Monday, September 19, 2016

Update: September 22nd



Greetings!

I’d like to welcome all of you to the new school year. Now that most of you have had a moment to settle down and settle in, I’d like to give you an update on all things related to Advanced Opportunities. Many of you are experiencing significant growth in program participation due to the increased funding. Please know that our support team is available to assist in any way we can.

FY17 Deadlines:
Here are the following deadlines for the upcoming school year.  Submission dates are early than last year based on feedback from the field.
Term
Student Access/ Data Entry Window
Verification/ Data Clean-Up Window
Submission
Fall
Aug 15th
Sep 30th
Oct 1st
Nov 10th
Nov 11th
Spring
Jan 11th
Feb 24th
Feb 25th
May 4th
May 5th
Trimester 1
Aug 15th
Sep 30th
Oct 1st
Nov 10th
Nov 11th
Trimester 2
Nov 9th
Dec 23rd
Dec 24th
May 4th
May 5th
Trimester 3
Feb 1st
Mar 31st
Apr 1st
May 4th
May 5th

Entering “OTHER” Courses:
All naming conventions in the portal must describe the course accurately.  Not doing so may result in denied funding requests by the SDE. If you are entering a College “OTHER” course, please enter it in the portal in the following format: “ENG 101 English Composition”.  This will allow both students and college personnel to identify the course appropriately.

Student Data/Information & Questions:
Do not sent student identifiable information in correspondence with the SDE. Please note that all correspondence with our office is subject to public records requests and may put this information at risk. Please avoid using names or EDU-ID numbers. Instead, we encourage you to please pick up the phone and call our support team.

BYU-Courses:
BYU Independent Study is now in the portal. Please note that these are different from BYU-Idaho or BYU-Utah.  Any courses from BYU-Idaho or BYU-Utah should still be entered as “Other” in the Advanced Opportunities portal.

Sample Documents & Policies:
We are collecting sample documents, letters, learning plans and policies to share with other school districts. These are getting posted to the Advanced Opportunities website and our blog. You can visit our site for ideas, or send in your document if you feel it may be helpful for other schools.

AmeriCorp Volunteers:
The Department of Labor has AmeriCorp vista’s and volunteers available to assist school districts in their efforts with College and Career Readiness Advising. This is a great opportunity for all district across that state to have additional personnel to assist with these efforts at a very low-cost. For more information, please contact Sara Scudder at (208) 334-3705 ext. 3246.

Useful Documents:
Attached, you will find several documents that you may find helpful. This includes the most recent graduation requirements, a GEM framework or courses that should be a focus, and a generic six-year learning plan that you can use to advise students

Thank You for Your Patience:
Due to the extensive growth in Advanced Opportunities and newly hired Career Advisors across the state, our team is experiencing a large volume of inquiries. As a result, you may have noticed that our response time is not as quick as normal. Most inquiries are addressed within 72 hours, however we encourage you to visit our site for information if you do not get a response immediately.  In the “Training” tab at the bottom of the webpage, you will find all the pertinent information about the portal and other program questions.  Additionally, here is a link to the Advanced Opportunities Portal District Manual. We are glad to assist as needed, please be patient with us as we attempt to respond to all questions coming in.

As always, thank you for all that you are doing for Idaho students. We appreciate and support your efforts tremendously.

Warmly,
Tina Polishchuk

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