Category: Data Management

Chronic Absenteeism Data Training Webinar Recording

The Maine Department of Education held a webinar on Tuesday, June 12 for districts and schools to discuss the recently released 2016/17 chronic absenteeism data including collection process and resources available to help with 2017-2018 reporting.

The webinar was recorded for those who were not able to participate during the webinar. The recording and supporting documents are available below:

For further questions, please contact one of the following individuals:

End of School Year Checklist for Completing Reports

The following checklist is designed to assist districts with publicly funded students in completing required end of year reports.  The dates listed after each report are when the report is open for entry and due for certification, if required.

Synergy:

The following items are available in the Synergy Student Information System. Please visit http://www.maine.gov/doe/data/helpdesk.html#resources for Synergy codes to be used for the items below.

☐   Update Attendance

  • All students with an enrollment must have attendance entered
  • Please register for the Chronic Absenteeism Webinar on June 12, 2018 at 1:00 for discussions on the data where districts can ask questions and discuss resources available to ensure accurate data. https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4892409320166524419☐   Update Truancy

☐  Special Education – exit any students who have left special education:

☐   Update Behavior – Note: all enrollments exited with an expulsion must have an expulsion incident in the behavior module

  • Special Education will not need to be ended unless the student is exiting the special education program. Special Education services will need to be uploaded each year.

☐  Update/End ALL Enrollments:

  • DOE will NOT be automatically ending enrollments
  • Concurrent enrollment MUST be ended before the primary enrollment can be ended
  • All students will need to be exited on their actual last day of school. This may be verified using “Attending Student Report”
  • June 30 should not be automatically populated for the last day of school.
  • Future exit dates are not permitted in the system.
  • Ending a student’s enrollment will end Economic Status and Truancy – to avoid this, update Truancy records prior to ending enrollments
  • New enrollments will need to be uploaded/entered as well as special education information each school year.

Annual End of Year Reports and Certifications: 

The following items can be accessed from DC&R. Guidance is available at http://www.maine.gov/doe/data/helpdesk.html#resources.

  • April 4 YR Graduation Report April 25 – June 8
  • Accountability (coming soon) – certified by Superintendent. June 8 – June 29
  • April 1 Counts – certified by Superintendent. May 2 – June 29
  • Attendance – certified by Superintendent. June 4 – June 29
  • Behavior – certified by Superintendent. June 4 – June 29
  • Special Education Exit Report – certified by Special Ed Director or Superintendent. June 1 – June 29.
  • Truancy – certified by Superintendent. June 4 – June 29
  • Bullying reporting –  certified by Superintendent. June 15 -June 29.
  • Report of Adult Education for Subsidy Purposes for Calendar Year 2017 –  June 1-July 15 .
  • School Nurse Annual Report.  May 25 – July 31.
  • Restraint and Seclusion Report – certified by Superintendent. June 15 – August 1.
  • Q4 Actual Balance Sheet July 1 – August 25
  • Q4 Actual Expenditure July 1 – August 25
  • Q4 Actual Revenue July 1 – August 25
  • Q1 Budget Expenditure – Due by 8/25/2018 or 30 days after the budget passes, whichever is later
  • Q1 Budget Revenue (coming soon) – Due by 8/25/2018 or 30 days after the budget passes, whichever is later.
  • Maine Schools and School Approval (coming soon) – Certified by Superintendent (more information to follow soon)
  • Special Education Teachers, Paraprofessionals, and Related Services Personnel – Due to technical issues in NEO, data collection for the EF-S-05 Part 2; Special Education Teachers, Paraprofessionals, and Related Services Personnel, will be delayed. It is anticipated that the report will open in NEO during the summer and will be due in September, 2018. The open date and due date will be announced when the technical issues have been resolved. For questions regarding the EF-S-05 Part 2, contact Brandi Giguere at brandi.a.giguere@maine.gov or 624-6648.
  • Public Preschool Annual Report – Due by July 31 Note: This report should be submitted directly through the survey link in the linked notice. Send questions to Nicole Madore at Nicole.madore@maine.gov  or 624-6677.

