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July 13, 2026
The 2026 Braille Challenge is an international academic competition for students who are blind or visually impaired, testing skills in reading comprehension, spelling, speed and accuracy, proofreading, and interpreting tactile graphics. This year, over 2,000 students from 37 U.S. states and six countries, including Australia, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, the United Kingdom, and the United States, participated, marking a record-breaking season.
Congratulations to these winners from Minnesota!
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2026 Freshman Awards (3rd-4th Grades)
- First Place: Elizabeth C.
- 2026 Sophomore Awards (5th-6th Grades)
Mark your calendars for this year's forums!
- August 14, 2026 (more information below)
- October 9, 2026
- December 11, 2026
- February 12, 2027
- April 2027
- June 4, 2027
Friday, August 14 Information
Register for the August 14 Director's Forum and Afternoon Engagement Session.
9:30-11:30 a.m. Special Education Directors' Forum webinar
11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Lunch Break
12:30-3:30 p.m. Engagement Session
Join us on Friday, August 14, for the Statewide Children’s Mental Health Plan Engagement Session: Advancing a System of Care for Children, Youth, and Families, taking place after the morning Special Education Directors’ Forum webinar. Following the forum, directors will have a one‑hour lunch break, with a food truck available on site for convenient meal options. Like the morning session, the afternoon engagement session will be hybrid, but we strongly encourage attending in person to support deeper discussion, stronger collaboration, and more meaningful engagement with statewide partners. During the session, presenters will share emerging statewide themes related to access, coordination, and service gaps in our state's children's mental health system and will seek your input to help refine priorities and shape actionable recommendations for improving the system. Those joining onsite will have enhanced opportunities to contribute feedback, connect with colleagues, and help inform statewide priorities. We hope you’ll stay and lend your expertise to this important conversation.
Reprocessed Individualized Education Program (IEP) claims
The Minnesota Department of Human Services has identified and resolved system errors that were previously causing IEP claims to be incorrectly denied with X12 Remark Code M86 for dates of service between Oct. 1, 2025, and May 22, 2026.
School districts do not need to take any action or resubmit claims because we have reprocessed impacted claims. The reprocessed claims will appear on your July 14, 2026, warrant.
Call the Minnesota Health Care Programs Provider Resource Center at 651-431-2700 or 800-366-5411, or via TTY at 711 or 800-627-3529 with questions about this message.
The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) has ended its contract with Level Data, the vendor for the Stepwell Minnesota software and website, effective June 30, 2026. This was a difficult decision. MDE recognizes the significant learning curve and troubleshooting districts experienced during the onboarding process; however, it became clear that Stepwell Minnesota could not adequately support MDE’s general supervision responsibilities, and the system ultimately required more time from districts than anticipated at the start of the project.
You may have already seen early steps in the transition away from Stepwell Minnesota. Moving forward, MDE will use existing tools, including SharePoint, to fulfill the state’s data collection responsibilities. These updated processes will remain in place until further notice.
Stepwell Minnesota will remain available to districts until June 30, 2026. MDE strongly encourages all districts to log in and download any documentation or files needed before that date.
If you have questions about Stepwell Minnesota, the transition to new data collection processes, or if you encounter difficulties retrieving files, please email mde.special-ed@state.mn.us for assistance.
MDE has updated our Federal Updates webpage with recent communications and resources for schools and families, including the new resource, Learning Choices for Minnesota Families, for parents and caregivers. Other languages are available on the Federal Updates webpage. Please feel free to share this resource in your school communities.
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