ECHS Designation Application Overview Facilitator
Dr. Kim Woodson, Early College High School Project Coordinator Education Service Center Region 13
Jessica Snyder, Special Projects Manager Texas Education Agency
Dr. Kim Woodson
Good afternoon, everyone. I want to thank you for joining us for the designation application overview webinar number 2. My name is Dr. Kim Woodson with Region 13 as project coordinator for the Early College High School Statewide Initiative. I am joined today by Jessica Snyder, special projects manager with the Texas Education Agency (TEA) in the Curriculum Division. We are delighted to provide you information to assist in the continuing stages, as well as the ongoing stages for the Early College High School program and the application process. Please note that this webinar will be recorded and
uploaded to the txechs.com website. Everyone is muted, but please, if you look at the bar on the top left button, you will see an icon for Q&A. This is where you will be able to submit questions. It is our intent to address all questions at the end of the webinar and will be uploaded to the website (txechs.com).
Now, I also want to make sure that everyone can hear me. If you look next to the Q&A button, you will see a “raise your hand” icon. If you can hear me and can see your PowerPoint screen, please click on the
“raise your hand” button. Fabulous.
We are going to now continue with the presentation. Thank you so much for participating. It is good to see that everyone is able to logon.
Today we are going to address and discuss the ECHS designation. It requires a basic understanding of the Early College High School program. This is information for new and existing Early College High School campuses. The requirements are in the Texas state law, the administrative code, as well as the Early College High School blueprint. This is for TEA to ensure that new and existing campuses are fully and appropriately implementing the requirements of the Early College High School program. I am going to start off with some of the most important issues and frequently asked questions regarding designation.
We are going to talk about the application requirements and the supporting documents that will need to be uploaded; addressing the blueprint; the designation timeline; reviewing and scoring; resources and support; and lastly, Jessica with TEA will address any questions from the webinar.
Requirements—The Supporting Documents. There are letters of support and, if you notice, it is letters (plural). This is a letter which is one of the requirements to be uploaded. There are two separate letters:
one from the ISD and one from the Institute of Higher Education (IHE). The purpose is to show that there is a capacity to support each other and to show a strong partnership. These letters will be addressed to the attention of Dr. Mackie Spradley at TEA. We are also going to discuss the recruitment and
enrollment documents, as well as the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
We have had questions asking, “What should a letter of support include?” If you take a moment and look at both of the columns, they are identical, but from different perspectives. It shows the capacity for each institution to support each other with a strong partnership. The letter could include, or mention, sustainability measures, as well as any “brags.” You might ask yourself, “What do you mean by a ‘brag?’”
Brags could include activities for the students and staff, professional development, specialty programs, news releases, student achievements, support systems in place, graduating student information, or any of the positives that are ensuring student success. We think that a longer letter that mentions all of the
“brags” would show a very healthy Early College High School program. We want to make sure we have programs that are in the best interest of student success.
On this slide, we are going to talk about what should Recruitment and Enrollment documents include.
They may include policies, applications, and brochures. The documents or policies can both be from the internal and external perspectives. Internal policies might include matrices that are used to evaluate students. If your campus uses an open-enrollment lottery system, then you can upload or include a letter explaining enrollment procedures. External policies may include all the marketing and recruitments plans, materials, and timelines. Information should include support from the key
stakeholders, your target population, and regular activities to educate students, counselors, principals, parents, school board, and community members. Any information that is related to recruitment and enrollment should be included.
The next document to be uploaded would be the MOU. You may include a signed MOU that covers the 2016–2017 school year; a draft, which is an unsigned version covering the 2016–2017 school year; or a signed MOU covering the 2015–2016 school year. If it is an MOU that expires at the end of the 2016 school year or it is not signed, you will need to submit a final, signed, and up-to-date MOU before the start of the 2016–2017 school year. There is a link on the resources page of the txechs.com website. The link will go directly to TEA for the “must haves,” and in benchmark two in the blueprint has all the information outlined that is required to be implemented in the MOU. I am going to reference the Early College High School blueprint a lot in this webinar. We will be including information in the implementing and exemplar columns. Please use this to guide in your planning for your new or existing campus.
