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IN THIS EDITION |
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ACTION ITEMS |
The last call for this school year is Wednesday, May 18, 9:30-10:30 a.m. Superintendents and charter school directors are invited to participate in the monthly audio conference call hosted by Commissioner Brenda Cassellius. A notice providing dial-in instructions will be sent to you on Monday.
The conference call dates for the 2016-17 school year are scheduled for the 3rd Wednesday of each month, with two exceptions noted. All calls are held 9:30 – 10:30 a.m.
*Thurs., September 22
Wed., October 19
Wed., November 16
*Wed., December 14
Wed., January 18
Wed., February 15
Wed., March 15
Wed., April 19
Wed., May 17
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Summer is upon us, and with it the end of formal school time for many children. Leaving behind a structured learning environment often results in summer learning loss. Instead of progressing in their reading and mathematics skills, students may flatline or slip in their abilities. Low-income children are especially susceptible to loss, since they often go home to text-free environments.
To combat this trend, the department is teaming up with MetaMetrics again this year to provide opportunities for summer reading and mathematics learning. The Find A Book Program and the Summer Math Challenge engage families and students in summer learning. Find out more about summer learning opportunities, including promotional materials you can use to promote these programs at your school, on the department website.
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The deadline to complete online registration for the Minnesota Student Survey (MSS) is Sunday, May 15, at 11:59 p.m. Please ensure that you have completed your registration by this time. The final date to complete administration of the survey has been extended to Friday, June 3.
MSS results will be available by the end of May for districts who completed the survey online AND before March 18. Other districts’ results will be available in the fall, as well as results at the county and state levels. Results will be emailed to MSS district contacts.
Find more information regarding the 2016 Minnesota Student Survey. If you have questions about the registration process, please contact Wilder Research at 651-280-2747 or mss@wilder.org. If you have other questions about the MSS, please contact the Minnesota Department of Education at 651-582-8488 or mde.studentsurvey@state.mn.us.
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Minnesota Statutes, section 120B.25, subdivision 4, requires the department to produce an annual legislative report on best practices used in high growth schools. On Wednesday, May 10, a survey about best practices was sent to the current principals of schools identified for high growth based on 2014-15 data.
The information we collect is required by state statute and will help the Minnesota Department of Education, the Legislature, and the public have a better understanding of what works best in schools to support student achievement. All of the data will be summarized at a state level, and none of the data collected in this survey will be reported at a school or district level.
For a list of schools that were asked to complete the survey, please see each tab in 2014-15 Best Practices Survey Recipients.
If you have any questions, please contact Michael Diedrich (michael.diedrich@state.mn.us).
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This fall, a research study is planned to compare student performance on full-size tablets (those that are about 10”) with student performance on “mini” tablets (those that are about 7”-8”). The Minnesota Tablet Size Comparability Study will look at the impact of tablet size on student test scores to inform a future decision about allowing testing on mini tablets. A total of 1,000 students in 6th and 11th grades (500 students at each grade level) will respond to a set of questions in reading, math, and science. The study will be conducted in a three-week window from September 26 through October 19, 2016. Student participation time for each student will be approximately 90 minutes.
By Friday, June 10, a commitment of at least 800 students (400 students at each grade level) is needed or the department will be unable to conduct the study.
Pearson will work with participating schools to determine logistics for scheduling testing sessions at your schools across one or more days. Participating schools should be those where tablets (of any size) are currently used for academic work, either through a 1:1 or bring-your-own-device (BYOD) initiative or through classroom sets/carts. It is not necessary for the school to currently use mini tablets to participate. Within each participating school, students will be randomly assigned to take the questions on either a full-size or a mini-size tablet. Pearson will provide tablets for the study or will work with the school to determine the feasibility of using school-owned tablets.
For further details or to sign up for the study, please contact Kathy Shannon (kathy.shannon@pearson.com).
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As a requirement under the Minnesota LEAPS Act, all districts and charters are required to identify SLIFE students. Title III, Part A, requires districts and charters to identify immigrant students. The Minnesota Department of Education has developed a new data reporting system called the Student Support Data Collection (SSDC) System to capture this information.
Districts and charters must designate an SSDC Coordinator to access the reporting systems for both SLIFE Identification and Immigrant Identification. The SSDC Coordinator will identify SLIFE and immigrant students in the district or charter from a pre-populated list of potential SLIFE or immigrant students within the SSDC system. For more information on this process, please visit the department's SLIFE web page (http://education.state.mn.us/MDE/SchSup/EngLearn/SLIFE/index.htm), or Immigrant Children and Youth web page (http://education.state.mn.us/MDE/SchSup/ESEA/TitleIII/ImmigrantChildren/index.htm).
For more information on SLIFE reporting, please contact Michelle Niska, 651-582-8323.
For more information on immigrant reporting, please contact Michael Bowlus, 651-582-8254.
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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES |
The School Support Division is offering a variety of teacher development and evaluation and Q Comp workshop opportunities beginning in June 2016. Session topics include:
- Introduction to Peer Review: A Roadmap for Success for New Peer Reviewer
- Intermediate Peer Review: A Review for Refinement of Practice
- Student Learning Goals: Designing and Improving Systems for Student Success
- Student Engagement: Measuring Teacher Impact for Success
- Planning, Preparing, and Conducting Summative Evaluations
- Pressing the Restart Button on Professional Learning Teams
- Improving the Design and Implementation of Local Teacher Development and Evaluation Models
For more information and to register, read the “2016 Workshops – Teacher Development and Evaluation” announcement on the Professional Development page.
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ITEMS OF INTEREST |
The Minnesota Board of Teaching has taken the following licensure actions:
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Indihar, Helen (FF# 203910) Ms. Indihar’s license was reinstated on May 11, 2016.
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Geary, Candice (FF# 324898) Ms. Geary’s license was reinstated on May 11, 2016.
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