September 2022 MICIP Continuous Communication

In this issue of MICIP Continuous Communication

The MICIP Team is excited for the 2022-23 school year!

As staff returns, make sure that new staff—or staff with new roles—are up-to-date with the latest Continuous Improvement information:

1. Share this link to subscribe for Continuous Communication
2. Get started with Professional Learning Bites
3. View the resources available on the MICIP web page
4. Share previous issues of MICIP Continuous Communication

This issue of Continuous Communication includes an important notice about user accounts, information for new MICIP users, an opportunity to join the MICIP User Group, platform updates, information about the Fall Continuous Improvement Conference, and more!

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Important Notice

Maintaining an accurate roster of MICIP district administrators and users is important to maintaining a strong cybersecurity. MDE MICIP team regularly monitors district MICIP administrator inactivity in accordance with state cybersecurity protocols and policies.

Starting at the end of August, MICIP administrators, who have gone 335 days or more without logging into MICIP, will receive a deactivation notice. In addition to notifying the administrator who has gone 335 days since logging into their account, an email will also be sent to active MICIP administrators in the same district. The inactive MICIP administrator has 30 working days to avoid deactivation by simply logging into MICIP using their district’s credentials.

Please note that a district maintains its district user access and MDE only manages the district administrators.

If you have questions, please contact Renie Araoz (araozr@michigan.gov).

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So You Are New to MICIP

If your responsibilities for the new school year include formal work in continuous improvement—especially if this is new work for you—or if you are just checking it out, you might find yourself feeling overwhelmed. While we cannot guarantee that doing the following will eliminate that feeling, we do hope that the suggestions below give you a place to start.

• Visit the MICIP website – gov/mde-micip. The website contains many resources.
• If you are new, you might consider starting with the following:
  • 2021 MICIP Collaboration Series and the 2022 MICIP Collaboration Series - a four-part series that walks participants through the MICIP process and platform.
  • MICIP Professional Learning Bites - one-page descriptions of the various MICIP processes/components
  • MICIP Toolkits under MDE Resources, Guides, and Tools
• MICIP Newsletter – this bi-weekly newsletter is where you will find the most up-to-date information regarding MICIP. You can sign up for the MICIP Newsletter
• Once you have a good sense of MICIP, you might want to start digging into the MICIP Process Guide and the Monitor and Adjust Guide that helps you understand the thinking behind the various MICIP processes and the platform. We are currently updating these Guides as well, including making the Monitor and Adjust Guide a part of the larger Guide.
• Training site – the MICIP training site allows you to mimic working in the actual platform. That site can be accessed as follows:
  • Website – Training.MICIP.org
  • UserName – Demo@micip.org
  • Password (case sensitive) – WelcomeToMICIP!
  • Training Manual – logging in is different from logging into your district site. Please review the logging in information in the training manual.

We also invite you to take advantage of personal support. You can always contact:

• MICIP Help desk: MICIP mailbox 
• Terry Nugent, MICIP Lead
• Ben Boerkoel, MICIP Lead for Professional Learning

We will do everything we can to ensure that your MICIP experience is a positive one.

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MICIP User Group

Welcome to another school year and another year of continuous improvement. Among the various resources and supports available to MICIP users is the MICIP User Group. 

In contrast to more traditional professional learning or a webinar with a focused presentation, the MICIP User Group focuses on building a shared learning community.

The purpose of the group is to create a statewide community of shared learning where participants can learn with and from each other through sharing ideas and resources.

Many who participated last year found it to be very helpful.

The group will again be meeting virtually from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. on the first Monday of the month, with a couple of exceptions.

For the rest of 2022, this means October 3, November 7, and December 5.

Meetings typically consist of a brief introduction or short presentation followed by dividing into breakout groups by role (school/district and ISD/ESA) or mixed groups and a short report-out to end the meeting. Topics are suggested by participants; participants are also invited to share success stories. The opportunity to share successes and challenges in a safe environment was cited as being among the most helpful features by last year’s participants.