If you look now on the screen, you will notice that this is a page for the Early College High School program website. On the left-hand side, there are icons that link to different items and information on the website. The one that is highlighted now is the resources guide. If you click on the resources guide and look over to your right, it says “Blueprint here.” The blueprint is a guiding document to support campuses in implementing the Early College High School program with fidelity. Underneath the resources guide is a link for events. This is where you will be able to find webinar 1 for technical assistance. There is also information regarding the Early College High School best practices summit, as well as the Early College High School kick-off. There are PowerPoints, videos, and transcripts of the keynote and featured speakers. Underneath the next link titled “Best Practices,” the Early College High School principal panel share their experiences and best practices. There are videos that feature current, practicing principals who share experiences and best practices that have allowed their students to be successful through the Early College High School model. Additionally, there are webinars that have
topics of discussion that are aligned and organized by each of the six benchmarks that comprise the Early College High School blueprint.
You are now looking at a screenshot of the Early College High School blueprint. The blueprint has three columns. For all of the campuses that are in the planning stages of opening up an Early College High School, you would look at the initiating column. Initiating campuses are interested in applying for designation and are working toward fully implementing the Early College High School model. They are generally already offering dual credit to students, working with an IHE partner, and offering support for students. The implementing column says, “Implementing campuses have received designation because they have demonstrated that they can implement all of the benchmarks.” The last column is the exemplar column. This is the column that we should all be striving for. The exemplar campuses have been designated for at least four years, and have reached the “exemplar level” in three of the
categories, including benchmark four. If you look underneath it, there is a list of all of the benchmarks that we will be covering today.
Benchmark one discusses the target population; benchmark two discusses the partnership agreement;
benchmark three overviews the P–16 leadership initiatives; benchmark four discusses curriculum and support; benchmark five discusses academic rigor and readiness; and benchmark six discusses school design. As mentioned before, you can find the blueprint linked from the Early College High School website, as well as in the application that you are required to submit. Needless to say, it is listed in several different places because it is very important for us to make sure that we are following this model.
Now, we are going to spend some time talking about the benchmarks. Benchmark one covers target population. As I am speaking to you, I am also looking at the blueprint. For the campuses that printed out a copy of the blueprint, great job. We will be referring to the blueprint a lot in order to make sure we know what is required for a successful implementation for each benchmark. Benchmark one focuses on recruitment and enrolling students who are at risk or who might not otherwise go to college; these are our first generation college students. At-risk students are the ones that the legislature has defined in statute and are required for the Early College High School program. This does not mean that you cannot serve students who do not fit this demographic. The Early College High School program is appropriate for a wide-variety of students; however, it is designed to focus on students to whom the transition to college would be difficult. Once again, the rules state that you have to target those students that are considered at-risk students.
We have a link to the at-risk indicators on this PowerPoint
(http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/peims/standards/weds/index.html?eo919). Once again, this will be linked on the website. There will be an email that will come out on the listserv, so everyone will be able to receive this presentation and have access to it. The at-risk indicators state that the target population includes English language learners, students who have failed a state assessment, and students who are historically underrepresented in college. If you refer to benchmark, one of the blueprints says that the Early College High School recruitment and enrollment processes and requirements shall not exclude or discourage the enrollment of any subpopulation of at-risk as defined by PEIMS. This includes, but is not
limited to, students who are English proficiency, limited English proficiency, or who have failed a state administered assessment. Enrollment decisions shall not be based on state assessment scores, discipline history, teacher recommendation, or a minimum grade point average.
We also want to take a moment and look at the information for the target population. You might ask yourself “What are we using for recruitment and enrollment?” One of the questions for the recruitment and enrollment asks if the TSI assessment can be used as a criterion for enrollment. The answer would be no. “Can you use state assessment scores, discipline history, teacher recommendation, or minimum grade point average in enrollment decisions?” If you look over at the blueprint in benchmark one, it discusses how the information listed there is supposed to provide all students with an equal opportunity for acceptance regardless of their background or academic performance. As we look at the information that is listed, please make sure that this is in your consideration, because all of these documents are required to be uploaded and sent to TEA. We mentioned earlier the at-risk students and the factors that should not be considered for recruitment and enrollment. I just wanted to make sure that the factors that have been listed should not be used to exclude a student from enrolling in an Early College High School program. While an application can consider this information as part of a broader rubric or a holistic view of the child, it should also consider other information like whether the student is a first generation college-goer. For example, the listed data should not constitute the sole basis of an
enrollment decision. Once again, a student should never be removed from consideration based solely on the student’s assessment scores, discipline history, teacher recommendations, or GPA.
