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January 19, 2024
Updates in this email:
On Tuesday, January 16th, the Office of Administrative Hearings released its decision on the 2021 K-12 Academic Standards in Social Studies. The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) is pleased both Judge Lipman and Chief Judge Starr have approved the standards in Citizenship and Government, Economics, Geography, and History, and that Minnesota will now have both standards and benchmarks in Ethnic Studies.
Judge Lipman and Chief Judge Starr also found that Anchor Standard 25, or subpart 6c, needs revision in order to be approved. MDE will adopt one of the options provided by the judge.
The revised standard reads, “The student will use ethnic and Indigenous studies methods and sources in order to understand the roots of contemporary systems of oppression and apply lessons from the past that could eliminate historical and contemporary injustices.”
This wording aligns closely with the Social Studies Committee’s intent in drafting the standard. As a result, MDE is revising Anchor Standard 25 and resubmitting it to the Office of Administrative Hearings for final approval.
Once approved, the new K-12 Academic Standards in Social Studies will go into effect during the 2026-27 school year.
The 2023 Minnesota Legislature invested $15 million for grants to schools to start-up or expand the full-service community school strategy under Minnesota Statutes 2023, section 124D.231. Grant funding will expand systemic supports for students, families and communities across Minnesota. This is a one-time competitive grant opportunity with funding available until June 30, 2027. Grant amounts may range from $350,000 to $600,000 per site. Of the $14.7 million available, the Minnesota Department of Education will award at least $9.85 million for start-up grants and no more than $4.85 million for expansion grants.
Applications must be submitted electronically by February 26, 2024 no later than 5 p.m. Applications, instructions, timelines and further information can be found on the 2024 Full-Service Community School (FSCS) grant opportunity webpage.
MDE is also recruiting reviewers for this grant opportunity. For more information, please contact Jackie Blagsvedt, (651)-582-8805.
The Office of Equity and Engagement is partnering with the National Center for Community Schools (NCCS) to pilot the Essentials for Community Schools Transformation framework and expand the full-service community school strategy across Minnesota. The 2024 Full-Service Community Schools grant opportunity is aligned to this new national framework. Familiarity with the framework will help you determine if the grant opportunity is a good fit for your school(s).
In November 2023, NCCS presented an introductory webinar for Minnesota schools on the Essentials for Community School Transformation Framework the recorded webinar is available for you to stream.
After you’ve watched the webinar, if you have further questions about the strategy and framework, attend open office hours NCCS is hosting for Minnesota schools on January 25 from 1:30-3 p.m. and January 26 from Noon-1:30 p.m. Open office hours are a chance to discuss the framework and think through the strategy with national experts. Please note, Minnesota Department of Education staff will not be present and NCCS can’t answer questions about the grant opportunity. For more information, contact Jackie Blagsvedt, (651)-582-8805.
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.
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) 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.
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