PRIORITY NOTICE: Graduation Reporting Due by September 15, 2018

The Graduation Module has opened in NEO so that School Administrative Unit staff can start entering graduation data. This module is used to calculate the graduation rates for the 2017/18 school year. It will also be used, in part, to determine supports for Maine public schools as part of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

The data is due to the Maine Department of Education on or before Saturday, September 15, 2018. As the final step in the new streamlined process, the Department will look over submissions and send an email response to the Superintendent and the person who sent the report to inform them that the data is ready for certification. As in the past, the data needs to be certified by the Superintendent within two working days from the receipt of the email from the Department. More detailed instructions are available below.

For further questions regarding accessing the module, please call the Helpdesk at 207-624-6896. For further questions about how to complete the Graduation Module, please contact Richard Bergeron 207-624-6840.

To further assist districts as they manage required reporting, the Department will be releasing a comprehensive beginning of the school year checklist for completing required reports.

Certification Updates

Please help share the following notice with all Maine educators.

The Maine Department of Education has now received 10,000 renewal applications since releasing the new online certification system, Maine Educator Information System (MEIS), to educators in June. There are currently 3,000 of those applications in queue, with an approximate eight-week processing time.

Approximately 70% of all Maine educators needing renewal have now applied. For those that have applied for renewal, it is important to note the following renewal procedure as outlined in Chapter 115 Part 1:

In the case of a complete application for the renewal of a credential that has not lapsed, the existing credential shall remain in effect until the application is approved or denied, and a renewal subsequently issued shall be deemed effective as of the expiration date of the previous certificate.

More than 50% of all certification related calls to the Department are applicants requesting updates of their application status. To decrease these calls and consequently process applications at a faster rate, please note the following:

Current processing times can be found on the Certification webpage.
Processing times begin on the date the complete application is received.
Applicants – Please do not call unless you applied more than eight weeks ago.

To increase support, a concerted effort has and will continue to be made to keep the Certification webpages up to date with current information, support documentation, and answers to frequently asked questions. If educators have additional questions not answered on the website, they can call 207-324-6603 or can email the certification department at cert.doe@maine.gov.

Further communications and updates are available on the Maine Department of Education Certification Webpage, Maine DOE’s official Facebook and Twitter pages, and the DOE newsroom.

Student Health Data Needed for Nationwide Initiative

This notice is to inform all school administrators, school nurses and related staff of a new effort to collect and submit de-identified student health data to a nationwide initiative of National Association of School Nurses (NASN) entitled Every Student Counts™. The goals of Every Student Counts™ are to develop a robust national school health data set that will influence local, state, and national student health policy, as well as identify best practices in school health. By creating data driven policies to advocate for the needs of students, we can increase evidence-based school nursing practice, and improve youth health outcomes.

In order for this to be successful at a statewide and national level, we are asking school administrators to commit to this ongoing effort and;

Select one point person in the school unit to be responsible for compiling and submitting the data from all schools to submit one report in June for each school administrative unit.
Share this notice with their school nurses and other health staff.

This data collection will be included with the School Health Annual Report that is submitted at the end of each school year. Although these added questions are not required, we strongly recommend every school unit participate. The data points, not covered in any other state or national survey, are:

Staffing levels for health services (direct services, supplemental staff, special assignments, supervisory position provided by RN, LPN, and health aides)
Number of students with a diagnosis (from a health care provider) of asthma, type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, seizure disorder, life threatening allergy
Health office visits & disposition (number of students seen face to face by RN, LPN, health aide and resulting disposition: return to class, sent home, or 911 call)

The Department is in full support of the NASN Every Student Counts™ initiative. The Maine Association of School Nurses will be working with the Maine DOE School Nurse Consultant to promote the collection of this data statewide.

If you have questions about Every Student Counts™, please contact Emily Poland, RN, School Nurse Consultant at Emily.Poland@Maine.gov or 207-624-6688, or visit the Every Student Counts™ Website.

Anticipated Timeline for Release of Maine Education Assessment (MEA) Results

The anticipated date for providing confidential Maine Education Assessment (MEA) results to districts for review is October 8, 2018.

The anticipated date for releasing final MEA public data and Individual Student Reports is October 29, 2018.

The preliminary release of confidential student results will allow districts approximately three weeks to review and verify the data manually in the individual and aggregate assessment reports in the Maine Assessment and Accountability Reporting System (MAARS) prior to the public release on October 29, 2018.

For further information please contact Maine DOE Deputy Director of Learning Systems, Janette Kirk at janette.kirk@maine.gov.

Understanding Maine DOE Data: A Workshop for School and District Leaders

Are you a school or district leader that wonders why the Department collects certain data sets and what they are used for? Get the answer to this question and more by attending a workshops led by Paula Gravelle of School Finance and Charlotte Ellis of the Data Team. These are targeted sessions for school and district leaders, they will be about data use and policy, not data entry.

