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April 22, 2021
Updates in this email:
Today, MDE and MDH announced updates related to COVID-19 testing for students and athletes:
- All Minnesotans who are participating in organized sports are strongly encouraged to test every week.
- Every student, regardless of participation in activities, is strongly encouraged to get a COVID test every two weeks.
- Schools have a key role to play by helping make testing more accessible our students. All middle and high schools are strongly encouraged to offer onsite testing for students.
The COVID-19 Saliva Testing Program Guide for Schools has been updated to include important information on how to offer testing for students along with existing staff testing programs in schools. Read the document Questions and Answers: COVID-19 Testing for Middle and High School Students.
Earlier this month, Minnesota submitted a waiver for the accountability sections of its Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) State Plan in response to an opportunity from the U.S. Department of Education (ED). On Wednesday, April 21, we received notification from ED that our waiver has been approved. Under this waiver, Minnesota will still collect and report data on student learning. However, due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on data collection and usability, data collected during the 2020-21 school year will not be used for accountability purposes.
This means that for the next round of identification of schools for support and improvement under ESSA, which under the waiver will now be delayed until fall 2022, we will use statewide assessment results from only the 2018-19 and 2021-22 school years. For graduation and attendance data, we will use data from 2017-18 and 2020-21.
MDE has approval to allocate federal funding from the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSA) to districts and charter schools to expand and enhance summer programs. Schools offering in-person state approved programming qualify. Funding can be used in the following ways:
- To hire more staff in order to offer expanded eligibility to all students for summer learning and enrichment.
- To enhance the effectiveness of programs by allowing smaller class sizes.
- To expand programming: offering more hours per day or by increasing the number of days.
- To offer enrichment that supports the academic portion of the program by partnering with community organizations.
- To provide student transportation to and from summer programs.
- To purchase personal protective equipment (PPE) for staff providing direct support services.
Initial estimates indicate that the allocations will equate to approximately $4 per student membership hour. The program will submit final student enrollment at the end of the program in order to determine total membership hours, as well as information on how the funds were spent, to determine final allocations. These funds must be spent on summer programs. A membership hour is every hour a student is enrolled in the program. In order to estimate how many hours of summer programming there might be, and to allow us to provide a partial payment based on this information, superintendents and charter school directors (or a designee) must complete the Summer Program Planning Form by April 23, 2021.
For more information, contact Mary Barrie, mary.barrie@state.mn.us or Sally Reynolds at sally.reynolds@state.mn.us.
The Minnesota Department of Health has created a resource with information about COVID-19 vaccines for 16- and 17-year-olds.
At this time, the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is the only COVID-19 vaccine that has been studied and authorized for use by 16 and 17 year olds. Data from Pfizer vaccine studies show the vaccine is safe and effective for this age group. Other vaccine manufacturers are also studying their vaccines in younger age groups but have not yet received authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Please share this resource with families in your high school communities.
Our school nurses are working every day to support students and staff. Please check in on these valuable team members to make sure they are doing okay. Additional supports for school nurses include:
MDH weekly school nurse calls offer support for all school nurses who are able to attend. Nurses can bring questions and get answers, and feel heard even if there are 500-1000 people on the call.
MDH school health email can be reached for 1:1 support on various topics/issues school nurses are working with: health.school.health@state.mn.us
Access to Basecamp: If your school nurse needs access to the School Health Services Basecamp, they should contact Tracy Schultz, Health Educator, MDH at Tracy.Schultz@state.mn.us
- To create an account, the following information will be needed: Full name, email address, professional designation/title and school/district.
- For help with Basecamp or questions related to its use, please send an email to health.school.health@state.mn.us for assistance.
- Please DO NOT create accounts for other people, delete items, or move them
CANVAS COVID-19 Learning Platform: Self Care/Coping Module
Go to COVID-19 Resources for Minnesota Schools and Out of School Time Programs to access the Canvas Learning Management System.
- Enter your email as your user name. Click enroll in course.
- You will receive an email from MDE (notifications@instructure.com). A hyperlink will be provided to finish the registration process.
- In Canvas, create a password and Click View the course.
- For best performance, Canvas should be used on the following browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or Safari.
- Contact healthyyouth@state.mn.us if you have questions.
Virtual Town Hall on the American Rescue Plan
The American Rescue Plan will provide Minnesota schools with $1.373 billion in new, flexible funds for school districts that they can spend over the next three-and-a-half school years — the largest-ever one-time federal investment in K-12 education. School leaders are invited to join Sen. Tina Smith, Commissioner Heather Mueller, the Minneapolis Foundation, and the Graves Foundation at 9 a.m. on Monday, May 3 for a Minnesota-specific webinar detailing how your district can make the best use of this historic investment in public education.
Please register here. The agenda and Zoom meeting details will be sent on Thursday, April 29th before the event. Please contact Patrice Relerford at prelerford@mplsfoundation.org or Amy Korba Johnson at amy@smith.senate.gov with questions about the webinar.
