ARP ESSER Plan
The American Recovery Plan (ARP) was signed into law on March, 11th 2021. The Utah State Board of Education is distributing these funds by application in alignment with the federal distribution formula. Walden has applied for just over $480,000 of these funds to help mitigate the effects of COVID 19 during the 2021-2023 school years. Our complete application is linked here, but a summary of our ARP ESSER goals and budget is available below.
Survey
We are inviting all of our stakeholders to take this short survey. If you are a student, parent, guardian, teacher, staff member, administrator, or community member who is affiliated with Walden, we need your feedback. Your responses and comments will help us to better understand and address the needs of our valued community.
Walden Needs Assessment Survey
ARP ESSER Goals & Budget
Goal #1: Address learning loss (accelerated learning) for all students, with a particular emphasis on serving Walden’s special populations and students at risk for academic failure.
We would like to reserve $94,000 of ARP ESSER III funding ($47,000 annually) to secure the services of four or five part time instructional aides to support accelerated learning for students who have fallen behind in academic learning due to the impacts of COVID-19. These aides will focus their efforts on supporting students who have fallen behind due to extensive absences or who were not successful in negotiating online learning last year. Because Walden is committed to an inclusion model of instruction, it is imperative that we have paraprofessional aides to support the diverse learners in our classroom. Students have been strongly impacted by COVID 19 disruptions. Research shows that paraprofessionals can be particularly helpful at engaging students and serving as student advocates in high-needs communities (Rusch et al., 2019).
Our focus will be on providing one-to-one and small group tutoring in mathematics and literacy. These aides will provide Tier 1 and 2 interventions in several of our 1st-12th grade classrooms—specifically in classrooms that have a high percentage of students who need remedial support. Walden teachers and paraprofessional aides work collaboratively to introduce curricular concepts and strategies to students, then to support those students as they work in small groups and independently to master content and skills. The support of paraprofessional aides is essential in inclusive multiage classrooms composed of students with a wide range of abilities and learning needs. Currently 21% of Walden students are served by IEPs.
Walden is a Title 1 school where 42% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch. Racial demographics are fairly representative of the local population, but the socio-economic status of our families is, on average, lower than that of the surrounding community. As a Montessori school, we tend to attract students from families who are seeking a less traditional setting. Historically, this has meant that we have attracted some students who struggle academically or socially/emotionally in their neighborhood schools. These students seem to feel safe in multiage classrooms where progress monitoring is valued above year-end assessment and students are helped to succeed on an individual basis. Over the past two years, Walden has seen a tremendous influx of students with a profound need for extra academic and emotional support. The advent of COVID-19 and hybrid/online learning was particularly difficult for these students.
We would also like to use $10,000 ($5,000 annually) to secure the services of curriculum professionals to create language & literature and mathematics credit recovery modules for our high school students. A portion of funding may be used to pay for a few students to access online curricula through third-party vendors. Two of the part time ARP ESSER III paraprofessional aides will work exclusively with high school students to support them in accessing and completing these personalized, competency-based learning modules that are being developed. One will focus on offering mathematics support and another on language arts.
- Allowable Use Case #15: Addressing learning loss among students, including low-income students, children with disabilities, English learners, racial and ethnic minorities, students experiencing homelessness, and children and youth in foster care, of the local educational agency, including by—
(i) administering and using high-quality assessments that are valid and reliable, to accurately assess students’ academic progress and assist educators in meeting students’ academic needs, including through differentiating instruction;
(ii) implementing evidence-based activities to meet the comprehensive needs of students;.
- Total Salaries: $104,000 —$52,000 annually (Use Case #15)
- Total Benefits: $9,400 for Social Security, Medicare, Worker’s Compensation, SUTA (Use Case 15)
Total for Goal #1: $113,400
Goal #2: Provide greater one-to-one instructional support in secondary math and science classes by replacing USTAR/MOST funding lost during the emergency legislative session due to COVID-19.
We propose that $132,400 of ESSER III funding ($66,200 annually) be used to fund six additional high school and two additional middle school STEM classes. The six high school classes were previously funded through USTAR. USTAR funding allowed us to compensate faculty members for teaching additional math and science classes that we would not otherwise have been able to offer. Walden relied on USTAR funding for over a decade prior to the advent of Covid-19 and we came to depend on this funding to reduce class size and to offer accelerated learning. This funding also served to supplement the salaries of three or our highly skilled math and science teachers who might not otherwise stay in the teaching profession by letting them teach during their preparation periods. These additional classes keep Walden’s HS STEM class sizes small and allow for greater differentiation and student support for our diverse population in inclusive classes, including students with disabilities (21%) and those from low-income families (42%). Sadly, USTAR/MOST funding was eliminated by the legislature at the beginning of the pandemic and has not been reinstated.