Topics Covered:

How does the State calculation work for funding public education (PreK-12)?
What data is important for the Essential Programs and Service (EPS)?
What data is important for Accountability?
What are the deadlines for submitting data?
Should I certify even if the data is wrong?
How does my data effect other districts?
What if I have an error in my data, can it be corrected?
What type of student data impacts the subsidy calculation?
Why do I have to do certifications?

Workshop Sessions Details:

August 7, Caribou High School 9:30-11:30 AM
August 8, Ellsworth Elementary/Middle School 9:30-11:30 AM
August 9, Brewer High School 9:30-11:30 AM
August 20, Cony High School (Augusta) 9:30-11:30 AM
August 21, Mt. Ararat Middle School (Topsham) 9:30-11:30 AM
August 22, Mt. Blue High School (Farmington) 9:30-11:30 AM
August 23, Gorham High School 9:30-11:30 AM

Please join Maine DOE School Finance Consultant, Paula Gravelle and Data Manager, Charlotte Ellis to understand why data matters.

Register for one of the workshops here: Workshop Registration Link

Important Update About NEO Accountability Report and Certification

This year the Department launched the NEO Accountability Report and Certification reports which were created to assist with data reporting for assessment and accountability. These reports were meant to be used by districts and schools ahead of time to validate data for students who need to be assessed, allowing for a clean data set to be sent to for assessment and accountability reporting, and no cleanup and validation necessary in the fall.

Unfortunately, due to the many technical issues with the Accountability Report and Certification, the Department is closing the reports. While there was much progress made in fixing the technical issues, due to the complications with the reports and the lack of districts who were able to complete the report, the former process of allowing fall data cleanup will continue for this year only.

To meet assessment and accountability reporting deadlines, the current data was pulled and will be sent to the reporting vendor as is.

As in the past, districts and schools will be able to validate the data manually in the individual and aggregate assessment reports in the Maine Assessment and Accountability Reporting System (MAARS) in the fall.

In the future, the Department will release the NEO Accountability Report and Certification again to be used for the 2018-2019 school year, with no data cleanup for the fall of 2019.

For further questions contact Maine DOE Data Manager Charlotte Ellis at Charlotte.Ellis@maine.gov.

Maine DOE Helpdesk to Implement Ticketing System

In an effort to better serve Maine districts and schools, the Maine Department of Education’s Data Helpdesk is implementing a ticketing system.

The ticketing system will help the Department better track requests coming into the Helpdesk, increase response time, guide training sessions, and track common issues.

Requests to the Helpdesk can be made in the same way they are currently made (either over the phone or by email to MEDMs.helpdesk@maine.gov). The ticketing system will generate a response email with a ticket number when a request is submitted, and will send an automated response once the issue is resolved.

It is anticipated that the system will be functioning in the coming weeks. For further questions contact Shannon Bartash, Maine DOE Data Systems Helpdesk Manager at (207)624-6799 or Shannon.Bartash@maine.gov.

Maine DOE Data Management Systems Summer Training

Maine Department of Education is holding their annual summer training. The training focus this year will be on tips and resources to assist districts with their data reporting and viewing/certifying their reports. This has been a challenging year for those in the field as well as the Department with a new Student Information System, Synergy, and several new data reporting requirements. Our session this year will be focused on sharing resources to assist districts with the data tasks required.

Training Dates and Locations

August 7, Caribou High School
August 8, Ellsworth Elementary/Middle School
August 9, Brewer High School
August 20, Cony High School (Augusta)
August 21, Mt. Ararat Middle School (Topsham)
August 22, Mt. Blue High School (Farmington)
August 23, Gorham High School

All sessions will begin with registration at 8:30am, presentations beginning at 9:00am. We will serve a light lunch and will finish no later than 4:00pm. Coffee and water will also be provided throughout the day.

Topics for each session:

Recap of systems – NEO and DC&R
Where to find helpful resources
Maine Schools and School Approval changes
Entering staff information
Synergy – manual and uploads
Graduation requirements and reporting
Student Reports – where to find them and how to utilize them
Behavior, Truancy and Attendance – importance of these reports and important resources
How student and staff data is used for EPS and Accountability

To register for the training, please visit Summer 2018 Training Registration.

For further questions, contact Shannon Bartash Maine DOE Data Systems Helpdesk Manager at (207) 624-6799 or Shannon.Bartash@maine.gov.

NEO Accountability Report and Certification Webinar Recording and FAQ

The Maine Department of Education held a webinar on June 21 to Review the NEO Accountability Report and certification requirements. The recording is available for anyone who was unable to participate in the webinar.

The NEO Accountability Report allows districts to validate student enrollment and demographic data. The report lists students by student groups which will directly inform student group reporting as part of school support determinations and ESEA Report Cards. The report also identifies which assessments the students should have taken, full academic year enrollment for all students, and whether or not a student will be included for accountability measures or only for assessment reporting.

The Accountability Certification will need to be submitted by each Superintendent. Once validated, the data will be used for ESEA Report Cards and other assessment and accountability reporting.

