2007-08 Online Staff Development Report FAQ
FAQ for Staff Development Report
School districts are required to report the staff development activities and expenditures for the district and their school sites. Districts using state staff development revenue under M.S. § 126C.10, subd. 2 and M.S. § 122A.61 must use the state’s designated reporting format to submit a copy of their annual staff development report to the Commissioner of Education. All districts, including those not reserving funds, must complete a program report. Districts electing to waive or reduce the set-aside amount, must complete and submit the Staff Development Set Aside Waiver Form.
While charter schools are not required to report, we invite them to use this system as a tool in order to assist with the implementation of their own staff development.
This document includes answers to questions frequently asked by schools and district staff when completing the online report. Please read it carefully before you begin reporting your 2007-08 staff development information. Questions and answers are ordered to reflect progress through a reporting sequence from login to goals, activities, findings, etc.
1. Are there any computer system requirements?
A: MAC users should be using Firefox or Safari as their Internet browser, and PC users should be using the most current version of Internet Explorer.
2. How do I access the report through MDE Secure Online Reporting Systems?
A: Those who entered data in previous years will find a new login process on April 1, 2008. We have embedded the staff development report within the MDE security structure for online reports. Please follow these directions:
• New Users to the MDE Secure Online Reporting Systems
o Go to Minnesota Department of Education Website http://education.state.mn.us
o Go to Accountability Programs and select Required District and School Reports
o Scroll down the page and click the Log in to the Online Staff Development Report link.
o Click on Create New MDE-Account. Click the I Accept button to accept the User Authorization Agreement.
o Create a profile by completing the form which includes a User ID and password, and click the Save button.
o On the Request Web Site Access page, you need to select a role, choose your district/school and click the Submit button. You will receive an e-mail granting system authorization within one business day. At that time you can continue to log in to the site.
• Users with existing User ID and password on the MDE Secure Online Reporting Systems
o Enter your User ID and password and choose the Login button.
o When you get the Access Not Allowed page, click the Request Application Access button. You need to select a role, choose your district/school and click the Submit button. You will then receive an e-mail granting system authorization within one business day. At that time you can continue to log in to the site.
3. Can I print a blank document for us to work from while developing our district/school report?
A: Yes. That option has been added on the Preview Final Reports page.
4. How many people do I need on the Staff Development (SD) Committee?
A: As long as the make-up of your Staff Development Committee adheres to the state statute (cited in the first paragraph), you may have as many members as you desire. The report limits you to 50 members.
5. I have more members on my SD Committee than there are spaces. How do I add all of my members on this page?
A: The Add button will increase your spaces by five spots. Use as many spots as you need to include your full SD committee membership. When you are finished, only the filled spaces will show on the final report.
System Tips:
~ The system will time out after a period of inactivity. Please save information frequently, since there is no auto save function in the report.
~ At any time, you can move to a different section of the report by clicking on the name of the desired section in the navigation bar at the left of the screen.
~ Error reports are hot-linked to the area of the report that needs to be filled completely. Click on the red error statement to go directly to the appropriate section of the report.
6. How do I add a district goal?
A: Use the Add Goal button on the right side of the screen.
7. How many goals do I need?
A: You must have at least one goal and as many as your committee has identified.
8. After completing the goals section, how do I navigate to the activities section?
A: When you are finished adding your district goals, you will click the link for Activities on the left navigation bar. Click on Add Activity on the page. Add as many activities as you need for each goal.
9. How many activities do I need for each goal?
A: You must have at least one activity for each goal.
10. How many findings do I need for each goal?
A: One finding for each goal. The finding summarizes the results of all activities that were implemented for a goal.
11. My district is in Statutory Operating Debt (SOD), but we still set aside monies for staff development. How do I handle this situation?
A: Answer YES to question #2 but please enter the percentage set-aside in question #3. Your district should also submit the Set Aside Waiver form (ED #02440-01). This form is found on the Training and Resources page under the Staff Development Report link.
12. If I enter decimals within dollar amounts (e.g. 2125.50), they disappear when I save the page. Why?
A: The system rounds the numbers to the nearest dollar amount.
13. Why can’t I change the pre-populated numbers on the staffing page?
A: Numbers already on the page have been imported from the Staff Automated Reporting (STAR) database. These are staffing numbers submitted by your district to MDE and have been pre-programmed into the report, so they cannot be changed.
14. The number in the box is zero for site staff and I cannot enter a larger number in the numerical box or skip over it.
A: You cannot enter a number larger than the pre-populated number, but you must enter a value. You need to enter a number or a zero before proceeding to the next section.
15. How do I enter my school site data?
A: If you have just completed the District Staff information, the program will automatically take you to the School Site page and present you with a drop-down menu of the school sites for your district. You can then select the site you wish to enter. At any time you can navigate to the School Site page by clicking on Select a School on the left navigation bar.
16. What if I am reporting for a K-12 school site or charter school?
A: Smaller districts composed of a single K-12 building will be coded as two separate sites: one for elementary and one for secondary. Information must be entered for both sites. Please do not use N/A as an answer for either of the sites. Feel free to copy and paste.
17. I have found a school site in the drop-down that is not part of our district anymore. How do I remove it from the system?
A: The site has been pre-populated with site information provided by your district and cannot be edited at this time. If a site is on the system, you will need to enter the information in the boxes provided using zeros and N/A until there are no error messages generated. Please alert the staff at MDE by using mde.school-verify@state.mn.us to request changes in any site information for future use.
18. Can I make changes to the final report after I have pressed the SUBMIT button?
A: No. Final submission locks the system data.
19. Why can’t I submit the report?
A: There may be several reasons:
• If you see no Submit option, you are not the designated Submitter. Contact your Staff Development Advisory Chairperson (listed on the front page of your district report).
• You may still have errors on the report. Check your error report page.
• The system could be experiencing technical difficulties – on the district or state side. Please wait and then try submitting again.
20. When is the deadline for submitting our final staff development report?
A: Districts are to submit their Staff Development Report by October 15, 2008.
21. When will I know I am finished?
A: Check your error reports. If all items report back in blue print, the report is error-free from the program’s perspective. That is, all text boxes contain text, all required values are entered and all required boxes have been checked. This does not mean that the content of the entries is correct. You must still manually check your content.
22. Is there a spell-check option in the program?
A. No. To have text entries spell-checked, you will need to open another window containing a blank word processing page (using WORD). Enter and edit your text here. When finished with all corrections, copy and paste the text into the report in the appropriate textbox.
23. My district or site used many of the same goals and activities as last year. Do I have to retype all of the information?
A. No. Open another browser window with the staff development report in it (yes, you can login twice). In the upper right-hand corner is a drop-down menu that says School Year. Click on the blue down arrow and select 06-07. This will open the report submitted last year. You are able to copy and paste text from last year’s report to this year’s report by highlighting the text, copying it, then pasting it into the appropriate text box for the current year, 07-08. You cannot edit text in the 06-07 report until it has been copied and pasted into the 07-08 report.
24. How do I print out the Statement of Assurances page?
A: To print the Statement of Assurances page, the staff development report must be submitted by the user with Submitter status on the system (there should only be one user per district with this status). A PDF version of this document will be generated when all the pages are complete and the submit button has been selected. If there are pages left incomplete on the report, an error report will be generated with a hyperlink to the page (or pages) that need information entered.
Please sign the Statement of Assurances and fax a copy to the MDE School Improvement Division at (651) 582-8517 by October 15, 2008.
If you should have any questions regarding this document or require technology assistance, please contact Dave Bakke at (651) 582-8318 / dave.bakke@state.mn.us
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