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Copyright © 2024 Office of Educator Excellence, All rights reserved.
Michigan Department of Education - Office of Educator Excellence
608 W. Allegan Street, Lansing, MI 48933
(517) 241-5000 | MDE-EducatorHelp@Michigan.gov
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Issue 54 | April 2024
Be sure your email address is up-to-date in the Michigan Online Educator Certification System to receive important notifications regarding YOUR certificate.
Please see the archived newsletters for other important information that affects licensure.
Teacher Appreciation Video Project
Teacher Appreciation Week is May 6-10, 2024. Recognizing Michigan's hardworking and dedicated educators is an important piece of the Michigan Department of Education's (MDE) strategic initiative. For this reason, we will be celebrating Michigan teachers during the entire month of May!
MDE invites parents/guardians to submit 15-30 second videos of their students recognizing and thanking a specific teacher for their impact. Submitted videos will be posted on the Teacher Appreciation Month website and MDE’s YouTube channel. The Office of Educator Excellence (OEE) Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter) social media pages throughout the month of May will be promoting the videos. Check us out: @MIeducator.
Full instructions for submitting videos of appreciation for Michigan teachers are available on the Teacher Appreciation Month website. The deadline to submit a video is April 19, 2024.
Follow OEE on social media using the links above and promote the hashtag #MITeachAppreesh. If you have a child with great things to say about a teacher, don’t hesitate—use the instructions found on our website to submit a video today!
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 Email Address for Educator Workforce Grants
MDE has introduced a new e-mail address for assistance with all educator grant programs. Please direct all questions on the Student Loan Repayment Program Grant, the Grow Your Own School Staff Grant, the 504 EXPLORE Grant, the National Board Certification Grant, and the Mentoring and Induction Grants to the following e-mail address:
MDE-EdWorkforceGrants@Michigan.gov
Future Proud Michigan Educator Military Veterans Grant
MDE is still accepting applications for the Future Proud Michigan Educator Military Veterans grant to offer districts a way to support qualifying veterans in their transition to a career in teaching. The funds from this grant can be used to provide a salary for participating veterans for up to two semesters of student teaching and any additional costs or fees associated with seeking a teaching certificate. This grant targets the goals in Michigan’s Top 10 Strategic Education Plan by focusing on increasing the percentage of adults with post-secondary credentials and the number of certified teachers in areas of shortage.
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Student Loan Repayment Program
initial payments are made to districts in July, for immediate transfer to program participants. Please be patient with us as we process an unprecedented volume of submitted applications. As always, please review the information available on the Student Loan Repayment Program website, including the Frequently Asked Questions site linked there. Watch the website for updates.
Many districts have requested information about a second cohort of applications for the Student Loan Repayment Program. MDE expects an application for the second cohort to open in the fall of 2024. Accordingly, districts and their participants are strongly encouraged to continue the process of approval for the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and, where applicable, income-driven loans or payment programs. MDE recommends that districts and their potential participants also review the new developments in PSLF related to the transition of PSLF servicers starting July 1, 2024, and to plan accordingly for PSLF application delays.
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Student Growth Metrics Available through Public Website
The State School Aid Act requires that MDE make data publicly available on an external website that provides student growth metrics at the district and school level by grade and subject. The development of the site was provided by the MI-EVAAS value-added reporting platform and the public facing website was launched on March 27, 2024.
This release of the EVAAS public site includes scatterplots, a visual representation of growth and achievement results for public schools and districts. These plots reflect the student enrollment included in EVAAS growth reporting in 2023.
Comparison reports are now publicly available that provide growth measures for all districts and schools in Michigan. This information allows for comparison of schools and districts across the state and includes interactive reports for selecting the data of interest.
District and School Value-Added Reports are also available; these reports provide reliable measures of the average academic growth a district or school's students made in each tested grade and subject or course.
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Reminder to Retirees
Do you know a retiree considering returning to the teaching profession? Retired Michigan public school employees can return to work sooner than before without forgoing their pension benefits. Public Act 147 of 2023 modified law to allow public school employees to work in public schools after retiring while keeping their retirement benefits as long as they wait six months or choose to work within the first six months and earn no more than $15,100 in the calendar year. This is a change from the previous straight nine months of separation. Questions specific to retiree employment should be directed to the Office of Retirement Services at 1-800-381-5000, or at the Working After You Retire webpage.
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