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Weekly Blast
August 8, 2024
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Last Chance - Register Now to Attend Choice Ready Workshops
With the loss of ESSER funding on September 30, 2024, most schools are struggling to find ways to continue funding all the great activities funded with the ESSER dollars.
Come learn how you can apply to get services for your high school students in the following areas:
- ACT tutoring
- Dual Credit courses
- Online courses
At the upcoming Choice Ready workshops, we will share additional information and walk participants through the Choice Ready application. The applications will be time-stamped, and we will fund them on a first-come basis until the funding runs out.
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Back to School Drilldown 2024-2025
On Wednesday, August 7, 2024, the office of School Approval & Opportunity at the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction (NDDPI), sponsored a Drilldown for school leaders at the State Capital. The event included a general session and breakout sessions. Participants were provided with a wealth of information on a multitude of topics. Participants will receive copies of all PowerPoint presentations. We are sharing a link to a general presentation on key updates that includes important information on the forth coming school accountability reports, time sensitive training events and upcoming deadlines for important submissions such as the Consolidated Application budgets. Access the PowerPoint here.
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Budgeting for the 2024-2025 Consolidated Application Due THURSDAY, August 29, 2024
Final allocations have been posted on the Consolidated Application webpage under the Federal Allocations for Title I, II, III, and IV accordion.
The NDDPI staff continues to review and approve Consolidated Applications. Within 5-7 business days of approval of the Consolidated Application narrative, the NDDPI staff will create a budget(s) for the associated federal Title program(s) with all funds represented in the unobligated object code (950). Districts will then need to follow these steps to obligate funds and enter program activities:
Districts will receive an email notification when the budget has been created and opened. Please follow these Consolidated Application Budget Steps to obligate funds and enter program activities:
- Log into WebGrants
- Select "Grants" in the left menu.
- Select the grant you are working on.
- Notice the awarded amount at the top of the page. This amount has been prepopulated in the "unobligated" category.
- Under the "Grant Components" tab, select "Contract Amendment.”
- Select "Add Amendment.”
- Be sure the Status = "Editing" and Amendment Type = "Initial Budget" (if you need to change to these, select from the dropdown lists).
- Enter "Initial Budget" in the Title line.
- SAVE form.
- Select "Edit Amendment."
- In the "Budget" tab, select "Edit Form" to add the Amendment Justification.
- Input “Initial Budget” in the narrative box for the initial justification.
- Select "Save Form" and "Mark as Complete.”
- Add a row for each program activity within the correct object code section.
- Provide a specific brief description of the program activity. Use similar verbiage for related activities across object code sections.
Budgets are due by Thursday, August 29, 2024. Guidance and training videos are available here:
Additional training resources will be posted on the Consolidated Application webpage. For questions, please reach out to any of the Consolidated Application contacts.
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School Counselor Requirement and Reporting
NDCC 15.1-06-19 requires school districts to have one full-time equivalent school counselor available for every 300 students in grades K-12. The required FTE is prorated based on enrollment (for example, a school with 150 students would need a 0.5 FTE, a school with 450 students would need 1.5 FTE, etc.). For grades 7-12, up to one-third of the required school counselor FTE can be met by a career advisor certified by the North Dakota Department of Career and Technical Education.
To serve as a school counselor, an individual must have either a School Counselor Credential (SC03) or be on a School Counselor Plan of Study.
- To qualify for the School Counselor Credential (SC03), an individual must have completed a graduate program specific to school counseling.
- To qualify for the School Counselor Plan of Study, an individual must be enrolled in a school counseling graduate program and have completed three of the following four courses: Counseling Program Management, Counseling Methods/Techniques, Counseling Theory, Ethics and Law.
School districts that cannot find a qualified school counselor to fill their minimum FTE must document that in the “Exceptions” section of the Annual Compliance Report. Document everything your district has done to find a qualified school counselor. Examples include job advertisements, job fairs attended, or other communications (conversations, phone calls, or emails) made in an effort to find a school counselor.
Please contact Jim Upgren at (701) 328-2244 with questions on either the school counselor FTE requirement or the requirements for the School Counselor Credential (SC03) or School Counselor Plan of Study.
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STARS Enrollment is Now Open
STARS enrollment is open for the 2024-2025 school year. We recommend not turning on your Automated Data Flow (AFT) until a few weeks after the school year has started. This is to ensure your student enrollment changes have settled down before sending the data to STARS. You can load students directly in STARS to feed the TieNet system for evaluations and IEP updates. Once the AFT process is turned on, the records should sync up if the start date is the same. If you have questions about STARS enrollments or the AFT process, please contact Steve Snow at (701)-328-2236.