Benchmark two: partnership agreement. The MOU or inter-local agreement is reviewed annually and is revised as needed. A strong MOU will alleviate a number of problems. This is a very important
document. If you take a moment and look over at benchmark two, it mentions underneath the implementing column that the more in writing in a MOU, the better. It helps with changes in the staff and provides consistency and clarity. As I mentioned earlier, it can also be linked from the ECHS website.
Underneath the designation column, there is a link to the MOU requirements. The MOU is to include at least information regarding the location, your cost and fees, transportation, administration of the state- wide tests, grading periods and policies, courses of study, curriculum and alignment, instructional materials, instructional calendar, and policies regarding the Early College High School for financial assistance from higher education. This is a major document that defines the partnership between the school district and the IHE. Those are a few of the topics that are required. It also defines an active partnership between the school district and the IHE, and it includes the joint decision-making procedures that allow for the planning and implementation of a coherent process across both
institutions. It also includes provisions and processes for collecting, sharing, and reviewing program and student data to assess the program of an Early College High School. As mentioned before, I talked about the implementing stage, but if you look over at the exemplar stage, it lists several bullets that should be considered when you are setting up an Early College High School program, as well as those who already have a program, to make sure you are addressing these concerns. It talks about the use of the IHE facilities and resources. I have worked with an ISD that was able to facilitate lots of professional development between the high school and the college. Both parties were able to attend professional development events. We have talked about collecting and sharing student data and what to do to cover policies, such as IHE’s college transcripts and college credits. Please make sure that as you work toward
writing an MOU that the policies are able to be followed. We want to make sure that we are all striving toward the exemplar column.
Anytime money is involved the Early College High School shall pay tuition for all dual-credit courses, including retakes; fees, including testing administration fees; and required textbooks to the extent that those charges are not waived by the IHE. Going back to the TSI in regards to administration, for all of my campuses, please make sure that you are working and setting up your TSI if you are a TSI site. That is one of the questions asked in your designation application. If you are a site, make sure you have set it up in accordance and by the guidelines with the college. Both entities should look at the information on the higher coordinating board regarding cut-off scores.
Benchmark three: P–16 Leadership Initiatives. The school district and the IHE should have a leadership team that meets regularly to discuss design and sustainability. This benchmark discusses how both parties are invested in student success and not one entity is telling the other what to do, but a
partnership that ensures it is in the best interest of students. The partnership in regards to teams, if you look at the benchmark three, they have a list of suggested attendees for leadership. It would include meetings with the superintendent, assistant superintendent of curriculum, an instructor of an
equivalent position, the Early College High School principal or director, the IHE university president or provost, dean of college of education, and the liaison. Benchmark three mentions how the sustainability structure shall be identified and implemented to address and minimize the challenges regarding staff turnover. Unfortunately, we are all aware of how transition can happen at both entities. We want to make sure that is has been covered.
The two columns on this slide compare the differences between dual-credit service providers and a P–
16 leadership team. As a dual-credit service provider, the IHE will register students for courses and will send the ISD a bill, or an ISD does not necessarily work closely with or communicate frequently with the IHE. But if you think of the intent of the Early College High School program and the bullets and
information that is listed in the blueprint, the IHE is jointly invested in student success. The ISD and the IHE plan together, train staff together, and set goals together. You want an “us” and not “them.” It is a team. We spent a lot of time talking about this because I want to make sure that everyone understands that in order for an Early College High School to be successful, the foundation of an Early College High School is the partnership. Its partnership is a key foundation that distinguishes between just a regular dual-credit program. If you ask for something from the IHE, the IHE and the ECHS are able to jointly make decisions together and are both invested in student success. It means that you are speaking up when there is something that needs to be done and stepping in and doing the right thing when support is needed. It also means that both you both made a difference and have a shared responsibility for student success.
Benchmark four: curriculum and support. I am going to spend a lot of time on this one because it is the foundation of the Early College High School program. In this benchmark, coupling dual credit along with support is very important. The whole design of an Early College High School model is to bring college access to students who might not otherwise be likely to go to college. Some of these students that you are serving are at risk because they are below grade level, they are LEP, and they are now in an
accelerated learning program. If you are not providing them with that support, you are really doing them a disservice. That is why it is really important to understand that you cannot separate the dual credit program with regards to the ECHS from the support. We kept them together in this single benchmark for that very reason. We really want everyone to understand that dual credit and student support go hand-in-hand and they cannot be separated. The Early College High School shall provide a course of study that enables participating students to complete high school graduation requirements and an associate degree, or at least 60 semester credit hours toward a baccalaureate degree. A plan must be in place showing how students will progress towards this goal. This plan must provide pathways to a baccalaureate degree and must follow the courses and fields of study listed in the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Lower Division Academic Course Guide Manual. At the end of this PowerPoint, there will be a link to that website.