NEO Accountability Report and Certification Webinar Recording (you will need to register for GoTo Webinar to view the recording)

Accountability Webinar Questions and Follow-Up FAQs

My school is an SPPS (Special Purpose Private School). NEO also shows “no data” for this report
- SPPS are not factored in the accountability model. However, the fact that data doesn’t show for your school is an error in NEO that will be corrected. Student data should show for your schools so you can validate that the information is correct. The report developers have been notified.
As a SPPS, does my superintendent need to verify this report?
- No
What were the asterisks vs the blanks for on the Student Detail?
- Asterisks indicate the assessment(s) that the student should have taken. A blank indicates that the student did not need to take any of the assessments.
If something is not right, who do we contact?
- If the data is related to student demographics or enrollments, please first validate that the information is correct in Synergy. If the data is correct in Synergy, please contact the Helpdesk – MEDMS.Helpdesk@maine.gov 207-624-6896 or contact Charlotte.Ellis@maine.gov 207-624-6696
My accountability certification report is blank, but I can see kids in the detail report. Is this because I don’t do the certification? Or is there something else I need to do?
- This was an error that has been corrected.
Who certifies?
- Superintendent
Our schools are each their own district because we are an AOS. I have some kids who are marked N for full year district and a Y for full year school. They should be the same for each district and school in our case since our schools are their own districts. how do I fix this?
- Please review the enrollment data in Synergy. It is possible for a student to attend one of your schools for the full year, but whose resident district has changed, so the district full academic year would not be Y, but the school full academic year would be Y.
What is a schoolwide program?
- Schoolwide program is a type of Title 1 program. For further information please contact Dan Weeks at: Daniel.R.Weeks@maine.gov or (207) 624-6749.
What about those that are tagged Y but are AFS students?
- AFS (Foreign exchange) students are not treated any differently than other high school students.
What if the students take their entire program at a vocational center?
- The sending school/district is still responsible to see that the student takes the appropriate assessments.
Can you explain where the numbers are coming from on the bottom? Such as Title 1
- Title 1 numbers have two sources.
  - If the school has a schoolwide Title 1 program, then all of the students are flagged with Title1ELA and Title1Math.
  - If the school does not have a schoolwide Title 1 program, but rather a targeted assistance program, then the flags come from data entered into Synergy.
We are a school wide, but the numbers are not matching the number of students above.
- Please recheck the numbers. There was an error in the report earlier that has been fixed. If there are still issues, please contact Charlotte.Ellis@maine.gov 207-624-6696.
Are Special Purpose Private Schools responsible for entering and checking this data for their students or is this a requirement for the public schools only?
- SPPS should review the data (if the report has been fixed so you can see it) to validate that student grade levels and enrollments are entered correctly.
Where can I get the recorded version?
- https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8477604477455510018
We have a student that was enrolled the entire year, but is showing N in both District and School Full Year columns.
- Students are considered to be school full year if they are enrolled on October 1 and May 4 at the same school.
- Students are considered to be district full year if the same district is responsible for the student on October 1 and May 4.
- October EPS enrollment data is utilized to determine the October 1 status, if enrollments were entered after October EPS was closed (even if they cover the October 1 date), then the student isn’t counted as Full Academic Year.
What does the E mean in the ELA Assessment column?
- The “E” indicates Exempt.
  - EL students who arrived at a US school between April 1, 2017 and March 1, 2018 and who took the ACCESS for ELLs assessment are exempt from having to take the ELA assessment
  - EL students who arrive at a US school between March 1, 2018 and May 4, 2018 are exempt from having to take the ELA assessment
We have students with “waivers” who shouldn’t be on the list
- The only “waivers” that the Department recognizes are
  - the EL exemption – see question 16
  - special considerations – these students will have an S in the column for the assessment(s) for which the special consideration was granted
- Students whose parents requested that the student not test will be counted as Non-Participants – there is no waiver for these students

For further questions contact Charlotte Ellis, Data Manager at Charlotte.Ellis@maine.gov.

NEO Accountability Report and Certification Webinar to be Held June 21

In order to determine supports for Maine schools, student level participation and student group demographics must be collected. The snapshot date for the data collection this year was May 4, 2018.

The NEO Accountability Report allows districts to validate student enrollment and demographic data. The Accountability Report lists students by student groups which will directly inform student group reporting as part of school support determinations and ESEA Report Cards. The report also identifies which assessments the students should have taken, full academic year enrollment for all students, and whether or not a student will be included for accountability measures or only for assessment reporting.

The Accountability Certification will need to be submitted by each Superintendent. Once validated, the data will be used for ESEA Report Cards and other assessment and accountability reporting.

NEO Accountability Report and Certification Webinar

Purpose: Review the report, certification requirements, and ask any questions you may have regarding the report.
Date: Thursday, June 21, 2018
Time: 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Register here

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. This webinar will be recorded and available to view afterward.

For further questions contact Charlotte Ellis, Data Manager at Charlotte.Ellis@maine.gov.