BVSD is proud to announce that the annual Corden Pharma Science Fair will be held February 22, 2021 in an online, virtual format due to COVID-19, and judges are needed! This annual event invites middle and high school student researchers from across the district to showcase their extraordinary research projects and compete for prizes and a place in the Colorado State and International Science Fairs.

This year’s Science Fair judges will be using a software program to conduct project judging, and judges will interview students and evaluate them based on established project criteria. In terms of time commitment, the fair will take place between 8a and 4pm on February 22, 2021, and judges can choose among evaluating high school (Senior level) projects or middle school (Junior level) projects or even both. Judges usually evaluate about 3-5 projects within their area of expertise or interest and as part of a judging team. 

The Corden Pharma Science Fair stands out as a meaningful and rich opportunity for students to engage in all aspects of research, including data collection and analysis, as well as presentation of that research in various formats, including visualizations and video. Impact on Education is excited to support BVSD in reaching out to our community science experts and advocates to share their passion for science with our future leaders. Judges make this event possible!

Feel free to check out the Science Fair website for additional information, and if you would like to register, please complete the form here. You may also contact the Science Fair Coordinator, Kristin Donley kristin.donley@bvsd.org to help answer any questions you may have.

Yes, the Impact on Education Student Advisory Board is back in session, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome our largest SAB team ever! This year’s group comprises 16 BVSD students, passionate about “talking school” and eager to use their experiences and observations to make positive changes within both their schools and the school district in general. 

Excited for what’s to come

As we heard last night during our first meeting of the year, students are excited to “improve the educational system regarding inequality and inequity,” as one student put it, along with making the most of this great opportunity to “be a platform for minority students at Boulder High School,” as another responded to why she joined SAB. Other reasons for joining range from personal experiences with physically disabled students and wanting to expand those moments for other students to desires to make their schools that much more effective for their younger siblings. One student even boldly stated, “I want to have uncomfortable conversations because uncomfortable conversations are the most important ones to have.” Well, here we go!

For the first time since we started this program, the SAB members represent all four grade levels from freshman to senior, five of the BVSD high schools, and communities truly spanning the district from Nederland to Erie to Superior.  As we gather monthly, we will hear from students whose concerns range from the lack of equity in student opportunity and access to the addressing of sexual assault to classism to prioritizing a voice for underrepresented student groups, such as special education students and LGBTQ students. And we will see these student activists collaborate with each other and with us to drive their own efforts and to support BVSD in their striving to improve. 

A few needed changes

Changes made to the program this year include all remote meetings and a new leadership opportunity involving interviews with community leaders. We can’t wait to see how these students run with what we have planned and what they bring to the table! 

Welcome 2020-2021 Impact on Education Student Advisory Board!

It’s full steam ahead, with public health protocols in place, including masks and social distancing, for BVSD Reintroduction.

Based on last night’s special Board of Education meeting, by the end of October, all BVSD students will have the opportunity to attend school in-person at least one day a week or continue learning remotely. And although the place of learning may be different for each student, we’re continuing and even strengthening our partnership with Boulder Valley schools with supplemental funding with our Student Academic Support Fund.

Two months into the 2020-2021 school year and BVSD PK-2 students are now able to attend in-person, and just announced last night, grades 3-5, 6th, and 9th now have the opportunity to return in-person October 20th, with 7th-8th and 10th-12th having the option to return in-person October 27th. Elementary students will be able to attend four days a week with middle school students attending two days a week and high school students attending one day a week.

Families can also choose to continue remote learning and/or change their current in-person learning preference from in-person to remote/at-home or vice versa by logging in to their Infinite Campus account and making that change by October 13. Instructions for changing learning preferences can be found here, and it’s incredibly important that each student make the decision best for their own family. 

Just as BVSD students are finding their own groove in learning and either building on or starting new routines, starting this week, we are piloting a new funding opportunity for schools.

Student Academic Support Fund

School leadership can apply for funding every two weeks with decisions made four days after each application cycle ends. Specific student academic needs that can be addressed include tutoring, supplies, music instrument fees and repairs, class fees, software licenses and more. Volunteer community readers review the anonymous applications and make their recommendations to staff each cycle. We’re proud to be able to continue to provide supplemental funding to individual schools for individual and class student academic needs, whether students are learning within the school buildings or remotely. Even if the place where students learn changes, the needs are still there and likely will grow.

If the pandemic didn’t throw you for a loop last week, the snow definitely did. Snow in September? Really, 2020? Just as we were beginning to think we’ve seen it all this year. 

Things might feel upside down, but one thing is clear – whatever craziness comes our way, we’ll be here for the students in our community. We might be scratching our heads along the way, just like the rest of you, but we won’t skip a beat in ensuring our students’ needs are met.  

