Another annual process for SAUs is meeting with a variety of stakeholders to update their district and school Comprehensive Needs Assessments (CNA) based on new data. As part of the ESEA application, districts are asked to document the high-needs areas of their districts and schools, as well as the data sources they used to make those determinations, the names of the stakeholders involved, and the dates the updates were conducted.
Members of the ESEA team recently held a joint session with the assessment team to discuss with school administrative units (SAUs) how the change to the Maine Through-Year Assessment will affect the CNA process.
Watch a recording of ESEA & Assessment Teams Joint Information Session:
SAUs must update as much of their CNA as possible before the initial submission of the FY24 ESEA Application (due August 1st) to determine high areas of need and to generate goals—particularly the required non-academic goal(s).
SAUs without alternative assessment data will need to further update their CNA and generate academic goals when state assessment results become available.
For Substantial Approval, math and literacy goal requirements at both the school and district levels will be temporarily waived; non-academic goals will still be required.
SAUs may put placeholder information into the required fields of the application when applicable.
For Final Approval, all district and school goal requirements must be met.
For more information reach out to Maine DOE ESEA Federal Programs Director Cheryl L. Lang at Cheryl.Lang@maine.gov.