Monthly Communication

for Continuous Improvement and State & Federal Programs

May 2023

Welcome to the monthly Continuous Improvement and State & Federal Programs communication. The purpose is to contextualize Continuous Improvement into our daily work, to efficiently complete all State and Federal Program tasks, and to promote moving these tasks past simple compliance. If this was forwarded to you, you are welcome to subscribe.

In This Issue

Important Dates
Consolidated Application 23/24
Title IA Plans
Read by Grade Three Changes
31a APFR
MDE Spring Workshops

Important Dates

May 1 - MICIP User Group (Zoom Link | passcode: wp5M2m)
May 17 & 18 - MASFPS Professional Learning Institute - Lansing
Mid-May(?) - Initial allocations released
June 1 - 31a APFR Webinar (Register)
May and June - MDE Spring Workshops (various locations)

Consolidated Application 23/24

Here are a few details on the consolidated application:

The ConApp will be fully in NexSys for 23/24, nothing in MEGS+. It will be important to attend an MDE Spring Workshop to get trained on how to use NexSys (details in the Spring Workshop section below)
Initial allocations will be released in mid-May. It is unclear when NexSys will open, but it will for sure be after the release of initial allocations.
The ConApp will not be due on June 30. There will be some sort of extension, though MDE has not yet communicated the date. Keep your eyes out for a memo with more details on the extension.
Title IA Plans are a required upload as part of the ConApp starting this year. It was previously a requirement to maintain these plans in your district, but they will now need to be included in your ConApp. See the next section for further details.

Title IA Plans

As mentioned above, Title I Plans are now required as part of the ConApp. Here are some details:

Each Title I school needs its own plan, which will be uploaded into the ConApp
Here is the plan template. This is the same one that has been out for several years. There are no changes, so if you've been keeping up on this you will be all set
Contact your OES consultant if you have questions or concerns

The Tile I plan requires that schools link to/attach their Parental Engagement Plans and compacts. Here are some resources to assist with this:

Read by Grade 3 Changes

As you may have heard, the retention portion of the Read by Grade Three law has been removed. Here are a couple quick takeaways:

Retention portion of RBG3 has been removed from the law
This goes into effect NEXT school year, so everything remains the same for this testing cycle
Everything else is still in the law (including IRIPs)
Use the Dynamic Scores Reports portion of the BAA Secure Site to get a head start on communicating with families of students that will be flagged for retention

31a Annual Program Fiscal Report

The 31a APFR is due July 15, 2023. Now is a great time for program directors and the business office to work together to get ready to complete the report once school is out. I high encourage thinking about this now, so you don't have to scramble to collect information once staff are out for the summer.

As always, districts will need to provide an unduplicated count of students served, counts of students served in each allowable category, how many of those students were eligible for F&R lunch, and how much 31a funding was spent in each category.

Here are some resources:

April 27 MDE Memo with more info
Upcoming 31a APFR Webinar on June 1 from 1:00 - 3:00 (Register)
MDE 31a FAQ (updated April 2023)

MDE Spring Workshop

MDE Spring Workshops are currently being organized. There will be a variety of face to face sessions across the state as well as virtual options. MDE is currently working on a memo to communicate all locations across the state and options for virtual meetings. These meetings are 1/2 day and will focus on everything we need to know about NexSys.

Below are some details for Region 2 (all times are 9:00 - 12:00, in person):