An Update From the Indiana Department of Education for March 22, 2019

indiana department of education - doctor jennifer mccormick - superintendent of public instruction
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Dr. Mac

Dr. McCormick will be holding two public meetings in April. The presentations will to provide important education updates and take place in Avon and Fort Wayne. Both are free and open to the public. Educators, parents, and school community members are encouraged to attend. The Avon area presentation will be held April 16. The Fort Wayne / Allen County session will be held April 18. A third session will be held in South Bend later this spring.


Office of Assessment

Test Prep and Test Pep

Assessment is a natural part of teaching and learning. Test prep and test pep activities should be carefully considered in accordance with best practice. Watch this three-minute video to learn more!

Updated Speech-to-Text Guidance - Share with Special Education Directors!

IDOE defined updated guidance for schools administering ILEARN assessments to students who require the Speech-to-Text (STT) accommodation. Please contact the Office of Assessment with any questions.

IREAD-3 Results Available

Reporting for IREAD-3 occurs within 24 hours of test submission. Corporation Test Coordinators and other permissioned personnel may access Individual Student Results (ISR) via the Online Reporting System (ORS). ISRs may always be shared with educators, parents, and students. Aggregated reporting (e.g., total percentages of students passing) is embargoed until IDOE releases IREAD-3 calculations this summer.

Office of Innovation

Career and Technical Education Performance Grants

The Indiana General Assembly allocated funds to the Department of Workforce Development for Career and Technical Education (CTE) performance grants. These funds recognize and reward school efforts on targeted CTE performance measures, including the attainment of senior concentrators, dual credits, and industry-recognized certifications. Please refer to the memo and spreadsheet that provide guidance on the use of these funds, and the amount each school will receive. 

Professional Development Opportunity

The Office of Innovation is excited to share a professional development opportunity called “Geometry in Construction.” This four-day session will help prepare career and technical education teachers and their math counterparts to strategically integrate math concepts into construction-related courses. The sessions will be hosted by Garrett-Keyser-Butler Community School District. Additional information can be found here. Please contact Chad Sutton with questions.

2019 History Teacher of the Year

The National History Teacher of the Year Award recognizes exceptional K-12 history teachers around the country. Please click here to nominate a history teacher from your district. The deadline for nominations is March 31. For general inquiries, please contact Sarah Rush, Office of Leadership and Innovation. 

2020 Indiana Teacher of the Year (INTOY)

The 2020 INTOY application is now available. For general inquiries, please contact Sarah Rush, Office of Leadership and Innovation.

Summer of eLearning – Register Now!

Now is the time to make your plans to attend a Summer of eLearning Conference! Summer 2019 will feature 21 conferences across the state. Links to all conferences are available on IDOE's website. These events are a source of quality professional development, hosted by Indiana districts, often in partnership with their neighbors. Sessions will focus on STEM, project-based learning (PBL), and computer science offerings. IDOE encourages teachers and administrators to attend. All conferences are $25 or less a day, and many are free! For more information contact Senior eLearning Strategist Jason Bailey.

2019 District Tech Plan Deadline is April 1

The window to submit your district’s 2019 Tech Plan closes on April 1. This survey is the requirement for all public schools to qualify for the connectivity formula grant, the common school fund, and grants from the Office of eLearning. More information is available here.

Office of Special Education

Fiscal Roadshows Begin April 9

The Office of Special Education is hosting seven training sessions throughout April to explain changes in fiscal policies, forms, and reporting methods prior to the start of the new fiscal year. The free full-day trainings are designed for special education directors and assistant directors, district business officers and treasurers, superintendents, and administrative assistants. The sessions are designed for any local education agency staff involved in fiscal processes for Part B grants, the Special Education Excess Costs Fund, and Medicaid claiming. Five professional growth points will be awarded to those who attend the entire day. Click here for more information and to register. For more information, please contact Tracy Brunner.

 

Office of School Improvement

Updated Guidance on New Dyslexia Law

IDOE has created a crosswalk document to support schools as they plan for the implementation of Senate Enrolled Act 217, or the new dyslexia law. The document has three columns. One column lists the task, a second column for assigning potential leaders who will be responsible for completing the requirements, and a third column for resources that will help schools in making decisions. The far left column is for a check mark when the task is complete. Please note that some schools may encounter additional steps to meet all the requirements. The document is available on IDOE's dyslexia website here under the Dyslexia Resource Tab.

List of Dyslexia Screeners Available

Senate Enrolled Act 217 requires schools universally screen all kindergarten, first, and second grade students annually to identify and predict students who may be “at some risk” or “at risk” for dyslexia. IDOE has released a revised list of universal, Level I, and Level II screeners. All new additions are in red. Please review all documents as there has been several additions and changes to all three lists. The documents can be found here.

Counselor Newsletter Now Available

Take a moment to read the March counselor newsletter. There are articles on professional development opportunities, free webinars, and Title Con. 

High Ability Newsletter Features Professional Development Opportunities

Please enjoy this month’s Aspire Higher, High Ability and Advanced Placement Newsletter. Learn about free tuition reimbursement opportunities, identification details, and more free professional development.

Math Newsletter Features Information on Phase 2 of Framework

In this month’s newsletter, educators will find additional opportunities to contribute to the development of Phase 2 of the Math Framework and professional development opportunities for the new Analytical Algebra II course. Click here to access the newsletter.

