|
January 12, 2024
Updates in this email:
The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) in collaboration with the University of Minnesota Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI) completed a review of K-5 Literacy Curricula as required by the Minnesota Reading to Ensure Academic Development (READ) Act.
Forty-two programs were initially submitted. Twenty-four programs were fully reviewed due to publishers withdrawing their submissions or being disqualified due to not being a stand-alone core curriculum.
The 24 programs reviewed are as follows:
- 11 Comprehensive curricula
- 12 Foundational curricula
- One Language Comprehension/Knowledge Building curriculum
All submitted curricula went through a two-step review process. The first review was by the publisher to verify that the curriculum met the definition of evidence-based curriculum per the Minnesota READ Act, excluded “three-cueing system", and met a list of non-negotiables that can be reviewed on the Minnesota READ Act webpage.
After a reading curricula met the qualifying questions, a second review with the CAREI Literacy Curriculum Rubric occurred.
At minimum, resources required for the review included:
- Access to any document provided in the evidence section of the rubric
- Teacher editions
- A representative sampling of student texts for each grade level
- Program assessments
- Scope and sequence for all grade levels submitted for review
View the final selection of approved curriculum for reimbursement on the Minnesota READ Act webpage.
Contracts with the three training vendors, CAREIALL, CORE, and LEXIA are being finalized. The Minnesota Department of Education will have the registration information posted by February 1, 2024. Please note the Minnesota Reading to Ensure Academic Development (READ) Act statute states, "Beginning July 1, 2024, a district or charter school must provide access to the training required under Minnesota Statutes 2023, section 120B.123, subdivision 5.” Access will be provided by July 1, 2024, and for those districts and charter schools who are choosing LEXIA/LETRS, we acknowledge additional time (beyond the July 2025 completion deadline) will be needed to complete this course and extensions will be provided.
Additional approved training options are being identified for Instructional Support Staff and Phase 2 educators. Information will be coming soon.
Personal Finance Education Working Group Applications are now open. Applications will close on February 2, 2024. MDE is seeking social studies, math, business education, family and consumer science, and agriculture, food and natural resources teachers, recent high school graduates, current Minnesota school administrators and pre-service program faculty (see the Personal Finance Working Group Assumptions document). The goal of the Personal Finance Working Group is to develop guidance to support the development of personal finance courses in Minnesota high schools. Details are in the Personal Finance Working Group Assumptions document. Applicants must agree to the assumptions and the timeline and be available for all meetings, from June 2024 to October 2024. In addition to the five full group meetings, there may be small group meetings scheduled to draft pieces of the guidance between meetings. Please read the Personal Finance Working Group Assumptions document prior to completing the application.
The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) Teacher Residencies and Apprenticeships Planning Grant is making $1.2 million in funding available for up to six grants to institutes of higher education educator preparation programs to support planning for future teacher residency programs and registered teacher apprenticeships. Grants will support higher education and district partnerships’ participation in the National Center for Teacher Residencies (NCTR) Residency Foundations course and participation in NCTR’s Design Academy through June 2025. Additional grant funds may be used for honorariums or stipends for planning team members, travel and other expenses for team planning meetings, supplies and materials associated with planning, candidate recruitment activities and materials, and administrative costs.
MDE and NCTR will be holding a pre-grant information session for potential grant applicants. This session will provide applicants with a grant overview, an overview of the application process, use of funds, teacher residency programs, and NCTR supports for grantees.
The application window for this grant is expected to open in January or February 2024.
Interested potential grant applicants can register for the virtual Teacher Residencies and Apprenticeships Planning Pre-Grant information session scheduled for January 19, 2024 at 1:30 p.m. Registrants will receive a recording of the event.
To request a reasonable accommodation, contact Chris Ramadan (651-582-8810) at least two weeks prior to the session.
The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) and the Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College encourage Native special education staff, special education staff, administrators, special education directors, special education coordinators and all others interested to attend a webinar series intended to strengthen community by lifting the voices of Indigenous special education staff.
These focused webinar topics and dialogues emerged through listening sessions with Native special education staff around the state of Minnesota. MDE's Special Education Division and the Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College are partnering and using State Personnel Development Grant (SPDG) funding to provide these webinars. While intended to serve the needs of and retain Native special education staff, the sessions are expansive enough to be a learning experience for all special education staff, administrators and institutes of higher education. We are hopeful the partnership and the webinars contribute to developing allyship.
The third webinar in the series will be held January 24, 2024:
Time: 3:30-5 p.m.
Location: Zoom (link is sent with your registration confirmation)
Topic: Mental Health from an Indigenous Perspective
Continuing Education Units (CEUs) will be available for both teachers and administrators.
Register for SPDG Webinar: Mental Health from an Indigenous Perspective
For more information on these webinars or the Native special education network, please contact Govinda Budrow.
For more information on the State Personnel Development Grant, please contact Dr. Becky Gerdes.
The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) announced the final timeline for restarting annual renewals in public health care programs. With Medicaid eligibility newly becoming a part of direct certification, which is currently tied to the compensatory revenue formula, schools could be affected by this change.
Due to the pandemic Medical Assistance and MinnesotaCare renewals were paused but are now restarting. More than 1.5 million Minnesotans on Medical Assistance and MinnesotaCare will need their program eligibility reviewed through a renewal process by May 2024.
Minnesota will restart the renewal processes for Medical Assistance in 2023 beginning with the July renewal cohort. Renewals for MinnesotaCare coverage will restart beginning in October 2023 for coverage effective Jan. 1, 2024. View the full timeline.
Please visit DHS's Renew My Coverage communications toolkit for resources in multiple languages. Please share the messages in this toolkit with your district and school communities.
Back to Top
|
