AESA Members,

Many ESAs, and the districts they serve, are struggling to meet the mandates of IDEA and are concerned about potential litigation. Our federal advocacy team has been advocating for greater flexibility with IDEA implementation. There is growing opposition on Capitol Hill to any kind of flexibility for districts.  In particular, the disability groups have done an excellent job of convincing lawmakers and staffs that IDEA litigation is either not going to happen or is a non-factor for districts.

We sent out a call to action for you to respond to a survey. We need your help to convince Congress that if they don’t grant certain flexibilities around IDEA, there is a high likelihood that litigation will occur. We need this data to demonstrate that the cost of litigation comes at a time when budgets are strained. Thank you to those that responded to the survey.

There is still time to complete THE SURVEY. We will use this anonymous data to tell our story to the press and with lawmakers to help advance our case that litigation is a real possibility and that we need PreK-12 flexibility around IDEA in the next COVID-19 package.

Thank you for sharing your information with our advocacy team!

Learning with Heart: SEL and STEAM using EdTech Tools

Thursday, June 4, 2020

3:00 pm Eastern

Presenters (l to r): Diana Wendell, School Library System Director, OCM BOCES (NY) and Dr. Irina Tuule, Eduporium (MA)

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) is often taught as a skill in isolation. Our session proposes that these skills can be learned and reinforced through active learning activities in team-based maker experiences. One of the ways learning through doing in PreK-12 education exists in the form of STEM or STEAM projects and Maker Education.

These methods align the use of the hands, head, and heart in one action and have the potential to support various educational goals. As students learn to design, innovate, experiment, and create, they are relying on and simultaneously developing intellectual, social, and emotional skills that are essential for success in school and beyond. Innovative tech tools can enhance the process of SEL if used purposefully and support safe learning environments where every student will thrive. During this presentation, we'll practice the craft of matching creative features of tech tools with multiple STEAM and SEL challenges and reflect on the experience.

Cost: $50/AESA members ($75 non-members) If you can't attend the live webinar, a recording of the session will be available for purchase. Contact Ann Fiene if interested.

REGISTER NOW!

Entrepreneurial ESAs: How to Price with Confidence in an Uncertain Environment

June 10, 17 & 24, 2020

2:00 - 3:00 pm Eastern

This interactive session introduces the fundamentals of pricing using ESA examples and interactive exercises to provide a hands-on experience. Learn how to properly identify the different costs associated with a product or service and how those costs should impact a good pricing model.  

This session will focus specifically on solutions to the challenges of pricing for services delivered virtually, not face-to-face. Whether the services are brand new or changed from in-person to remote delivery, you will learn various ways to structure your pricing models to preserve customer loyalty and protect your bottom line. Current examples of ESA practice will be provided.  

Bolstered with ESA examples, this session will address how to structure meaningful experiments that will inform you on the critical effect of pricing on program enrollment. You will learn how to conduct pricing experiments ethically in the public arena. Strategies will be provided for addressing challenges such as a limited number of customers or the fact that ESA customers communicate frequently with each other.  

$199 Subscription:  Live participation in all 3 virtual workshops including interactive breakout sessions  (Space is limited to the first 100 registrants.)

REGISTER HERE

$120 Fee:  Access to recordings of the 3 workshops

PURCHASE THE RECORDINGS HERE

(Click on "Register for Event" and complete the online form. Credit card payment is required.)

This workshop will be led by Dr. Duncan Simester of MIT and facilitated by Dr. Susan Leddick, AESA Senior Advisor. Dr. Simester will address the following questions during the day, and his presentations will be interspersed with directed small group discussions and report-outs. 

 

·      What is modern AI, and why is it important? 

·      What is the role of experimentation in AI…and its practical applications? 

·      What are four things required to implement AI? 

·      Can AI help ESAs disrupt, or will it disrupt ESAs? 

·      What will be the first applications of AI for ESAs? 

 

We are excited to build on the invitation to engage in a national dialogue about the role of AI as a market force affecting ESAs now and in the future. Tom Collins and Susan Leddick published the first articles in the October and November  Perspectives  journal on  AI and the ESA: Opening a Conversation .   Attendance at this workshop effectively creates a core group of ESA leaders who will be better informed to evaluate AI “solutions” and to support AI applications in school districts. 

 

To register, email  registration@pkrnet.com.

NS4ed LLC, a rising leader in actionable research and professional guidance in education, announces its partnership with Nebraska's Educational Service Unit #2 (ESU2) to build an online regional data site in support of the vital intersection of education, the economy, and the workforce. The data site will include up-to-date labor market information and local resources to guide ESU2's 16 public school districts as they develop regionally aligned Career and Technical Education programs. 

 

NS4ed's Pathways to Careers (P2C) platform, which underlies the data site, creates a virtual bridge between education and industry that can help districts develop comprehensive local needs assessments for CTE funding and curricular pathways that reflect the realities of current and projected job demand in the region. According to Dr. Joseph Goins, CEO of NS4ed, "Our work in Nebraska helps ESU2 support its local districts in two ways: First, to prepare federal funding requests, which require thoughtful analyses of local economic, social and educational needs; and second to provide data-rich resources to districts to propel students, their schools, and their communities along clearer pathways to career-readiness." 

 

Nebraska's ESU2 is a member of the Association of Educational Service Agencies (AESA), a professional association helping its members to build and support educational platforms and resources that enrich rural and remote locations as well as towns across America. AESA currently serves 553 agencies nationwide in 45 states, reaching more than 80% of the public school districts, 83% of private schools, 80% of certified teachers, and 80% of public and private school students. 

 

NS4ed, in a direct partnership with AESA, supports many local ESAs such as that in Nebraska. This breadth and reach of AESA make NS4ed's partnership with it and many of its local members, such as ESU2, nationally impactful for innovative paradigms in education that reflect the NS4ed P2C platform's effectiveness to assuring student learning is relevant to today's marketplace realities. 

 

For any questions, contact eharvey@ns4ed.com.