2020-21 Statewide Assessment Reporting Timelines and Resource
Guidance from the U.S Department of Education requires that all reporting requirements are maintained this year. Unlike spring 2020, where no summary results were provided, all results provided to public schools and districts and reported on the Minnesota Report Card and the Data Center in past years will be provided this year.
With extended statewide assessment administration windows and a later Posttest Editing window, reporting timelines for this year’s statewide assessment results will be delayed. The following are the planned dates for the release of results to districts in Assessment Secure Reports:
- District and School Student Results (DSR and SSR) files: no sooner than July 14
- Test Results Summary: no sooner than Aug. 4
Final dates these results will be available will be provided as soon as possible, but districts may use this information to adjust summer tasks and meetings that require the use of assessment results as needed. Note: the dates for public results release are still to be determined.
New Resources
MDE will be providing a 2021 Statewide Assessment Reporting Guidance document that will provide guidance for districts with information on using 2021 results appropriately and in context. This document is planned to be available before the release of DSR/SSR files.
In addition, MDE is developing a series of one-page resources to accompany each part of the reporting process to provide additional support to district staff who will be using the results. These resources are intended to provide information about how to use the results, as well as specific contexts to consider for this year. The first resource about preliminary results will be available on the District Resources page under Test Score Interpretation Resources and on the Testing 1, 2, 3 website by Wed. April 28. Additional resources for the DSR/SSR files, Test Results Summary, and public reporting will be provided ahead of their respective releases.
Get Involved with MDE’s Public Engagement Division
Enter your school’s information to stay connected
The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) has a created a new Bilingual Family Engagement Liaison Contact on MDE-ORG. Contacts will receive important updates from MDE’s Public Engagement team about stories from the field, issues and concerns that families and communities are raising, and information pertinent to our shared work in stakeholder engagement.
Please update this site level contact for your elementary, middle, high school, alternative learning center and preschool sites. Please include any nonpublic schools if you are a school district. More information about how to access and enter this new data can be found at this link.
Contact MDE-ORG Administrator, Michelle Carey, for questions regarding data entry at Michelle.Carey@state.mn.us.
Contact Community Engagement Specialist, Lee Her, for questions about MDE’s public engagement initiative at Lee.Her@state.mn.us.
Contact EL Specialist, Amy Young, for questions, guidance or assistance related to the “bilingual family engagement liaison” role at Amy.young@state.mn.us.
Teacher Development and Evaluation/Q Comp Network
In May, MDE will host additional networking sessions supporting the implementation of Teacher Development and Evaluation (TDE) and Q Comp. These optional sessions are intended to provide spaces for local coordinators or members of local leadership teams to trouble-shoot and collaborate as we navigate different school scenarios.
Come join other coordinators to discuss TDE/Q Comp implementation topics, including, but not limited to, professional learning communities, summative or high cycle evaluations, or observation practices, and how these TDE/Q Comp activities are being modified to suit distance learning or hybrid scenarios. Please bring questions, ideas, and any resources to share as this will be a format in which we can all problem solve and learn from each other. MDE will also announce any updates relevant to TDE/Q Comp for coordinators to bring back to their leadership teams.
Intended Audience – Local coordinators and leaders of Q Comp or teacher development and evaluation (TDE). Space is limited to 100 participants, and facilitators will create smaller groups for discussion.
May Session Registrations – Use the links below to register.
Tuesday, May 4, 9:30 - 10:45 a.m.
Thursday, May 6, 2:00 - 3:15 p.m.
Agenda – This is a participant-driven agenda, so no session will be entirely alike. The only limit on the conversation is a focus on local coordinators' work to support the educator workforce through the implementation of TDE/Q Comp.
Please note: These Q&A offerings will not be recorded. However, we will publish key messages and resources following the sessions.
If you have any questions or would like to request a reasonable accommodation, please contact us at: mde.q-comp@state.mn.us.
Career and Technical Education Levy Revenue Budgets – Due June 8, 2021
Read the memo regarding Career and Technical Education (CTE) Levy Reporting. The CTE Levy reporting system opens May 3, for entering the anticipated FY22 (2021-2022 school year) budgets. Budgets must be entered for approved CTE programs by June 8.
Minnesota Statutes, section 124D.4531, directs the Minnesota Department of Education to annually recalculate the authority of a school district to levy for costs associated with its CTE programs. Districts must submit annual budgets for their CTE programs to qualify for this permissive levy.
For assistance with detailed questions about the CTE Levy Program System, contact Shelli Sowles, 651-582-8403.
New Career Counseling Resources About Construction and the Skilled Trades
MDE and the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) have developed new resources for educators and school counselors to share with students about careers in construction and the skilled trades.
The first is a list of resources for students about careers in construction and the skilled trades such as websites, education and training providers, unpaid and paid experiential learning opportunities, mobile apps and events. Download the information as a handout on MDE's Trade and Industry page or through an interactive version on DLI's website.
The next resource is a handout (hyperlink handout) that features wage and education information about the most in-demand construction careers in Minnesota as well as information about post-secondary options for advancement. There is also a handout (hyperlink handout) for educators that features tips and ideas about how to expose students to careers in construction and the skilled trades.
We encourage you to use these resources and share them with fellow educators and your students.
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