If we’ve learned anything, it’s that this is an evolving year. Our funding priorities and the ways we support students have had to shift and will continue to adjust to respond to the changing nature of school operations. We recognize that nothing is certain right now, and we are committed to making sure that our work at IoE continues to shift accordingly. 

That’s why we’re continuing to focus our efforts on meeting critical needs this year. Our Critical Needs Fund, established in March, will remain our primary focus this school year. We are committed to ensuring the following:

Connectivity

Pre-COVID, we knew that we had a digital divide in our community among those who had internet access at home and those who didn’t. Since the pandemic forced school buildings to close and a shift to remote learning, this divide has become a primary focus. Virtual learning requires steady, reliable internet access and computers. We are proud to say that, in partnership with BVSD IT, Impact on Education is ensuring that every student in BVSD has a computer and reliable home internet.  If you are a family in need of internet assistance, go to BVSD IT, reach out to the BVSD Help Desk or call 720-561-4357.

Food Security

Many students rely on school for breakfast, lunch, and weekend nutrition. That’s why, with our partners at BVSD Food Services, we’re ensuring that students and their families receive nutritious food while out of school. Hungry stomachs can’t learn, and we don’t expect them to.

Food is distributed every Monday from 9-11 A.M and 4-6 P.M at seven school locations across the District. For more info, check out the BVSD School Food Project website.

Student Academic Support

In order to adapt and respond to extraordinary student needs and circumstances and based on feedback from BVSD principals, we’re replacing our Opportunity Fund with a Student Academic Support Fund this year. We know that schools will learn about specific student needs as the year progresses, so we have created a new way to offer academic support on a rolling basis to those students facing financial hardship. We anticipate supporting students by covering the costs for class or elective fees, providing academic tutoring, and purchasing supplemental equipment, technology, or support. We are rolling this out on a pilot basis through December, when we will evaluate and make any program tweaks needed to continue meeting these needs in the spring of 2021. Requests must come from school principals or principal assistants, so students facing financial hardship should reach out to their school administration to request assistance. 

Student Engagement

In these trying times, we are also focusing our efforts on ensuring that students don’t fall behind and that they stay engaged in their classes. We committed to providing 5,000 hours of additional instructional time to support learners who may be falling behind. And we are working in partnership with Community Schools and BVSD’s student engagement team to be sure that every student stays engaged in their work this year. 

Additional Resources

While we are proud of the ways we are able to assist students and support our local schools, we know that students and families often have needs that stretch far beyond what the schools or our Foundation can do to assist. Fortunately, there are great resources available for those in need in our community. Whether you need resources yourself or you are trying to learn about resources available to help others, this list assembled by Ema Lyman, one of our fantastic Board members, offers comprehensive resources for those in need of housing assistance, employment services, transportation resources, medical assistance, crisis support, food, clothing and countless other emergency needs.    

Working together, we know that we will get through this pandemic. Current students are our future leaders, and their lives are being shaped by our community’s response to this crisis. With the support of an incredible community of donors and supporters, we are able to support these students in big and small ways each and every day. We hope that our collective efforts will inspire a new generation of problem solvers and creative thinkers who will lead us all to a brighter future. 

This week, rather than looking ahead to the cool classes and projects their students will be engaging and tackling this semester, many families are navigating the immediate challenge of internet access. Some families still need to acquire internet service or need help paying for it while others may not have adequate bandwidth to handle all of the video calls and online course curriculum required.

With that reality in mind, we are sharing information about how families can get internet access as well as some tips for maximizing your current service.

It will be nice once all students can simply focus on their learning instead of the internet service connecting them to school, but it is important to know that Impact on Education is committed to ensuring that all students have reliable internet access so that they can continue to learn even when that learning can’t happen in person.

Before changing providers or making other changes, consider these tips:

Going backward to go forward

It may seem counterintuitive to return to using ethernet to connect to the internet, but experts say ethernet is not only faster but also more reliable with no walls or distance to overcome. One way to put this idea into use is to plug an ethernet cable into your computer. Or, you can have one device in the house that typically uses Wifi use ethernet to free up the Wifi.

Location, location, location

All the sources on this topic claim that router location is the most important factor in Wifi reliability and capacity: The consensus place to put your router is high up, with fewer walls and appliances/furniture to go through, and close to the modem. Close to the ground, inside a closet, in the basement, under a desk are all places that inhibit the speed and reliability of something students and families will depend on more than ever this year! So, choose your router’s location carefully.

Time for an upgrade

If you’ve tried the above expert tips, and your internet is still sluggish, it may be time for an upgrade of either or both your router or your internet. The standard Wifi router that comes with your service that you may even be renting is likely not the most up to date, and upgrading it by purchasing a better one typically results in a faster speed.  That being said, a call to your provider, especially if you’ve had the same one for a while, about their latest speed options may result in a quick upgrade.

