired the TK teacher after the Creative Curriculum® training took place, which put greater emphasis on coaching.
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With remote instruction and learning at home, several teachers had difficulty assembling the materials required for Instructional Teaching Cards and the themes. Some teachers used the family activities by using materials commonly found at home. Teachers prepared packets of materials listed in the family activities to send home.
Gathering Evidence and Learning
Phase I of the mini-grant provided OSPI and DCYF with the opportunity to engage directly with TK teachers, principals, and administrators and to gauge the impact on early learning partners. Although the reports provided information on grant requirements, OSPI lacks sufficient evidence to determine whether districts fully implemented the Five Pillars, most particularly Pillar V Coordinated Recruitment and Enrollment. With the evidence from interviews with early learning partners, it’s clear that more needs to be done to support school districts in adequately meeting the requirements of Pillar V, which requires coordinated recruitment and enrollment. This year, OSPI, together with other state and regional partners will be exploring how to improve this process so that schools offering TK are able to do so in a way that compliments and helps to preserve existing early learning programs in communities. TK Pillars require that children be screened with a demonstrated need for a group setting where no other options exist.
Given this imperfect evidence, OSPI will increase our research on districts’ implementation of the following requirements of TK:
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High-quality early learning environments, comparable to Head Start and ECEAP classrooms and licensed Outdoor Preschool programs, including curriculum fostering self-managed play appropriate to four-year-old children (for examples, Creative Curriculum or High Scope).
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Certificated teachers prepared to care for four-year-old children with disabilities and/ or complex needs not served or eligible for other early learning programs
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Staff: child ratios of no more than 1:10 with groups no larger than 20 children
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Completion of three components of WaKIDS, including continuous communication and planning with families after the Family Connection to hear and address families’ hopes and goals for their children.
- Documentation of coordinated recruitment and enrollment partners, conversations, and coordinated processes/ screening for eligibility.
OSPI looks forward to sharing additional findings and recommendations from Phases 1 and 2 of the TK Partners in Transition again later this fall.
If you have questions about these mini-grants or other TK support, please contact Gretchen Stahr Breunig, Kindergarten Transition Specialist at gretchen.stahrbreunig@k12.wa.us.
From August 3 – 5, OSPI partnered with Arts Washington and the Washington Arts Commission Teaching Artists Training Lab to host Arts Uplift! Over the course of 3-days, keynote addresses featured Dr. Bre and Dr. Adeyemi Stembridge, and participants selected from workshops in social-emotional learning, family engagement, STEM learning, inclusionary practices, and restorative cultural practices. Teaching Artists conducted 10-minute Arts breaks with drumming, dance, crafts, and drawing. Participants closed and opened each day with a “sandbox” to connect and share impressions and lessons learned.
From participants’ feedback, the conference succeeded in planting ideas to engage students’ cultures, social-emotional learning, and healing in creative arts in the classroom, and participants felt the healing personally through the combined content of the sessions.
Will your school district remodel current classrooms to be appropriate for inclusive preschool or Transitional Kindergarten? Or is your district merging all programs for children birth to age five in an Early Learning Center? If the answer is yes, this conference applies to your project/ contract leaders.
Even before the dramatic and transformative events of 2020, we recognized the need to strengthen a specific set of connections, those between design professionals and early childhood education professionals. All children who spend time in early learning spaces, such as childcare centers, family care and preschools, can benefit from the thoughtful design of those environments.
The trends are clear: the importance of quality care for children between birth and 5-years-old continues to gain traction in many policy arenas, and many of our region’s conversations about schools, housing, transit, social justice, health, and racism have, as an important component, ensuring access to early childhood education.
The underlying premises for the symposium are:
- The design of early learning environments is an important and essential effort.
- Achieving well-designed spaces for young children doesn’t need to be costly or complicated.
- We can strengthen the connections between designers and practitioners, which will lead to great environments for our region’s youngest residents.
With a focus on spaces where kids can thrive - emotionally, physically, mentally, and intellectually - we can find ways to bring two sets of caring professionals together. Our goal for the 2021 Day of Dialogue is to continue and sustain the work that will set us on this path.
Attend the Symposium on Design for Early Learning and be part of this important conversation.
What was planned as a festive in-person gathering has been moved to a new, COVID-safe format. Panelists and speakers will be together at the offices of DLR Group, while attendees will participate from the safety of their homes and offices. Though online, we are planning for an event that will be fun, engaging, and thought-provoking! We are also thrilled to be organizing a post-event “matchmaking” effort, facilitating compensation for partnerships between design professionals and early childhood education practitioners, to explore the design-thinking process together. More information on that program will follow soon.
Symposium Dates:
Monday, September 13, 8-10a
Wednesday, September 15, 8-10a and 4-6p
Saturday, September 18, 9-noon
(Learning units available via AIA and STARS (up to 8 hours)
LEARN MORE AT OUR WEBSITE
REGISTER AT BROWN PAPER TICKETS
We hope to see you there!
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Sponsors include:
DLR Group
Enterprise Community Partners, Inc.