Although there is some advantage to participating on a regular basis, you may attend as you are able.

Past participants indicated a desire to have scheduling links sent to their calendars. To enable us to do that, we are asking you to complete the brief survey at this link.

Since there is turnover in the field from year-to-year, we are asking everyone wishing to participate to complete the survey even if you participated last year. There are also a couple of questions regarding topics you would like to see the group discuss or success stories from your school, district, or ISD that you would be willing to share, also a highlight for past participants.

We will use the information to send out the meeting requests the third week of September.

• This is the zoom meeting link for the next three months.
• All group meetings are recorded and placed on a dashboard. You can check out last year’s dashboard at this link.

We hope you will consider joining us.

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MDE Fall 2022 Continuous Improvement Conference

Time is getting short to register for the MDE Fall 2022 Continuous Improvement Conference on Tuesday, October 18 at the Lansing Center. The theme is:

Continuous Improvement: Providing Connectedness, Safety, and a Sense of Belonging in Today’s World.

The conference will feature a virtual keynote presentation by Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond, Professor of Education Emeritus at Stanford University, as well as a virtual featured presentation by Shane Safir and Dr. Jamila Dugan, authors of the popular book, Street Data. Attendees will hear in-person presentations from State Superintendent Dr. Michael F. Rice and the MICIP team and will also have an opportunity to participate in two series of breakout sessions.

Topics include EWIMS/MTSS, Social Emotional Learning, Disciplinary Literacy, Summer Learning, Assessment, Student Voice, Equity, and others. Continuous improvement-focused sessions will include

• MICIP 101
• How to Address Systems Through MICIP
• What Does Continuous Improvement Look Like in MICIP, a District Perspective.

All conference sessions will be recorded and will be available for ninety days following the conference for in-person attendees. There is also an option to register only for access to the conference recordings.

The conference schedule and registration information can be found at MDE Fall 2022 Continuous Improvement Conference | Michigan Association of Superintendents & Administrators (gomasa.org)

The process for MDE employees wishing to register for the conference is slightly different than in past years. Rather than simply submitting your name to your manager, you must submit the form at this link: MDE Employee CI Conference Registration. Please read the information at the top of the form prior to submission. More information is available from your office director. Contact Diane Dick at ddick@gomasa.org with questions about the form.

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MICIP Platform Release 2.3

On August 25, MICIP release new enhancements and fixes. These updates are based on users' survey feedback and service desk tickets.

Features

• A new email notification system
  • Users who have ownership of strategies and activities will receive notifications if a due date is drawing near
  • Impersonation notice to the person who is being impersonated indicating who is impersonating them.
• Inactive user notification for all MICIP administrators who have not logged into MICIP for 335 days or more.
• Interim & end target measures are in order of due dates
• Ability to add evidence to Impact Note on Monitoring Goal Page

Fixes

• User received a server error when changing interim & end target measures
• When comparing MiSchoolData reports, report views did not default to trend

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Website Update

Keeping to our commitment to maintaining a current and useful website, the MICIP website is going through revisions.

These updates include:

• link to Promising Practice Exchange
• new one-page overview of MICIP
• updated Process, Platform and Training guides
• new Professional Learning bites

These changes will be occurring over time. Please check the website for the updated and/or new information and resources.

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Q and A

Q: At the school level, do we need to submit our Continuous Improvement Plan somewhere, or just the district level plan? The memo dated 5/26/22 mentions making sure school level plans are made available to MDE by September 1.

A: As long as your school is tagged to a goal/strategy in the district plan in the MICIP platform, you meet the letter of the law to make it available to MDE.

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Please share Continuous Communication

Please feel free to forward Continuous Communication to anyone you feel would like to receive information and updates about MICIP. To subscribe or unsubscribe, please click on this link.

Previous issues of MICIP Continuous Communication are available on the MICIP web page.

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Feedback is Essential for Continuous Communication!

Have a question, an idea, a suggestion, or a compliment? The MICIP team is always eager to hear your feedback! Send us an email using the MICIP email address (mde-micip@michigan.gov).