In order for students, especially those students who are at risk and who might not otherwise go to college, to receive this accelerated instruction at such an early age, it is imperative that this instruction be provided on a strong foundation of academic, social, and emotional support. If a campus is doing all that it can to provide only college credit, they are not doing it correctly. Early College High Schools can hold students to a higher level of expectation if the Early College High School holds itself to a higher level of expectation regarding the services it provides to students by personalize the learning
environment and support the academic success of its students. Services such as tutoring, counseling, college and career readiness and awareness, TSI, readiness programs like the Summer Bridge, parent outreach and support, and so on. We did mention Summer Bridge, and I will go into that a little bit later.
Summer Bridge is recommended, but it is not required, and we will cover that again in just a few minutes.
If you take a moment and look at the columns underlined for academic, social, and emotional support, it mentions prevention. Prevention to make sure students are not struggling or behind. Providing them with the necessary study and notetaking skills, because the students are in a dual program, they have to know how to be successful at the high school as well as at the college. For instance, many of them do not have the background or know people at that particular program or have the support at home. It is important that you are able to provide that for them. Progress monitoring in class, attendance and grades, and making sure they have a degree plan and that they are on track. Intervention as we
mentioned earlier, by providing tutoring in school, tutoring after school, or Saturday school if necessary.
I find social and emotional support quite important when you think of students entering college at 14 years old. Students need to be provided with recognition. Even though they might be at the early college or standalone or separate campus, these students are still like other students at comprehensive high schools when they want the recognition. We need to make sure that we are not forgetting to have the award ceremonies and the different programs that are needed to celebrate successes, even small successes. Engagement, coping strategies, and connections in order for them to be successful at both institutions; progress monitoring; having involvement and advisory; intervention for outreach and counseling.
Benchmark five: academic rigor and readiness covers TSI readiness, TSI administration, and TSI
intervention as necessary. One of the things that we really like about the TSI is that it allows for targeted
feedback. It can be specific to meet the students’ needs on assessment results. On the last slide, there were links to assist with questions regarding the TSI underneath the Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board. They have sample questions, test scores, cut-offs, and information regarding exemptions. Summer Bridge is a best practice and highly encouraged, but is not required. It is suggested that you collaborate with your IHE and district to create opportunities for additional support. As
mentioned before, the TSI allows for feedback to give tailored intervention.
Benchmark six: school design. An autonomous school is where a principal has budget and hiring
authority, highly-qualified teachers, and a liaison with decision-making authority. The principals need to be able to make decisions in the best interest of students. I am actually looking at benchmark six and I want to spend a moment here. If you have not read this, please make sure that you spend some time with this. It says an Early College High School must provide a full-day program as defined in PEIMS. It is an autonomous high school with a principal or program coordinator, who has the scheduling, hiring, and budget authority, and is assigned 100 percent to Early College High School responsibilities. There is also an IHE liaison with decision-making authority and highly-qualified staff with support and training. This is important because you want to make sure that these institutions have someone who is able to
communicate between the two of them. We all know that it can be very difficult to immediately get information from administration at the district-level at times. You want to be able to have someone that is able to make decisions. If you look underneath the implementing column of the blueprint, the Early College High School location shall be on a college or university campus, in a standalone high school campus, or in a smaller learning community within a larger high school. Also, if you are an Early College High School campus that is not located on a college or university campus, you must be able to provide students with regular use—the blueprint mentions at least six times per year—of college academic facilities. Also, it mentions that the highly-qualified teachers who are within four years will be reporting only to the Early College High School principal and are teaching only Early College High School students in all core courses. As you start and continue with your planning, please make sure that you are
addressing the benchmark. If you look over at the exemplar column, it says that if an Early College High School campus is not located on a college or university, it shall provide students with weekly use of the IHE academic and support facilities, such as libraries, labs, advising, career center, eating facilities, cultural facilities, and sports facilities. The students are college students and they need to have access to college resources. If you are creating your school design, as mentioned earlier in the presentation, please be sure to include this in your MOU.