Multicultural Child and Family Hope Center
Bamford Foundation
AIA Seattle - Committee on Architecture for Education
Enduring Legacies Native Cases Conference
The Evergreen State College
November 3-4, 2021 at Little Creek Resort Hotel
Shelton, Washington
The 2021 Enduring Legacies Native Cases Conference will build on more than fifteen years of work developing interdisciplinary teaching case studies on significant issues in Indian Country and offering workshops for educators to network and learn how to use the cases in their classes and staff development. Our interdisciplinary collection of cases covers a wide range of topics applicable to all academic fields. Problem-based learning, place-based learning, and collaborative learning are the cornerstones of our approach. Cases promote student engagement and critical thinking in the context of complex and pressing real world issues. They are a terrific way of promoting diversity. At this institute, we will practice working through cases collaboratively to learn how to facilitate case analysis and discussion. The conference will feature a number of new cases on the cutting edge of current issues in Indian Country.
Native Cases Conference Particulars: The conference is located on the reservation of the Squaxin Island Tribe. The conference will run from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. each day. Breakfast is at 8 a. m. with the program starting at 8:30 or 9 a.m. Pre-reading and homework are required each evening. Campuses and organizations are invited to bring teams or attend the conference as individuals. Space is limited and registration is first come, first served. The registration fee for the two-days is $140/ per person which includes breakfast and lunch each day.
COVID & conference safety: Please do not register for this conference if you have not been vaccinated. The room will be arranged to encourage social distancing.
Little Creek Resort Hotel Rooms are available at the rate of $119.00 per night with a cut-off date of October 3. Contact Little Creek Resort Hotel directly at 800-667-7711 to reserve rooms and say you are with the Evergreen State College Native Cases Conference. Conference registration forms and information are on the next pages.
This conference is generously supported by the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians.
Conference contact Barbara Leigh Smith
360.765.3084 or smithb@evergreen.edu
More information about Native Cases Project
http://nativecases.evergreen.edu/
Early Learning Fellows
The Early Learning Fellows are looking for new applicants statewide! The Fellows’ Network is a group of instructional leaders convened by OSPI and the Association of Educational Service Districts to support district and community implementation of state learning standards through shared professional learning experiences. This year, Early Learning Fellows are focused on exploring culturally responsive teaching across the prenatal-third grade continuum, as well as considerations for remote learning environments, ongoing assessment, family engagement opportunities, and social-emotional learning. Early Learning Fellows will discuss how their roles help serve all students and families and how they can lead with a racial equity lens while also developing their leadership capacities.
Regional convenings will be held virtually through a combination of synchronous Zoom meetings that allow for networking, as well as access to a library of resources for self-paced engagement. While we hope to resume in-person meetings when safe to do so, it is our aim to continue to be flexible with participation options and to continue to find creative ways to network and build capacity of early learning leaders to advocate for best practices in the P-3 space.
Please visit the Fellows Page on the OSPI website for more information about our statewide professional development network. Applications are open until October 1st, and we invite you to apply or connect with others who may be ready to increase their leadership skills and join this group of early learning professionals for a unique shared learning experience!
Teaching Strategies Contact Information
Teaching Strategies assistance with the GOLD® assessment and/or its online assessment platform MyTeachingStrategies™, provides a dedicated help line and email access for WaKIDS assistance.
To contact them directly, please use the following information:
Phone: 844-853-4653
email: wakids@teachingstategies.com
Early Learning District Liaison Information
Please take a moment to update who is listed as the Early Learning District Liaison(s) for your school district. While you are there, check out who your colleagues are around the state!
Left to right, Alondra Mendoza, Karma Hugo, Yoona Park, Gretchen Stahr Breunig, Kim Hoss, Indigo Brown
Alondra Mendoza, Administrative Assistant for Early Learning and WaKIDS OSPI: 360-725-6161 | Email: alondra.mendoza@k12.wa.us or WaKIDS@k12.wa.us
Indigo Brown, Administrative Assistant for Early Learning OSPI: Email: indigo.brown@k12.wa.us
Yoona Park, WaKIDS Assessment Specialist OSPI: 360-725-6180 | Email: yoona.park@k12.wa.us
Kim Hoss, Program Specialist 3, Elementary Education and Early Learning OSPI: 360-522-3052 | Email: kim.hoss@k12.wa.us
Gretchen Stahr Breunig, Kindergarten Transition Specialist OSPI: 360-764-0445 | Email: gretchen.stahrbreunig@k12.wa.us
Karma Hugo, Director of Early Learning OSPI: 360-725-6153 | Email: karma.hugo@k12.wa.us
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ALL STUDENTS PREPARED FOR POST-SECONDARY PATHWAYS, CAREERS, AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT.
Led by State Superintendent Chris Reykdal, OSPI oversees K-12 public education in Washington state. Our mission is to provide funding, resources, tools, data and technical assistance that enable educators to ensure students succeed in our public schools, are prepared to access post-secondary training and education, and are equipped to thrive in their careers and lives.
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