New Resources Available for Schools With Underperforming Student Groups

The Office of School Improvement is excited to release this resource guide of supports specifically geared toward schools identified with underperforming student groups (TSI schools). This “playbook” of supports is valuable to every school and addresses the needs of students with special needs, culturally responsive teaching practices, and EL learners. Questions about this resource can be directed to Robin LeClaire.

School Improvement Unveils Its Redesigned Website

The Office of School Improvement has launched a redesigned website to ease accessing resources available for districts and schools. These resources include a series of trainings to help schools and districts conduct comprehensive needs assessments and develop high-quality school improvement plans. Visitors can view recordings of these trainings online. The trainings can be downloaded into incorporate in district or school-based presentations. These resources have been developed with the needs of Comprehensive Support and Improvement and Targeted Support and Improvement schools in mind. The resources are grounded in best practices for continuous school improvement applicable for all schools.

 

Office of Information Technology

IDOE to Decommission Learning Connection Communities by January 1, 2020

This spring, IDOE will begin decommissioning the Learning Connection’s Communities feature. This change is a result of the retooling of IT systems now underway through the Link Initiative. The sunsetting of the Learning Connection Communities will occur in phases.

  • Beginning  July 1, users will no longer be able to access IDOE sponsored communities. 

  • Beginning January 1, 2020, all other user-created communities and content within them will be removed, and all community features in the Learning Connection will become permanently unavailable.

Please note, IDOE will not be offering the migration of any data or files stored in communities. Any data created or managed by users of the Learning Connection using the tools and features mentioned above will become permanently unavailable. Users who wish to retain their content connected to these services will need to collect the content and store it in another location. 

Finally, IDOE will be replacing some of the communities it sponsors in the Learning Connection with commonly available collaboration options. These replacements and details about how to participate in them will be shared with the current membership of the existing communities.

IDOE will be sending out additional communication about the retirement or transition of the following Learning Connection features when the plans for fully developed and timelines known:

  • ISTAR-KR

  • Student Data Reports

  • Access to Indiana IEP (Please note, the only plans being developed with regard to the Indiana IEP system involve how educators will access this functionality. The retirement of the Learning Connection will not change the functionality of the Indiana IEP system.)

Questions should be directed to James Rodman, Senior Project Manager for Information Technology.

Office of Title Grants and Support

Nonpublic Consultation for 2019-2020 School Year

Federal program administrators are encouraged to begin the consultation process with nonpublic schools to prepare for the 2019-2020 school year. The recently updated Ombudsman page has the consultation forms that LEAs should send to their associated nonpublic schools to consult for next year and evaluate current year’s programming. Although allocations for 2019-2020 are not yet available, LEAs can use current year figures to guide these discussions.

Draft Updated Equitable Services Guidance for Title I

The U.S. Department of Education has released a draft document, titled Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as Amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act: Providing Equitable Services to Eligible Private School Children, Teachers and Families – Updated Non-Regulatory Guidance, for stakeholder review and comment. This document consolidates and updates information previously included in multiple documents. The information is intended to support state educational agencies (SEAs), local educational agencies (LEAs), and private school officials in the implementation of equitable services requirements under Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act. Although still in draft form, LEAs might find this guidance helpful when consulting with nonpublic schools for the 2019-2020 school year.

School Improvement Grant Funding

Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) schools that participated in the planning grant were offered the opportunity to receive implementation funding. All CSI schools who submitted planning grants were individually notified of this opportunity. Questions regarding this funding can be sent to your assigned federal grants specialist, which can be found here.

 

Office of Finance

2019 Summer School

The window to submit the Estimated Instructional Costs Report and List of Courses for Summer School 2019 is open. The Estimated Instructional Costs Report and List of Courses are required to be submitted on or before Monday, April 1. The Estimated Instructional Costs Report and List of Courses and the Final Costs Report (available July 29 - September 13, 2019) are required to be submitted by the posted deadlines in order to receive a payment for reimbursement of summer school costs.

This is the link to submit the Estimated Instructional Costs Report and List of Courses. Corporation administrators and school administrators may use their DOE Online credentials to login to the report. Detailed information about how to complete the report is included in 2019 Summer School 101. This link to the reports and additional information about the Summer School Program is posted here, and in the Finance Community on the Learning Connection under Files and Bookmarks > Summer School.

Estimate Formula Components

School officials have the opportunity to review and/or update Legislative Service Agency (LSA) estimates of FY 2020 and FY 2021 funding formula data. IDOE has posted a memo in the Finance Community of the Learning Connection providing an overview of the data. ADM estimates should be updated before April 1, while other variable estimates can be updated through April 3. The estimates can be found in the School Finance Application Center (State Aid) under Corporation Information > Estimate Formula Components at this link.        

If you believe the LSA data projections are not representative of data for your school corporation, please input the appropriate estimate for both FY 2020 and FY 2021 projections. IDOE will forward a file containing all the estimated components to LSA on or before April 10.

For questions concerning access to State Aid, please contact Melissa Ambre. If you have questions regarding the data, please email David Lusan, Legislative Services Agency, or call him at 317-232-9592.

Office of School Transportation

Nominate a Deserving Transportation Employee for Statewide Recognition

The Indiana School Transportation Association is seeking nominations for outstanding school district transportation employees. A number of awards will be presented at the Association's June annual meeting. Nominations are due May 25, and information is available here.

 

IDOE in the News

2019 Digital Learning Grants

IDOE has announced recipients of 2019 Digital Learning Grants. Learn more here.

 

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