Venus ISD Awarded Grand Funding Through Raising Blended Learners Initiative

​– Venus ISD to receive up to $300,000 and technical support provided by the Raise Your Hand Texas Foundation –
 
Venus Independent School District is among the 20 school districts selected as blended learning demonstration sites in the second cohort of Raising Blended Learners (RBL). Venus ISD will receive up to $300,000 in grant funding plus additional in-kind technical assistance to implement a personalized learning program within their district.
 
The 2020 cohort of blended learning demonstration sites reflect the vast diversity within Texas’ public schools including suburban, rural, and urban districts with student populations ranging from 550 to more than 150,000 students. Venus ISD is proud of our administrative team’s hard work in designing a blended learning plan that will be of immense benefit to our students.  Venus ISD alumnus and current Venus ISD Instructional Technology Coordinator and RBL Project Leader, Warren Hudson adds,” Venus ISD has an unwavering commitment to doing what is best for our students, and the resources provided by the Raise Your Hand Texas Foundation will help us take that commitment to the next level; I’m truly excited for our teachers and students.” 
 
Superintendent James Hopper stated, “The Venus ISD Board of Trustees is singularly focused on student growth and development, and has backed that up numerous times with commitment to action. Because of this commitment, our Blended Learning Team (BLT) of Ann-Marie Morgan, Warren Hudson, Karen Woodworth, Kim Buck, Victoria Fudge and Daniel Domain took on the planning of this initiative as a moral imperative, regardless of the outcome of the grant process.”
 
Blended learning merges best practices of in-person classroom teaching with online technology so educators are able to utilize data to personalize instruction while students are able to gain more ownership over their learning.
 
With the RBL Grant, Venus ISD is committed to helping teachers close gaps in student learning and to the promotion of student growth by focusing on student-centered, data-driven instruction that involves whole-group, small-group, and independent, personalized work, along with a variety of tools and resources.  “Our pilot focuses on leveraging blended learning to increase reading levels for all students in grades six through nine,” says Director of Curriculum, Dr. Ann-Marie Morgan. Venus ISD will leverage additional funding and support to increase student reading skills by incorporating the station rotation model of blended learning.  Doing so will ensure that each student receives greater personalized attention from their teacher, and receives instruction focused on their unique needs.
 
Raising Blended Learners was originally scheduled to launch work with its second cohort during the 2020-21 school year. However, due to the challenging times caused by COVID-19, the program will begin implementation during the 2021-22 school year. 
 
“The Raise Your Hand Texas Foundation recognizes this announcement comes at a challenging time for education across the state,” said Jennifer Jendrzey, vice president of strategy and evaluation of the Raise Your Hand Texas Foundation. “In light of the trauma and chaos surrounding COVID-19, we know that ‘business as usual’ will not be possible for many districts as they head into the 2020-21 school year and therefore, made the difficult decision to delay the launch of Raising Blended Learners by one full calendar year.”
 
During the interim, the Foundation will support the second cohort of Raising Blended Learners demonstration sites with readiness support to help the districts revisit and revise, if necessary, their blended learning plans.
 
“Even with a delay, Raise Your Hand is committed to helping districts maintain the momentum generated through the past year of the application and planning process, and supporting them in addressing the new teaching and learning reality of COVID-19,” Jendrzey said.