There are numerous models for the Early College High School. In the early years of Early College High Schools there were a lot of stipulations. Now they have lifted some of the constraints on it. Early College High Schools can be on a campus or one hundred miles from a campus; serve a dozen kids or a thousand students; be a standalone or a school within a school; provide virtual dual-credit courses; provide dual- credit courses on a high school campus or on a college campus; they could have one IHE partner or have multiple IHE partners. We just want to ensure that regardless of the model you have, that you ensure rigor with all of these different models.
Now that concludes the information regarding the benchmarks. We want to now talk about the Early College High School designation timeline. If you notice, November 16, which is next week, is the
deadline to submit a Notice of Intent to Apply. For all of the campuses that are thinking about becoming an Early College High School for the 2016–2017 year, we are asking that you complete the link for the survey (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2MZ5PGH) for those with intent to apply. On December 18, the application is due no later than 5:00 p.m. This deadline is for all new and existing campuses.
Notification of the designation for new Early College High Schools will be announced and that information will come from TEA.
For reviewing and scoring, each application is reviewed by an Early College High School subject-matter expert. New applicants are reviewed based on the quality of a proposed plan and evidence that the campus is capable of implementing the campus model with fidelity, and will follow-up if necessary. If it is necessary for you to have follow-up there will be. Renewal applicants are reviewed based on
performance during previous years, including fidelity to the Early College High School model, as well as a designation application, which may require follow-up. However, please note, applications can only be evaluated based on the information included in the application. Be sure to include all necessary and relevant information in the application. Once again, this is an annual process, so for all of the campuses that are thinking about it, you would have to do this every year.
On this slide, there are links to resources and support. Once again, here is the link for the online Early College High School online designation application (http://thetrc.org/ECHS). If you have any questions regarding the completion of your application, please send them to [email protected]. Guidance for the Early College High School MOU and blueprint can be found at http://www.txechs.com/2011- 2012_tea_early_college_designation.php. Once again, this presentation will be sent out shortly. If you want to look at the best practices videos, I cannot stress the importance for those of you who are new or thinking about it or even for some of my implementing campuses that have any questions or want to improve, these videos are aligned to the blueprint and they show best practices and information in regards to what they’ve done to be successful. FAQs regarding the TSI can be found at this link at the Coordinating Board’s website (http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/index.cfm?objectid=C92F1DAA-D49E-03Fo- 0750060AA756E807).
At this time, I am going to turn the webinar over to Jessica Snyder from TEA who will address the questions that have been submitted during the webinar. Jessica?
Jessica Snyder
Thank you, Kim, for doing a great job and walking all of our interested applicants through the application and the blueprint. We have a couple of questions that have come in during the webinar. You can still submit those questions and we will try to address as many as we can with the time that remains.
The first question that came in is about our IHE partners and if IHEs themselves have limitations on the number of Early College High Schools that they can pair with. There is not a limit to the number of Early College High Schools with which an IHE may partner. They would of course be required to have the MOU for each of those partners to ensure they can provide the support to all of the students and programs they are partnering with.
The next question is about the letters of support. The question is, “Do letters of support have to be submitted each year if there are no significant changes, or can the same letter of support from an IHE be submitted?” The answer to this question is that you are required each year to submit a letter of support and an old letter of support should be renewed. You will need to complete an updated letter of support that is essentially a renewal of that support from the IHE. We also had a question with some confusion about the letter of support from last week’s webinar where a campus thought they no longer needed a letter of support. That is the difference between our campuses that have been designated for three more or years versus one of our new applicants or more recently designated campuses that have been in operation as an Early College High School for three or less years. Campuses that have been designated and have been in operation for three or more years that are completing the abbreviated application do not need to submit the letter of support. But any campus that has been in operation for less than three years or are first time applicants will be required to submit the letter of support, and that will need to be a new letter of support for each school year for which you are applying.
The next question is about schools already offering several opportunities for dual credit through many different IHEs. “Do schools have to limit their partnership for the Early College High School to one institution of higher education?” Again the question is “Can we partner as an Early College High School with more than IHE?” And the answer to that question is yes. You may partner with more than one IHE, but you would need to ensure you have the MOU and all of the other agreements for that partnership with each IHE you partner with.