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PowerSchool Workshops
Monday August 12
PowerSchool Enrollment & Transfer Scenarios – via Teams 1:00 PM CT, Enrollment & Transfer
PowerSchool Activities – via Teams 1:00 PM CT, Activities
Thursday August 15
PowerSchool Fall Scheduling – via Teams 10:00 AM CT, Fall Scheduling
PowerSchool 24.5 Q&A – via Teams 1:00 PM CT, Q&A
PowerSchool Activities – via Teams 1:30 PM CT, Activities
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2024-2025 Amira Update FAQ
In early August North Dakota schools and districts received correspondence from Amira regarding Amira license counts needed for the 2024-2025 school year. This step in the process is critical for the NDDPI to understand the amount of funding needed in WebGrants for each district.
Q: Is the state paying for Amira for the 2024-2025 school year?
A: Yes, the state has funding for continued support for 2024-2025.
Q: Our district did not use Amira in 2023-2024 but would like to for the upcoming school year. Can we sign up now?
A: Yes. To connect your school or district with Amira Learning, please indicate your interest on the North Dakota Sign Up form.
Q: Our district struggled to get student usage numbers during 2023-2024. Can we try again in 2024-2025?
A: In our correspondence last year, for districts to qualify for continuation funding covering the 2024-2025 school year, the district must have documented student usage within Amira Learning.
Those districts that had limited usage should have an implementation plan in place and are being considered on a case-by-case basis.
Should you have questions on your district’s standing, please reach out to Ann Ellefson.
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Calling All PE Teachers
ND Society of Health and Physical Educators is excited to roll out the new Physical Education Content Standards at the Fall ND SHAPE conference, September 22-23, 2024, at Simle Middle School in Bismarck. Attendees can expect to learn new activities from nationally acclaimed professionals and ND state PE teachers of the year. The new standards will be examined, along with implementation strategies, lessons, and potential assessments. Conference attendees are eligible to apply for equipment grants and win equipment from the many exhibitors.
To learn more and register, click here.
For an electronic version of the standards from the North Dakota CASE server that can be exported into PowerSchool, click here. Further directions for this process can be found on the content standards page here.
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Family Engagement Resource
Family engagement has always been an important tool in our ability to build trust with families. As we struggle to close learning gaps and empower staff and students alike, it can be a powerful tool to solve other problems, too, such as chronic absenteeism, student outcomes, engaging disengaged families, or reaching hard-to-reach students. This cohort was designed to help build a foundation of trust and assist in changing the culture of your organization, one conversation at a time. Their third-year hosting, Drs. Steve and Peggie Constantino are offering a 2024 family engagement cohort through an online platform called Rocket PD. This year’s edition: How to use family engagement to solve urgent challenges in K-12 schools. Peggie and Steve will present several use cases in five virtual sessions and provide practical examples and ideas for turning your family engagement plan into an actionable resource for engaging students, building trust with stakeholders, and improving academic outcomes.
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Volkswagen Settlement Application
The North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality (NDDEQ) is accepting applications for a final project funding opportunity from the Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust. During this application period, the NDDEQ may issue up to $299,000 in funding for the replacement or repower of eligible school buses. Additional guidance and to learn more click here.
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Register Before August 20
This two-day training provides crucial information for everyone involved in the education of English learners (EL) at the instructional, coordination, and administrative levels.
Day one is geared toward school administrators and EL coordinators by covering EL and Title III regulations and how to set up a quality English learner program. Day two targets classroom/content teachers, EL teachers, EL coordinators, and administrators through discussion of implementation of the WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition (as required by ND Century Code) and moving into instructional strategies and resources for use in the classroom.
This year’s EL Crash Course is being provided FREE OF CHARGE by the NDDPI Office of Indian/Multicultural Education, EL Programs Office. However, registration is required and only open through August 20. On-site registrations will not be accepted. To register click here.
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MIS01 LEA Directory and MIS02 School Directory Now Open for 2024-2025
This report is due September 9, and it is crucial as it provides updated and accurate personnel information. The NDDPI uses the data to update our listserv. You can email Jill Frohlich now to be added to the listserv as soon as possible to ensure you receive critical information before the report's due date.
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