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November 8, 2023
Educator Workforce and Development Center
November Updates
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The fiscal year 2025 competition for the Grow Your Own (GYO) grant focusing on increasing the number of teachers of color and American Indian teachers in Minnesota is now posted. Navigate to the competitive grant opportunities webpage to view the instructions document, a question-and-answer document updated for this competition, and the application materials themselves.
An information session for this grant will be held on Thursday, Nov. 16, from 1 to 2 p.m. Participants must register for the Nov. 16 Grown Your Own Teacher Diversity grant information session. This session will be recorded and shared with all who register.
This year, there are newly allowed activities for both pathways, and we have updated several responses in our Question and Answer document that should provide applicants and grantees with better guidance about the program. We encourage interested applicants to read the Grow Your Own instructions document and Question and Answer document thoroughly as they prepare their application.
For assistance with questions or to request a reasonable accommodation, contact Maria-Renee Grigsby (651-582-8791).
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Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) has funding available to award grants for Grow Your Own (GYO) – Early Childhood and Family Educators (ECE) programs in order to develop an early childhood education workforce that more closely reflects the state's increasingly diverse student population and ensures all students have equitable access to high-quality early educators. Eligible Minnesota-licensed family child care or licensed center-based child care programs, school district or charter school early learning programs, Head Start programs, institutions of higher education, and other community partnership nongovernmental organizations (referred to collectively in this application as “early childhood programs”) may apply for a grant to host, build, or expand an early childhood educator preparation program that leads to an individual earning the credential or degree needed to enter or advance in the early childhood education workforce.
We are in the process of developing the grant competition with the following anticipated timeline:
- Grant posted on or around November 22, 2023.
- A question-and-answer period to begin when the competition is posted with questions due by December 28, 2023. The Q&A document will be posted on or around January 5, 2024.
- Grant applications will be due on January 12, 2024.
An informational webinar for the GYO ECE grant is scheduled for December 8 at 2 p.m. Register for the Grow Your Own – Early Childhood and Family Educator grant informational webinar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
For assistance with questions about this opportunity or to request a reasonable accommodation for the information session, please contact Kelly Kazeck.
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MDE Statewide Teacher Mentoring Program grant is making $7.9 million in funding available to Minnesota regional partners, including institutions of higher education, regional service cooperatives, other district or charter collaboratives, and professional organizations to provide mentoring and induction support for new teachers.
The Department will be holding an information session for potential grant applicants. This session aims to provide potential grant applicants with grant priorities and highlight induction and mentoring practices that support Minnesota’s newest teachers and align with the Minnesota Induction and Mentoring Framework. Given the regional focus, potential applicants are encouraged to begin conversations with possible regional partners within their areas to support early career teachers. The application window for this grant is expected to be open January 2–February 27, 2024.
Interested grant applicants can register for the Statewide Teacher Mentoring Program Grant virtual session scheduled for December 7, 2023, from 1 to 2 p.m. For assistance with questions or to request a reasonable accommodation, contact Chris Ramadan (651-582-8810) at least two weeks prior to the session.
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MDE also has a grant program to develop a student support personnel workforce pipeline focused on increasing school psychologists, school nurses, school counselors and school social workers, with an emphasis on supporting people of color and Indigenous people.
This grant program is in its final stages of development and is anticipated to be launched in December or January. When this grant is open, we will announce it via this newsletter.
For assistance with questions about this opportunity, contact Sara J. Weiss or 651-582-8722.
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Changes to teacher development and evaluation from the 2023 legislative session will take effect for the 2025-26 school year. Local teacher development and evaluation and Q Comp models will have to include rubrics of performance standards for teacher practice that:
TDE/Q Comp Coordinators and Oversight Teams are invited to regular networking sessions to build community with other leaders around the state, discuss questions and ideas, and share best practices. This school year’s first quarterly session was on November 8 and focused on this new requirement. The Educator Workforce Center will use the feedback from the networking session to begin developing resources and training sessions to assist with the transition of revising evaluation rubrics.
If you were not able to attend and would like to share ideas on this process, please contact us at mde.workforcecenter@state.mn.us.
We also encourage you to check for future networking sessions and other learning opportunities on the Q Comp Professional Development webpage.
If you have questions about the session, please email the TDE/Q Comp team at mde.q-comp@state.mn.us.
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The Come Teach in Minnesota program provides funding for districts or charter schools to offer hiring bonuses for teachers who are American Indian or people of color who move to Minnesota from another state or country.
An information session regarding changes to the Come Teach in Minnesota Program was held on November 1, 2023, and was recorded. The information session covered changes in the enrollment process, making it more feasible for districts and charter schools to recruit and hire teachers of color and American Indian teachers.
For assistance with questions about program, contact Tamara Valmé (651-582-8413).
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Starting in fall 2024, Minnesota students who are enrolled at a Minnesota State campus, UMN campus, or state Tribal College may be eligible for the new Northstar Promise Program (NSP). This new scholarship program covers the cost of tuition and fees for students from families with an Adjusted Gross Income of less than $80,000 a year.
NSP seeks to make higher education more accessible and affordable. The Minnesota Office of Higher Education estimates NSP will benefit 15,000-20,000 students in the first academic year.
To learn more about the program and eligibility, visit the OHE website. We encourage anyone who works with current or future college students to download and share the North Star Promise Program Fact Sheet, which is also available in in Spanish, Hmong and Somali.
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New America is engaged in a project to map all of the Grow Your Own (GYO) educator programs in the country, and we are seeking your valuable input!
Please fill out this Grow Your Own Program Survey to help us better understand your program and the candidates it services. The collective data will help to enhance the field's understanding of GYO programs' impact and best practices.
Note: This survey is intended to collect information from any entity implementing a GYO strategy. It is not limited to those programs that have received grants from MDE, nor is it limited to K-grade 12 entities. For more information about the survey purpose, instructions and deadline, follow the link above.
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The ED’s “Raise the Bar: Lead the World” program is their “call to action to transform PreK-grade 12 education and unite around what truly works – based on decades of experience and research – to advance educational equity and excellence.”
One of the goals in Raise the Bar is to Eliminate the Educator Shortage. ED has gathered several useful readings, data, and other resources related to this endeavor. Just this week, they published a Raise the Bar policy brief on eliminating educator shortages through increasing educator diversity and addressing high-need shortage areas.
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