How to Use Esser Funds to Address the Unique STEM Needs of Your School

JASON Learning Solutions that align with allowable ESSER Funds usage include but are not limited to:?

• Access to our K-12 Digital Curriculum
• Professional Development
• Early Childhood STEM Program
• Intervention Programming like JASON’s ARGO: Algebra unit
• Homeschool Programs
• Support for Afterschool and Summer Programs?
• Support for Students with Special Needs

How can ESSER Funds be used?

Fortunately, the approved uses of ESSER funds are broad and flexible. JASON Learning has the resources to tailor curricula solutions that will best meet the needs of your unique school district.?

ESSER Funds are designed to address COVID-specific circumstances such as lost instructional time and planning for future long-term closures. These uses are considerably open-ended, which allows for a wide range of customization for schools to make the best use of their funds.?

While ESSER Funds were dispersed to address specific COVID-19 circumstances, its flexible uses provide benefits outside of that allowing us to reference previous acts to help our students. For example, two allowable uses of ESSER Funds are “Any activity authorized by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act ” and “Any activity authorized by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.”?Both of these acts encompass a myriad of solutions that JASON Learning has been able to implement in the past such as creating solutions for Title I, Title IV, and special needs funding. At JASON, we are always thinking outside of the box and creating ways to make STEM education accessible and enjoyable for all students regardless of race, ability, financial circumstance, or geographical location. We believe that STEM can be for every student.

How can ESSER Funds be used to improve STEM at my school?

Even in subdued, pre-pandemic classrooms, STEM courses can be more challenging for students compared to other subject areas. Combined with exceptional stress, inconsistent schedules, and lack of broadband internet access, staying afloat, much less excelling, in STEM courses has been an unforeseeable battle for students, parents, and teachers. ESSER Funds can be used to adapt and strengthen STEM curricula to make remote learning more effective, help make up for lost in-person instruction and help schools prepare for future closings and address other areas of concern that are causing students to fall behind. At JASON Learning, our goal is for our students to feel empowered by STEM, not intimidated by it.?

Click the link below to access our downloadable PDF which explains JASON Learning Solution Alignment to the 20 Allowable Uses of Elementary Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund.?

What are ESSER Funds and how much has been dispersed?

It has been a little over two and a half years since COVID-19 was first declared a pandemic. It has impacted every aspect of our lives and our children’s lives, especially those who are in school. Some students were able to experience school without a pandemic, while others had their first day of school online or were sent home in the spring of March 2020 to not return for the remainder of the semester. While we may have never anticipated the need to be prepared to respond to such a pandemic in our lifetime, The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds are provided to help safely reopen and sustain the same operation of schools and address the impact of COVID- 19 on the Nation’s students (oese.gov, 2022).

Abbreviated as ESSER Funds, they were released in three parts: ESSER I, ESSER II, and the American Rescue Plan (ARP ESSER).?

1. On March 27, 2020, Congress set aside approximately?$13.2 billion?of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act for the ESSER I Fund. The Department awarded these grants to State Educational Agencies (SEAs) to provide Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) with emergency relief funds to address the impact of?COVID-19.
2. On December 27, 2020,?The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations (CRRSA) Act, 2021, was signed into law and provided an additional $54.3 billion for the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER II) Fund. ESSER II Fund awards to SEAs are in the same proportion as each State receiving funds under Part A of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended, in the fiscal year 2020.
3. On March 11, 2021, the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act was signed into law. It was an unprecedented $1.9 trillion package of assistance measures, including?$122 billion?for the ARP Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER) Fund (oese.gov, 2022).

For additional information about the ESSER Funds and how they may be used, take a look at the?ESSER Funds FAQs?from the U.S. Department of Education

Reference:?Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (2022). ESSER I and II – 84.425D ARP ESSER – 84.425U. Oese.gov.