ESSER III funding will make it possible to to continue offering the following classes:
- IBDP Math—an early college math class that teaches calculus and college algebra
- IBDP Statistics—An early college statistics class.
- Discrete Mathematics—A non-traditional, project-based, higher level math class for students who struggle with Mathematics 3 and who need more individualized instruction.
- Math 1 (2nd section)—Reduces class size to under 22 in 9th grade math classes.
- Math 2 (2nd section)—Reduces class size to under 22 in 10th grade math classes.
- Biology (2nd section)—Reduces class size to under 24 in Biology classes
ESSER III funding will also make it possible to add one part-time teacher at the middle school level. This will reduce class size in our 7th and 8th grade math classes to under twelve and will allow for more one-to-one instructional support for students. This is our area of greatest need. Our middle school students were particularly hard-hit by the impacts of COVID-19. Raw data indicates that only 10% achieved proficiency in mathematics in Spring 2021. Adding a third section to both classes will allow teachers to provide individualized support to students with a wide range of abilities in inclusive classrooms.
- Allowable Use Case #19: Other activities that are necessary to maintain the operation of and continuity of services in local educational agencies and continuing to employ existing staff of the local educational agency.
- Total Salaries: $132,400 (Use Case 19)
- Total Benefits: $38,000 for Social Security, Medicare, Worker’s Comp, SUTA, Medical, 403b (Use Case 19)
Total for Goal #2: $170,400Goal #3: Support facilities needs for additional cleaning/disinfecting and PPE supplies.
Walden continues to have elevated costs necessitated by health and safety protocols required by state and federal regulations. This funding would help to pay for a variety of health care and facility needs:
- 2 Additional part time cleaning staff: $46,000 ($23,000 annually)
- Related benefits: $3653.04 ($1826.52 annually)
- Cleaning & PPE materials & supplies: $8000 ($4000 annually).
- Allowable Use Case #10: Purchasing supplies to sanitize and clean the facilities of a local educational agency, including buildings operated by such agency.
- Allowable Use Case #18: Developing strategies and implementing public health protocols including, to the greatest extent practicable, policies in line with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the reopening and operation of school facilities to effectively maintain the health and safety of students, educators, and other staff.
- Total salaries for cleaning staff: $38,000 Use Case # 18)
- Total salary health advocate: $8,000 (Use Cases #18)
- Total benefits: $3653.04 (Use Case #18)
- Total contract labor cleaning/safety: $6000 (Use Case #18)
- Total supplies or clearing services: $8000 (Use Case #10)
Total for Goal #3: $63,653.04
- Goal #4: Address Student Mental Health & Well-being
Walden has been working toward creating a dedicated student center to house our academic counselor, social workers, and health/mental health professionals. The center will house a student lounge and a meeting room where both our wellness committee and a newly-formed student advisory council can meet. Our Student Support Center will be a welcoming place for students—a safe refuge where students can find robust academic, mental health, and social/emotional support. ARP ESSER III funding will allow us to better support our at-risk students by allowing us to secure the services the following personnel to make this Center a reality: 1) A part time Academic Support Counselor to focus on transition needs for juniors and seniors; 2) A part time Student Well-being Coordinator to help build our mental health program and guide our efforts to ensure that our student social/emotional and mental health needs are met. For a broader understanding of this plan, read Walden Student Support Center in the application linked above. We hope to use $124,000 of this ESSER III grant ($62,000 annually) to help support these positions.
- Allowable Use Case 13—Providing mental health services and supports, including through the implementation of evidence-based full-service community schools.
- Salaries: $98,000 ($49,000 annually) Use case 13
- Benefits: $26,000 ($13,000 annually) Use case 13
Total for Goal #4: $124,000
Goal #5: Improved Online Communication with Families
The advent of Covid-19 has necessitated clearer, more timely communication with our students and families. It has also required us to move some of our learning materials online, including our PCBL learning modules for accelerated learning and credit recovery. Everyone at Walden wears so many hats that it’s been difficult to adequately maintain our website. Recognizing how essential this tool can be in supporting student learning and in helping them to access classroom curricula and materials, we would like to devote $9,200 over two years to create a more accessible and useful website, to provide important resources for our students and families, and to encourage all student subgroups—especially those who are under represented—to participate in Walden’s curricular and extracurricular programs
- Allowable Use Case #19: Other activities that are necessary to maintain the operation of and continuity of services in local educational agencies and continuing to employ existing staff of the local educational agency.
Professional Educational Services for Goal #5: $9200 (Use case 19)
