Assessment & Testing Reorganization (Back)

Denver Public Schools

Interdepartmental Communication

To:Principals and Site Assessment Leaders

From:Wayne Eckerling, Assistant Superintendent

Date:September 5, 2002

Subject:Assessment & Testing Department Organization and Communication

Information is provided below about Assessment and Testing Department organization and assessment related communication.

First point of contact

Your first point of contact for assessment - and research-related questions should be the quadrant assessment specialist. He or she will try to answer all inquiries within 24 hours. Generally, phone or e-mail questions are preferred. Use pagers only when necessary.

Northwest

Mary Ann Baca—303-764-6923

303-490-0108 (pager)

Diana Lopez—303-764-6928

303-490-0218 (pager)

NW secretary: 303-764-7888

303-764-9901 (fax)

Southwest

Katherine Adolph—303-764-6931

303-490-3681 (pager)

SW secretary: 303-764-7859

303-764-7866 (fax)

Southeast

Brette Pond—303-764-6947

303-490-0188 (pager)

SE secretary: 303-764-7545

303-764-7878 (fax)

Northeast

Lance Martinez—303-764-6960

303-490-3639 (pager)

NE secretary: 303-764-7966

303-764-7919 (fax)

Central Assessment Specialists

The central assessment specialists and the tests that they manage are listed below. However, your first point of contact should generally be with the quadrant assessment specialist.

Trudy Eret—303-764-3850

CBLA

SRI

CSAP (school administration support)

Norm Alerta—303-764-3269

CSAP (research, and results)

School Accountability Report

Administrative Pay for Performance

Schools Satisfaction Survey

Student Profile Report

Greg Lucero—303-764-3894

ITBS

Aprenda

Colorado ACT

ACT Plan

Riverside Abilities Explorer

Beverly Phillips – 303-764-3657

Raven’s

Special Populations

Grade Level Math Assessment

Rick Machado—303-764-3546

OASIS

John Scruggs—303-764-3721

ABACUSxp Implementation

TABE

Charter and Alternative Schools

The Assessment and Testing Hotline should be used to get immediate assistance if the person your trying to contact is unavailable.

303-764-3736

303-764-3646 (fax)

Test Processing Center

Sherry Ireland (303-715-5660) should be contacted if you have questions about receiving or picking up of scannable and non-scannable test materials, testing lists, answer sheets, hard copy reports, or any other test processing questions.

Executive Director

With the appointment of Beth Celva as interim Principal of East High School, the Department of Assessment & Testing will be supervised directly by Wayne Eckerling. Questions or concerns that would have been addressed to Beth should now be sent to Wayne (e-mail preferred or extension 3802).

cc:Sally Mentor Hay

Area Superintendents

Assistant Area Superintendents

Local Services Plan – Overview (Back)

Medicaid School Health Services Program

Connie Garcia, Director

Susie Nee, Teacher on Special Assignment

State and federal legislation allows school districts to receive partial reimbursement from Medicaid for health and health related services that are provided in the school setting to students that are enrolled in Medicaid. Monthly documentation of health and health related services by audiologists, health technicians, licensed professional counselors, nurses, occupational therapists, orientation and mobility specialists, physical therapists, psychologists, social workers, special educators, and speech language specialists is submitted to Medicaid for partial reimbursement.

Over one million dollars a year is now generated through the Medicaid cost recovery program. These dollars are used to enhance or add health services for all children throughout the Denver Public Schools. A Local Services Plan that is developed with input from parents and the community outlines the anticipated expenditures of the reimbursed dollars on a year-to-year basis. The district has hired additional service providers such as nurses, health techs (paraprofessionals), vision and hearing screeners, psychologists, social workers, OT/PTs, and speech/language specialists through the Medicaid cost recovery process. Each provider group has also been able to enhance their services with additional therapy materials, testing supplies, and equipment. In addition, dollars have been designated under the Local Services Plan to provide partial support to in-district services provided by School Based Health Centers and Arapahoe House. The on-going documentation of health services by school health care providers continues to enhance health services for all children in the Denver Public Schools.

The School Medicaid staff is involved in several care coordination and outreach functions and activities. The School Medicaid staff services include: helping individuals access Medicaid and Medicaid-covered services, staff development, provider relations and program planning/development and interagency coordination.

For students who are already enrolled in Medicaid, the school Medicaid office can assist with accessing and coordinating physical and mental health services, call 303/764-3730.