The next question is related to application and leadership coaches. “Are the Early College High School leadership coaches going to be available to review applications prior to the submission deadline?” The answer to that question is no. While the coaches do provide assistance and support for the operation of an Early College High School, the application would be completed independently by that Early College High School.
We also have a question about the notice of intent that we spoke about in last week’s webinar: “Is the notice of intent for first time designation or all?” The notice of intent is really for our first-time
designees. We hope that all of our designees who are currently designated would re-apply. The notice of intent gives us an idea of how many new applications we can be anticipating. That way we can ensure that we have enough reviewers in place once the applications have been turned in so that we can perform that review and start to notify our campuses of designation in the spring. Again, the notice of intent is for our first-time applicants only. Again, a couple of other questions related to the notice of intent. If you are currently in operation and designated as an Early College High School you do not need to complete the survey for notice of intent. That deadline again is November 16. The deadline is coming up if you are a new campus and we strongly encourage you to complete that survey.
I am going to turn this question back to Kim. We have a couple of questions asking if viewers will have access to the PowerPoint slides, a recording, and how and when will they be able to access those.
Dr. Kim Woodson
Yes, we will go ahead and send out a link to everyone who is on the listserv. We can upload the link, but I just want everyone to know that the transcripts that are required to be compliance with ADA will be uploaded soon. But we have to get the PowerPoint out first. We will have the information regarding the transcripts hopefully by the end of the week as well, but we will upload the PowerPoint.
I see another question that says, “We are in the initiating year and completing the full renewal. If my MOU is in draft can I still submit it?” As mentioned before, on the slide, you can submit your MOU in a draft form as long as it is not the current school year. If it is for the 2016 year, it can be in draft. But before the school year begins, we need to have a completed and signed MOU by all of the
administration in regards to the district superintendent or the college president.
The next question asks, “Does the notice of the intent have to include the IHE?” Yes, because it is a partnership and an Early College High School cannot be sustained or implemented without having a partnership with an IHE.
The next question asks, “When will the leadership coaches contact the designated Early College High School?” We are in the process of working on paperwork to be completed with TEA and we hope to have that information to you soon. Your ECHS campuses will be communicating with you as soon as possible.
A similar question asks, “When will a coach be assigned?” Once again, the coaching information in regards to who your coach will be coming out shortly.
Another question asks, “If you are already a partner with one IHE but want to partner with another IHE, do you still have to complete the survey and complete the letter of intent?” If your partners are
changing or you are adding partners, then you need to submit a letter for each partner that you anticipate working with for the upcoming school year. This includes a new IHE as well. Those are the questions that I see or have been addressed. If you have any other questions, please upload them and I will be working directly with TEA to get a response so that the answer will be uploaded shortly.
However, the PowerPoint will be linked as soon as possible. Jessica, did you have anything else that you want to answer in regards to the questions? Many of them are the same.
Jessica Snyder
No, I agree. I think we have some repeat questions, but we will review all of the questions that were submitted during the webinar. If we have missed something we will be following up with responses to all of the questions that have been asked during the webinar.
Dr. Kim Woodson
Okay perfect. We are going to go to the next slide and it has contact information, because I do know that one of the questions asked who they can contact. If you have any questions for Region 13 there is my email address (Dr. Kim Woodson, project coordinator: [email protected]), as well as the
other Early College High School team members are listed here: Erin Romero, Senior Coordinator ([email protected]); Sarah Goshgarian, education specialist
([email protected]); Monica Paz, project specialist ([email protected]); Sarah Narvaiz, program assistant ([email protected]). If you have any questions regarding the designation process or application, please email TEA at [email protected]. If you need technical support for the ECHS designation application, please email [email protected]. You may click on these links once you have access to the PowerPoint. I want to mention one more thing before we conclude the webinar. When you are going over your application, this should not be something that one person is completing. It is required for everyone to have an understanding and work together as a team. Even when you click on the provisions and assurance sections of the online application, it’s very easy to just click the buttons. Please make sure that you spend time reading each section carefully. It helps new schools understand the expectations and requirements of the blueprint. But for existing schools, it is a reminder of what your ECHS agreed and upon and what you are held accountable to.
We will conclude our webinar for today. On behalf of myself, Region 13, and TEA, we would like to thank you for your participation. I also want to thank the administrative staff at TEA: Shelly Ramos, Dr. Mackie Spradley, and Jessica Snyder for their ongoing support. Thank you, and we are concluding the webinar.
Have a great afternoon.
