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January 26, 2024
Updates in this email:
We are advancing our efforts to increase access to computer science education in Minnesota, following the 2023 passage of the momentous Computer Science Education Advancement Act. Minnesota’s Computer Science Education Working Group, convened by the Minnesota Department of Education and comprised of educators, students, representatives of the business community, education organizations and nonprofits, has been working diligently on a new state strategic plan for long-term and sustained growth of K-12 computer science education. At the beginning of February, we will release the draft strategic plan for public comment. We will include a notice in this newsletter with a link to the draft plan once it’s available for review.
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.
Districts and charter schools can register for training starting February 1. The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) will post an online registration process that will allow districts and charter schools to be able to select which training program(s) their educators will participate in and provide possible dates for training. Training vendors will do their best to accommodate desired dates but cannot guarantee them. Once districts and charter schools register through MDE, the information will be shared with the training vendor(s) who will work directly with a district or charter school to schedule required training.
The first phase of educators needing to be trained (to be completed by July 1, 2025) are:
- PreK Classroom Educators – PreK educators (Part B) include Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten/School Readiness Plus, Early Childhood Special Education responsible for early literacy/reading instruction, and School Readiness
- Grades K–3 Classroom Educators
- Grades K–12 Reading Intervention Educators
- Pre-K through grade 12 Special Education Educators responsible for reading instruction
- Pre-K through grade 5 Curriculum Directors
- Pre-K through grade 5 Instructional support staff who provide reading support (additional guidance coming in mid-January).
- Employees who select literacy instructional materials for Pre-K through grade 5
More information about the three training vendors and the training requirements can be found on the MDE READ Act website.
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 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 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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