For student who need low cost health insurance, either Medicaid or Child Health Plan Plus, the school Medicaid office can assist families with the enrollment process, call 303/764-3549.

Local Services Plan – Chart (Back)

Denver Public Schools -- Local Services Plan

Program Year 2002/2003 -- $1,200,000

The DPS Local Services Plan outlines the anticipated expenditures of the Medicaid reimbursed dollars on a year-to-year basis. The Local Services Plan is developed with input from parents, the community, and district health care providers. The following is a summary of how the Medicaid dollars will be spent this year.

Behavioral

Health

Services

Special

Education

Additional hours/staff in schools to meet mandated services as well as provide counseling services (mental health, substance abuse) for individuals, groups, and families / Additional hours/staff in schools to meet mandated services as well as administration of medication, triage, and consult to staff/parents. In addition, extra resources for dental care, vision, immunization, physicals, & pregnant teens. / Additional hours/staff & resources in schools to meet IDEA mandated service requirements.
$300,000 / $500,000 / $400,000
Eligibility
Outreach/Enrollment
Care Coordination / Eligibility
Outreach/Enrollment
Care Coordination / Eligibility
Outreach/Enrollment
Care Coordination
Psychology-staff, testing materials, & staff development / Nursing-staff, materials, & staff development / Audiology- materials
Social Work- staff & staff development / Health Techs- paraprofessionals staff / Orientation and Mobility- materials
Denver School Based Health Centers / Vision/Hearing Technician-staff / Phonic Ear/Westone-equipment & maintenance
Denver Kids-staff development and care coordination / Denver School Based Health Centers / Multilingual Assessment and Services Team (MAST)-staff hours
Arapahoe House-staff hours for drug and alcohol counseling / Teenage Pregnancy Council-care coordination / Health Techs –paraprofessional staff
Respect Curriculum-training & materials / Specialized Transportation-paras & equipment / Physical Therapy-staff
Speech Language-staff
Specialized Transportation- paras & equipment

The monthly documentation of health and health related services by audiologists, health techs, nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapists, orientation and mobility specialists, psychologists, social workers, special education teachers, and speech language specialists continues to enhance and expand health and health related services for students throughout the district. SEPTEMBER 2002

Schoolwide Book Orders Update (Back)

From Curriculum and Instruction-Literacy

Schoolwide Book Orders Update:

There have been many delays in the shipment of the classroom libraries, and we would like to share as much information as we have on the arrival of books.

To date, all secondary schools whose orders were placed with the District’s big order in the spring of last school year have received their books. There are some schools whose orders were not processed until this fall, and the books are currently being packaged and shipped. Schoolwide has estimated that these orders will be packaged and shipped within three weeks.

The elementary schools placed orders with several vendors. The majority of the books ordered from vendors other than Schoolwide have been received. There may be a few outstanding orders from the other companies, in which case, schools should contact Pat Tebben in Purchasing at 303-764-3336.

Elementary schools who ordered English collections from Schoolwide are currently receiving books. There was an e-mail sent out on Monday, September 9, that detailed shipping dates. Just today, Schoolwide informed us that they have set up a website link specifically for the Denver Public Schools. This link will detail all of the ship dates and packing lists for each grade level by core sets, modules and additional variety sets. They are adding to the website on a regular basis and will have information on replacements (substitutions) by Noon on Wednesday. The link is

To our knowledge, Spanish book PO’s have not yet been sent by Schoolwide. As soon as we have an estimated shipping date, we will get that information out via e-mail.

We are quite distressed with the vendor’s inability to meet the specifications of their contract, but at this time, we are focusing on working with the company to make sure that all books ordered are received. We know that this situation has the potential to stall efforts in implementing the literacy program. Some schools have done the following to assist in the roll out:

Check Out Books From:

School’s Media Center

Educational Resource Services

Summer Scholars Resources

Alma Project

Local Public Library

Using Existing Resources From:

Resources Rooms

Guided Reading Sets

Classroom Sets

Some schools have gone through their resource rooms and redesignated books that are more appropriate for independent reading versus guided reading for classroom distribution. If more than 10 copies of a book are available, extra copies have been distributed for classroom use. We do not

recommend dismantling resource rooms, but encourage their full utilization, as we await the arrival of the new books. In addition, teachers have also reviewed books in their classrooms, purchased with school funds, not at the appropriate level for their students, and contributed them with the appropriate grade level.