Still not connecting?

Families in financial need have a variety of options to receive free internet access. If you need assistance with this process or if you’ve tried the above and still aren’t able to log in, reach out to the BVSD Help Desk at it@bvsd.org or 720-561-4357, and they can offer additional assistance.

It’s almost the 2020-2021 School Year, and we’re gearing up to support BVSD students during what is sure to be the most challenging year any of us could imagine! 

As you’ve likely heard, BVSD now plans to begin in Phase One with all students learning remotely from their homes. We are continuing our partnership with BVSD Food Services to distribute emergency food twice a week throughout the district to ensure students have the nourishment they’ll need to learn. And we provided nearly 6,000 backpacks filled with school supplies through our Crayons to Calculators program earlier this week. Each student received necessary school supplies for their grade level, and we added supplies this year to facilitate students learning during a pandemic, such as headphones with microphones, hand sanitizer and cloth masks.

Looking ahead

On top of food and school supplies, Impact on Education plans to support student learning by providing every student in need with computers and home internet. We are also partnering with BVSD student advocates to encourage and motivate more student engagement and achievement at every grade level. Additionally, we are committed to supporting students when they have trouble. A robust plan for supplemental instruction is in the works that may include everything from online assessments, to virtual tutoring, to providing supplemental learning resources. 

We couldn’t do this work without a supportive community that understands the needs our students face. Thank you to everyone who has supported our efforts. If you are in a position to give, please consider supporting our students this year.

Last Thursday, we held our first-ever virtual event: Together We Bloom. Thanks to our staff, a dedicated committee, and some great volunteers, we were able to execute an exciting virtual celebration. Although we couldn’t be in person, it truly felt like the community came together that night, and we’re so grateful to everyone who joined us.

Thanks to you, we were able to raise nearly $240,000 in support of BVSD students!

We were inspired to see the community unite in such a huge way, sharing our commitment to ensuring that as this new school year unfolds, every student is fully equipped and prepared to learn, whether in school buildings or from home.

That community support extended into the event itself. All of our musical performances and demonstrations for the evening had a connection to the community. Whether alum, parents, or residents, each is proud to support BVSD, and this support expanded across our silent auction items—each donated by members of the community, supporting local businesses. It was motivating to see everyone come together in a meaningful way.

Highlights from the evening

From Face Vocal Band and Hazel Miller, to Ultalowfi and Gasoline Lollipops, we heard from many attendees that they just might have found a new favorite band. And we can’t forget, Colorado Springs-grown OneRepublic closing out the night! 

Along the way we had a delicious pasta demo and even a tasty drink demo you could follow along with at home if you had purchased the mixology add-on package. Executive Director Allison Billings and our amazing emcee, John Tayer, President and CEO of the Boulder Chamber, shared a bit about what we’ve been up to at IoE and why our work is more crucial now than ever. We shared a video to further clarify how the COVID crisis has affected our community specifically and the action IoE has taken to help alleviate the burden on our most impacted families.

Your contribution to our work is what makes it all possible. Whether donating, spreading the word to friends and family, or just taking the time to learn more about us, we can’t thank you enough for your support. As the event theme, Together We Bloom, suggests–when we work together and support one another, our community emerges even stronger! Although this school year will be unlike any other we’ve seen, we’ll get through it together.

On Tuesday, July 22, the community heard BVSD’s recommendations to begin the 2020-2021 BVSD school year a week later than originally planned and in Phase 3. What does this mean for families and for schools and educators/staff? That’s a complicated question with an even more complex answer.

Delaying the start date to allow for buildings and staff to meet health and safety protocols and for teachers to receive more professional development around effective online instruction means students will return to school on Wednesday, August 26th. Whether that start will take place at home or in their school building will depend on their group and the choice of parents: According to the BVSD Reintroduction Plan, Phase 3 involves grades divided into two groups to create lesser student-to-student exposure and lower teacher:student classroom ratios, with each group learning in-person two consecutive days a week, followed by two days of home, online learning. Mondays will be dedicated to teacher planning with students working on home assignments. 

Many families are wondering whether this hybrid plan is the only available option. It’s not. Parents may also choose from one of two online options: They may enroll their child in BVSD’s K-18 online school, Boulder Universal, or they may select an entire at-home learning format and still keep their child enrolled in the home school. If this latter option is chosen, parents are asked to make that choice through their IC (Infinite Campus) account by today, Friday, July 24, to help with predicting staffing.

The Reintroduction FAQ’s Page on the BVSD website elaborates on parent options along with addressing other such concerns as childcare–which will be offered M-F for families who need care for their K-5 or K-8 children five days a week–and the health and safety protocols that will be implemented, such as required mask wearing of all students and staff under most conditions. 

