A Message from Dr. McCormick 5/19/17

Indiana Department of Education
Friday, May 19, 2017

 

Dear Educators:

I spent yesterday in Washington D.C. meeting with our Indiana Congressional delegation. I shared an education update with each of Indiana's House members, and I am grateful to be building relationships with them.

As the school year begins to draw to a close, we appreciate all you do for Indiana's students. 

Sincerely,
Dr. Jennifer McCormick
State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Indiana Department of Education

Dr. Jennifer McCormick

In the News
Indiana Department of Education Celebrates Inaugural Group of Students with Certificate of Multilingual Proficiency

Assessment
Guidance for student retention following participation in IREAD-3 is linked here. Please contact Kelly Connelly with questions regarding IREAD-3. 

The Indiana State Board of Education approved flexibility for the mathematics accountability assessment for grade 9 students enrolled in Algebra I for the 2017-18 school year. Please click this link to view a breakdown of the change. 

General Assembly Updates
The Indiana General Assembly recently passed legislation requiring all school corporations to offer Ethnic Studies and Indiana Studies as a (1) semester elective course in its high school curriculum at least once every school year. For more information on next steps, please see this memo

Four Star Schools
The Department plans to release a second round of Four Star School Awards based on the calculation that was used to determine last year's winners. This adjustment will not change any of the awards announced in the first round on May 12, 2017. The list of Round 1 and Round 2 awardees will be published on May 26, 2017.

This second round of awards was prompted by feedback from the field which raised concerns about the change in award criteria and the significant reduction in the number of schools receiving this honor. The Department is committed to seeking additional feedback from schools in advance of future amendments to the Four Star School calculation process.

Every Student Succeeds Act
Congress recently appropriated funds for programs under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) for FFY 2017 (SY 2017-2018). IDOE anticipates receiving preliminary allocations by the end of May for Title I, Title II, and Title III. While Title IV (new funds) received an allocation, we have not received a timeline for it. We will provide more information about this new grant in the near future. Most programs either are flatlined or have a slight increase with the exception of Title II, which received an overall 13% reduction. The IDOE is collaborating with ED to provide information and allocations to LEAs in a timely manner. Questions may be sent to Nathan Williamson

Bond Rating
Recently S&P removed the intercept program from the watch status. More information is available here

Charter School Assistance
The Indiana Department of Education has recently brought on a new liaison between the DOE and the charter school community. Please view this link to learn more.

Special Education
The Office of Special Education now has a listserv for important information to be shared with Special Education Administrators and anyone else who would like to stay up-to-date. To get the weekly release and other information directly to your email, please register here

Social Media
We invite you to follow us on social media! Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram


Weekly Updates
Miss an update? View previous weekly updates here.

 
 

A message from Dr. McCormick will be sent every Friday.