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The Minnesota Department of Education invited students, parents, educators and community members to participate in a series of focus group meetings around the Every Student Succeeds Act. Throughout the fall there were a total of 18 of these meetings. The purpose was to ask community members to share their knowledge and experiences in the areas of family engagement, school improvement and what it means to have a well-rounded education. Thank you to everyone who participated in a focus group! Information gathered is being used to help inform the work of ESSA committees. See the Focus Groups report.
Information and Technology Educators of Minnesota (ITEM) Listening Session
On November 10, MDE staff attended a gathering of ITEM members to talk about ESSA. The main theme of the conversation was around the role of information and technology education services in ensuring every child receives a well-rounded education. Topics included ensuring equitable access to licensed library media specialists (LMS) in order to help student improvement in areas such as literacy, digital literacy and research skills, all of which are greatly facilitated by having an LMS in a school building.
Open Forum ESSA Discussion at the Minnesota Indian Education Association (MIEA) Conference
MDE staff engaged in a great conversation with MIEA members on November 16. The discussion centered around work that needs to be done to better support our American Indian students and what part ESSA will have in that work. An important, required aspect of the ESSA State Plan process is engaging Tribal Nations for Tribal Consultation of the plan. Ensuring we are having meaningful consultation was another hot topic during the conversation.
The U.S. Department of Education released the final ESSA regulations on Monday, November 28. MDE staff are reading through the regulations now - stay tuned for updates. The regulations are available on the U.S. Department of Education website.
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