Contacts and Questions

If you have questions about these reports, (i.e. what should be entered) please contact the specialist listed below:

If you have questions about accessing the reports, please call or email the helpdesk. 624-6896 or medms.helpdesk@maine.gov

If you do not have credentials for Synergy or NEO – Access forms for Synergy and NEO if needed are located at: http://www.maine.gov/doe/data/helpdesk.html#resources  These forms must be signed by Superintendent and returned to medms.helpdesk@maine.gov.

Maine DOE Data Coordinator, Charlotte Ellis and Helpdesk Manager, Shannon Bartash will be available for questions at the Superintendent conference on June 28th.

Certification System Educator Portal to be Released Statewide

The Maine Department of Education is completing final testing on the educator portal of the new online certification system and will release the portal as soon as testing is completed. The educator portal will be utilized for processing only renewal applications for the first few weeks.  The certification department is still accepting paper applications for initial credentials and fingerprints, but all renewal applications MUST be processed through the new online system.

Key Items to Know

  • If your certificate/authorization expires on 7/1/2018, please know that just your application through the online system must be received by that date. Your effective date for your new certificate/authorization will be the date your completed application was received.
  • If you are employed in a school district in Maine, please contact your certification chairperson to ensure you have been recommended for renewal.
  • No additional documentation will be needed if you are renewing a provisional or professional certificate and have been recommended by your district chairperson.  However, if you are renewing any other certificate or do not work in a Maine school district please ensure you have your documents ready to upload in PDF format.
  • Give yourself enough time to complete the process in one sitting.  The application process will not save and you will need to start over if you exit the application.
  • Instructions on how to create your account as well as other support documents will be posted on all channels listed below so please keep lookout for these communications.

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

Guidance on District Technology Plan Development for 2017 – 2018 and 2018 – 2019

Over the past few months, there have been a number of questions about expectations for completing and submitting to the Department district technology plans. This correspondence is designed to answer those questions for district and school administrators, in particular, those who are responsible for developing technology plans.

Has the Technology Plan Requirement Changed?

Yes, there are three main points here:

  1. The federal technology plan requirement for E-rate eligibility no longer exists.
    • Districts still need to maintain copies of approved plans and approval letters for the time specified to your district under federal requirements at the time you last submitted a plan.
  2. Districts should include their technology plan in their Comprehensive Education Plan.
    • This is not submitted to the Department, however, superintendents certify this is complete on their School Approval Application, which is submitted to the DOE.
  3. The MLTI Participation Agreement includes additional guidance.
    • Superintendents signed participation agreements when their schools opted into an MLTI solution.
    • A sample participation packet can be found at the link below: http://www.maine.gov/doe/mlti/policy/responsibility_sau/index.html
    • Two parts are relevant to the new technology plan expectations:
      • “#3. SAU agrees to address how MLTI will support its school and district goals in its Board-approved technology plan.”
        • This does not mean that the DOE needs to review or approve your plan.
      • “#11. SAU agrees to take part in studies, surveys, etc. related to the MLTI (e.g. Bright Bytes).”
        • This part enables us to have state-wide insight on the impact of MLTI and the use of the technology for better teaching and learning outcomes.

What Does This Change Mean for My District?

  • In 2017 – 2018, we’ve asked districts that receive state support for participation in MLTI and whose current approval expires in June 2018, to share their technology plan with us. This can be accomplished using the short form provided to districts earlier this year (see below).
  • In 2018 – 2019, only the schools that are participating in the MLTI Apple and HP opt-ins (have those solutions or packages) will be asked to provide information to the Department. Districts will be asked to have students and staff complete the BrightBytes survey in the fall of 2018, no later than November 30, 2018, and may be asked a few additional questions by the Department.
  • For those districts that want technical support as they review their data or create action plans related to technology use, the Department will still provide support and will be continuing to work with BrightBytes to offer online and in-person learning opportunities.

