Be Prepared for the Announcement of Minnesota School Ratings on Thursday, 30 August >>>>> Update from the Minnesota Department of Education

A Note to My Readers  >>>>>

On the afternoon of Wednesday, 29 August, I received an update from the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), pertaining to the new North Star Accountability System devised by that department so as to meet the strictures of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) passed by the United States Congress in 2016.  The Every Student Succeeds Act replaced No Child Left Behind (NCLB), which had prevailed since 2002.  Both ESSA and NCLB were passed in fulfillment of the provisions, and as the current versions, of another law, the Elementary and Secondary School Act of 1968, the purpose of which was to achieve educational equity by providing resources to schools with large percentages of students from families of low income.  The leading indicator for low income for public school students is now qualification for free or reduced price lunch.  After a second attempt, the Minnesota Department of Education received a waiver from NCLB in 2015, instituting a Multiple Measurement Rating System (MMRS) that, as is the case with the new North Star system, took into account factors that included Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) scores, upon which the MDE relied heavily, but also gave considerable weight to graduation rates and improvement over time.  With the passage of ESSA, the requirements of that law superseded those of NCLB and necessitated new plans from state departments of education that had received waivers.

Last evening at a Committee of the Whole Meeting at the Davis Center (Minneapolis Public Schools Central Offices, 1250 West Broadway), MDE staff members Michael Diedrich and Dennis Duffy presented on overview of the North Star Accountability System.  Look for my summary and comment on that presentation in a forthcoming article.

For now, please read this MDE communication and be prepared for the announcement of reference tomorrow that will give the performance statuses of schools according to ESSA and North Star criteria.

ESSA Update: August 29, 2018

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North Star public release tomorrow

The Minnesota Department of Education is about to publicly release the 2018 North Star accountability results! This is a milestone that you and your colleagues played a crucial role in bringing about, through your participation, feedback and advocacy over the past two years. We have been working with districts and news media over the summer to help them understand how the North Star accountability system differs from the Multiple Measurements Rating under our waiver, and from the days of No Child Left Behind. Of particular importance has been helping them think about accountability as having three important elements: support, recognition and reporting. You may find our growing collection of e-learning modules about North Star interesting as you prepare for our first release of data. 

Tomorrow, we will recognize schools as top performers in the areas of graduation rates, consistent attendance, English language proficiency, and progress on math and reading tests over time. We will also prioritize schools to receive varying levels of support from our MDE and our Regional Centers of Excellence over the next three years. We will add new reports to our Minnesota Report Card to help families see and understand North Star results for their schools. Additional reporting enhancements are coming later this year, and into 2019. 

Below are details about a stakeholder meeting next month. We would like to walk you through the results of our shared work, and hear your thoughts about North Star. We will also continue the important discussion of enhancing and making more transparent the public reporting around school finance.

We all thank you for the work you put in to making this system come to be!

Join us September 24 for an ESSA stakeholder meeting                                                  

The first full year of ESSA implementation has begun, but we still have work to do! Please join us for an ESSA stakeholder meeting, which will include:

• A brief overview of 2018 accountability results.
• Opportunity to provide feedback on school identification and recognition.
• Kickoff of phase 3 of stakeholder engagement, focused on fiscal transparency reporting.

The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on Monday, September 24 in Rooms 15-16, Conference Center B at the Minnesota Department of Education office in Roseville.