ESEA Monthly Update- December

Final Approvals of Applications and Performance Reports

 All submitted application and performance reports are reviewed in the order in which they are received.  This is an incredibly busy time for the department and a unique year for the Elementary Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Team. The ESEA staff is currently working to implement ESSA requirements. This task includes the implementation of Maine's Model of Support by the US Department of Education’s (USED) deadline of December 31, 2018. This undertaking last happened in 2001 after the approval of NCLB. The implementation of ESSA is a tremendous undertaking that the ESEA Office must complete in order to continue the flow of over $70 million dollars in ESEA funding to Maine. The ESEA Office continues to prioritize both elements of approvals and ESSA implementation to meet the needs of the field and the USED. If you currently do not have final approval, please check that all open sections of the applications have been addressed.

Carryover Next Steps: If your School Administrative Unit (SAU) had FY18 ESEA Title IA or Title IIA Carryover Funds, the SAU should be completing and submitting its End of Year Carryover Narrative and End of Year Summary Report pages by January 15, 2019. These carryover report pages can be found in the 2017-18 Performance Report. Expenses by project should be reported for the timeframe beginning after initial closeout up through December 31, 2018. If additional funds remain, an Extension Carryover Request should be made on the End of Year Summary page, and the SAU will have from January 1 through June 30, 2019 to expend these funds and complete the Extension Carryover Report pages. ALL FUNDS MUST BE EXPENDED BY JUNE 30, 2019.

If your SAU did not have any FY18 ESEA Title IA or Title IIA carryover funds, you may disregard the Carryover Next Steps section above.

 Manual Extension for FY18 Carryover Funds: The ESEA Federal Programs will not grant manual extensions to SAUs that were unable to expend their ESEA Federal Carryover Funds within the expected two-year time frame.

FY18 Funds must be completely expended by June 30, 2019.

Seal of Biliteracy

The Maine Department of Education recently announced that graduating students statewide will be eligible to apply for the Seal of Biliteracy this school year. The Seal of Biliteracy is an award given to students with a high level of skill in two or more languages, and Maine allows a variety of assessments to be used to determine eligibility. To cover the cost of these assessments, a district may consider using a portion of its Title I and/or Title III federal funds.

Federal funds may be used only in cases where the district is not covering the costs of these assessments through local/state funds for any students. In such cases, Title I can be used to cover the cost of world languages assessments only for the Title I-served seniors in a Title I Targeted Assistance Program. In a Title I Schoolwide Program, Title I funds may be used to cover the cost of world languages assessments for all seniors seeking the Seal of Biliteracy.

If local/state funds are not being utilized for the Seal of Biliteracy for any students, Title III may be used to cover the costs of world languages assessments for current English learners only. If you have any questions about the Seal of Biliteracy or about using ESEA federal funds to pay for assessments, please contact April Perkins at april.perkins@maine.gov or (207)624-6627.

ESEA Accountability

 As part of Maine’s roll out of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), school report cards will be released later this year. The Department continues to release newsroom notices to help explain the many elements of Maine’s Model of School Support and the report cards including, What Is Academic Achievement?, What is Graduation Rate?, What is Academic Progress?, and What is English Language Proficiency?. Contact Janette Kirk at Janette.Kirk@maine.gov for further questions about ESSA and the report cards.

Assessment

• The Department has released the 2017-2018 Maine Education Assessment (MEA) results. As a reminder, Released Items and Individual Student Reports are available.
• The National Assessment Governing Board has made some small changes to National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) achievement level descriptors. More info here.
• Regional assessment literacy PD opportunities are being offered in January 2019. Schools are strongly encouraged to register teams of three educators, each with a specialty in one of the following: English language arts, mathematics or science.

 Certification 

The Maine Educator Information System’s (MEIS) has officially been in production for one year as of November 14, 2018. Read more about the new system, including important updates and reminders for educators.

Data Reporting

• Dropout reporting is due December 14, 2018. Find details here.
• 2018-2019 Maine School Immunization Report is due December 31, 2018. Find details here.

 Facilities & Transportation 

The November School Safety and Security Bulletin is available: Door Locks and Code Compliance.

 English Learners

 There has been a change in English Learner identification and exit criteria. Please refer to Administrative letter #20 for details.

 Legislation

 As a reminder, LD 1924 An Act To Improve Information Sharing Relating to Investigations of Educators (Sec. 1. 20-A MRSA §13025) will go into effect on December 13, 2018 (not the 3rd).  More information is available here.

Professional Development Opportunities

 Visit the Maine DOE Professional Development and Training Calendar for the most up-to-date listing of opportunities.