Form for 2017 – 2018:

  • The form to be submited to the DOE is substantially shorter. A number of districts have gathered a small group of stakeholders and completed this task in a matter of hours.
  • The form can be found here: http://www.maine.gov/doe/mlti/techplan/2018DistrictTechPlanForm.docx
  • The goal of the new form is to encourage:
    • Purposeful and intentional use of technology for teaching and learning
    • Planning for technology use with multiple stakeholders
    • Alignment of technology use to your schools/districts’ mission or priorities
  • The form requires you to pick five data points from BrightBytes and create an action plan to improve each.
    • This means that you need to administer the BrightBytes survey to your students and staff.
    • Advice: Pick a unifying theme or overarching goal, and then think of the data points as five indicators of progress toward that goal.
    • Rationale: Doing so allows you to align your technology plan to existing school and district priorities and allows you to talk with teachers and students about using technology in a way that already supports the teaching and learning that is happening (instead of thinking of it as one more thing to do).
  • For districts that want feedback on this form, please submit it to Amanda.Nguyen@maine.gov by June 30th. You will receive feedback over the summer.

If you have any questions about this, you can reach out to Amanda Nguyen Digital Learning Specialist for the Maine Department of Education at  Amanda.Nguyen@maine.gov or 207-624-6656.

 

Resources to Support Student Attendance

The Maine Department of Education’s Office of School and Student Supports has compiled a resource guide to assist schools in their efforts to improve student attendance and reduce chronic absenteeism.

Using the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child model developed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and ASCD, the guide provides a comprehensive set of evidence-supported health, school climate, and community/family engagement strategies that address the most common causes of chronic absenteeism.  It also includes resources for the development of whole school monitoring and information gathering practices to help schools better understand their attendance challenges.

Download the Comprehensive Attendance Plan Report

The guide will be updated with additional  resources as they become available.  For further information about  attendance and truancy resources, contact Gayle Erdheim at gayle.erdheim@maine.gov or (207) 624-6637.

 

MaineCare Seed Adjustments to be Made; Review Q318 Reports by June 29, 2018

The recovery of Q318 MaineCare Seed will occur in the July 2018 subsidy payment and the Maine DOE is asking districts to review their reports by June 29, 2018 to ensure accurate adjustments to subsidy. District staff must review student by student claims on both the public and private MaineCare reports for Q318 by June 29, 2018.

To access the MaineCare Seed reports, please follow the instructions below.

  1. Log into NEO: https://neo.maine.gov/DOE/neo/Dashboard
    • Anyone who currently has Special Education Director permissions to the Special Education module, will automatically have permissions to access MaineCare reports.
    • As in the past, if a new staff member needs permission to access this module, a request from the Superintendent to the Maine DOE helpdesk will be necessary. The helpdesk contact information is medms.helpdesk@maine.gov or 207-624-6896.
  2. Click on the Student Data tab
  3. Click on the Student Report tab
  4. Select MaineCare in the Reporting Area drop-down
  5. Choose the quarterly Seed report and the report type (private/public)
  6. Click view report button
  7. Once the report appears on the screen, choose the export button.  You may export the reports to Excel but, please be aware that there may be multiple worksheet tabs within the workbook. Save the file to your computer.

If you disagree that a particular student or time period should be on the report, please provide the reason that you disagree along with the following to Denise.towers@maine.gov.

  • Identify the type of report (public or private) and the quarter in which the claims are located.
  • State Student ID
  • Service provided dates (to and from)
  • Total amount of Seed being disputed

Summer services: Students must be enrolled for the time period they are receiving educational services. This means that students that are receiving extended school year services in district or extended school year services in an out of district placement must have a primary enrollment for that time period in order for the MDOE to have the most accurate enrollment data to determine SAU responsibility for MaineCare Seed.

For more information or technical assistance related to MaineCare Seed, please contact Denise.towers@maine.gov.

 

 

Seeking School Highlights for ESEA Report Cards

The Maine Department of Education is requesting the assistance of school principals in the development of the new 2017-2018 ESEA Report Cards. A “School Highlights” section will be included on the Report Cards to provide the opportunity for schools to emphasize elements of which they are especially proud. The highlights will appear as part of a two-page graphical snapshot which may be viewed online or printed as a PDF for distribution.

