ESSA Update: November 30, 2018

December 13 fiscal transparency stakeholder meeting cancelled

Thank you to everyone who joined us at our last meeting on November 13, where we reviewed a mockup of what the fiscal transparency reporting section of the Minnesota Report Card could potentially look like. We received a lot of great feedback, and discussed that the categories we will display on the Minnesota Report Card will likely be different than what is seen on the mockup (for example, we probably would not use "learning environment" and "operations" as the two categories for spending, but would instead break the spending down into 2-4 more intuitive categories). Overall, stakeholders like the simplified look, but we want to be sure not to oversimplify the information.

We are cancelling the December 13 meeting, but we are requesting stakeholders let us know about meetings that we can come to and present information about the fiscal transparency reporting, to get more input on what parents, families and communities are looking for.

If you have an idea or a meeting you'd like us to come to, please email mde.essa@state.mn.us or call Ashleigh Norris at 651-582-8247.

Update coming to Minnesota Report Card

On Thursday, Dec. 13 at noon, the Minnesota Report Card will be taken offline while we make updates and improvements to the site. The report card will be back online at 8 a.m. Friday, December 14.

Updates include:

• Reorienting the site’s navigation around questions a parent might ask about a school. For example, data about test results will be found by selecting the question, “Are students mastering standards?” School staffing data are found by selecting, “Who works here?”
• A new “My School” report features a message to families from the school, providing information about a school that might not be evident by simply looking at data. This report will also include a selection of the most commonly looked up school data, such as academic indicators, graduation rates and school climate information.
• New information on preschool participation. See your elementary school’s or Head Start agency’s information in total or by specific student

Very soon, more information than ever before on the report card will be available in Spanish, Hmong and Somali, in addition to English. The federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and state statutes require certain information to be available on our state’s report card. Reports related to student discipline will become available in the Minnesota Report Card this coming spring, and school financial data will be available in spring 2020.

  
Questions? Contact mde.essa@state.mn.us