We know that no one wants to be in this position of balancing safety with in-person learning and that everyone wants what is best for their children and all students in our community. Phase 3 is a hybrid approach that exceeds the safety standards produced by health officials and state guidance. Yet it may still not make all families feel safe. It may also need to change based on health conditions in our community, but we appreciate that BVSD worked so hard to offer an in-person option as well as options for remote learning.

So the 2020-2021 school year may begin with some uncertainty yet also something positive: As we have since 1983, Impact on Education will continue to respond to evolving needs of students and schools, and we will mobilize our funds and our resources to support the students in our community however and wherever we can.

Dyslexia is a neurobiological learning disability characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often not in relation to other cognitive abilities; however, many students are mistakenly told they just need to work harder or get more general help (International Dyslexia Association, 2002). 

This scenario mirrors that of Kate Snedeker, a former BVSD student who couldn’t keep up the pace of curriculum in elementary school when reading became more the focus, and teacher conferences and report cards led to demoralization, despite understanding the material. 

One family’s perspective

When she was in sixth grade, her mother, Kristen, learned about dyslexia and saw some similarities in Kate’s experience; the diagnosis of “debilitating dyslexia” should have led to relief but instead emphasized how the lack of early intervention had now created a situation of playing catch up using time-consuming compensating strategies and 504 accommodations. 

Driven to prevent as much as possible the same situation for any other BVSD student, Kristen approached Impact on Education in 2019 with the idea of partnering to support students with dyslexia using early detection and intervention. Together with BVKID (Boulder Valley Kids Identified with Dyslexia) and BVSD, we concluded that the most effective way to address the need to help these students focused on teacher training in the Orton-Gillingham approach, a multisensory, explicit, sequential and diagnostic method of teaching literacy to dyslexic students.  We just needed funding.

So, Impact on Education created the Literacy Fund in late 2019, and with the help of the Boulder Valley community, we raised $50,000 to provide summer Orton-Gillingham training for 41 BVSD teachers and reading interventionists, enough to guarantee that every single school in BVSD can identify and support students with dyslexia, and no child should have to be told to just work harder, as Kate was told.

Taking place this week, the Zoom training mirrors the in-person training in its introduction of a concept via main meeting, demonstration of the concept, breaking of participants into small break-out groups, and interactive chat sessions. And with the distribution of all the materials, interventionists and teachers can use this approach with students as soon as the first week of school! 

Advocating for others

Now an advocate for younger students with dyslexia and college senior exploring a career in social justice, Kate is “happy to know that [my] own challenges helped to inspire a program at BVSD that may make lifelong differences in the lives of other students.” And this all started because Kristen, whose brother Blake Peterson served as a Board member, realized that our mission in working to overcome or eliminate barriers to success for all students might make this a program we would embrace. 

Kristen was right! Impact on Education exists to address critical needs and achievement gaps for all students in Boulder Valley’s public schools. With the Orton-Gillingham training that we are offering this week, we are proudly making big strides towards addressing the specific needs and overcoming the learning gaps for every BVSD student, including those with dyslexia. As the BVSD Director of Reading, Michelle Qazi shares, “Not only will learning the Orton-Gillingham approach help crack the code for those who have gaps in learning to read, but it is great teaching for all students at the universal level.” 

To our committed community, 

A few days ago, our Board of Directors gathered for the first time since May 21. In addition to the routine items on our agenda, we prioritized making space for a frank conversation about the role of equity and race within Impact on Education. We believe strongly that Black Lives Matter and are committed to making change through equity in public education.

The mission of our organization is to support students in Boulder Valley public schools with supplemental funding and resources in order to address critical needs and achievement gaps. But let us be clear: the fact that our mission aligns with goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion does not mean we believe that we’re already doing the best we can. In fact, because we’re committed to leveling the playing field of public education in our community, we hold ourselves to a higher standard and acknowledge that we have not yet done enough to provide equal opportunity for all students. 

Boulder Valley School District has one of the largest and most persistent achievement gaps in the nation. To address this, in 2019 BVSD released their 5-year strategic plan, All Together for All Students, in which they make clear 3 goals: 

• Reduce disparities in achievement, 
• Ensure all students receive a relevant and challenging education, and 
• Prepare every student for success after graduation. 

As the foundation for the district, we’re proud to play an active role in working towards these goals. We’re also here to hold them accountable. 

Our staff and Board members committed to closely examine every aspect of our programs, strategies, and partnerships through the lens of equity and inclusion. We’ll ask ourselves the difficult questions, maintaining an ongoing inquiry as to how we can better support our students of color and educate our white students on the systems they may find invisible. 

We’re committed to giving this work the time it deserves. We’ll provide updates on our progress, and we welcome questions or feedback on how we can do better. We truly value your input and your partnership.

Thank you for your ongoing support. 

With gratitude,
Allison Billings, Executive Director

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