The Maine Department of Education will be reaching out to principals via email asking them to submit their school highlights in an online survey. The data collection survey tool provides a list of categories with examples of possible responses. Schools may choose to create their own categories in the provided “Other” selection. Up to four categories will be available for submission. School highlights will be due to the Department by June 30, 2018. Please share this information with the principals in your district.

As a reminder, superintendents who attend the 2018 Commissioner’s Conference will get a chance to view the ESRA Report Card dashboard and ask further questions about the process.

For further questions and information contact Maine DOE Assessment and Accountability Data Coordinator Penny Henry at Penny.L.Henry@maine.gov.

 

New ESEA Report Cards & STEM Technology Showcase to be Featured at 2018 Commissioner’s Conference; Register Now

As a reminder, registration for the 2018 Commissioner’s Conference is now open. The conference features an array of sessions catered toward superintendents. This year’s sessions include opportunities to:

  • Get a sneak peak at the new ESEA Report Card dashboard
  • Ask questions and talk about ESSA, and School Improvement
  • Learn more about the budgeting process for Title I/ESEA funds
  • Learn more about supports and resources available on topics like Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS), trauma, attendance, concussion management, and substance abuse
  • Learn more about Certification, including updates about the new online system
  • Learn more about Department initiatives and goals including: pilot programs for early math and literacy, CTE programing and funding, and regionalization opportunities
  • Participate in open forums on the teacher shortage, and on educator effectiveness
  • Listen to panels about workforce development, and about workforce needs and CTE
  • Get hands on experience with current STEM technology at a showcase brought to you by the Maine State Library

See a draft agenda, including session descriptions.

In addition to this year’s breakout sessions, Commissioner’s Conference participants also have the opportunity to enjoy the following celebrations:

  • The Annual Reception Hosted by Apple, Inc
  • An Evening Banquet Dinner
  • Maine School Management Association’s Annual Awards Ceremony

The conference takes place at the Augusta Civic Center on June 27th and 28th.

Find additional resources and information including pricing, the draft agenda, lodging options, further details about registration including guest registration, and more on the Maine DOE Commissioner’s Conference webpage.

Register now »

Maine DOE to Host June 12 Webinar to Discuss Chronic Absenteeism Data Collection

The Maine Department of Education is hosting a webinar for districts and schools to discuss the recently released 2016/17 chronic absenteeism data including collection process and resources available to help with 2017-2018 reporting.

During the webinar, district staff, including staff that manage data and reporting, will have the chance to ask questions and seek further guidance on the collection process.

Chronic Absenteeism Data webinar
Tuesday, June 12, 2018 1:00 PM
Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4892409320166524419

After registering, a confirmation email will be sent containing further information about joining the webinar.

This webinar will be conducted using GoToWebinar® software and will be will be recorded to be viewed at a later date.

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

Public Preschool Annual Report

Per Chapter 124: Basic Approval Standards: Public Preschool Programs, (Section 17.01): Public preschool programs, including partnerships, will complete the electronic Public Preschool Program Annual Report online and submit to the Maine Department of Education no later than 30 days after the end of the school year.

This report is now available here and must be completed no later than close of business on July 31, 2018.

Before you get started, the following information will be useful to have:

  • Information on any staff turnover
  • Program operation:
    • Hours/day
    • Days/week
    • Any major changes- partners, curriculum, location, etc.
  • Successes/challenges
  • Student attendance- percentages for FRL, chronic absenteeism, transient students, etc.
  • Student’s identified:
    • English Learners- screening process
    • Individualized Education Plan (IEP)- referrals, active, no longer qualify, etc.
  • Student growth in all learning domains
  • 2018-19 MOU with Child Development Services
  • 2018-19 MOU with any community partners (if applicable)

All public preschool programs are required to complete this report. Any questions should be directed to Nicole Madore at Nicole.madore@maine.gov (624-6677).