TRIG
Technology Readiness Infrastructure Grant
January 4, 2017 - TRIG Weekly Update
Table of Contents
Important News & Updates
Data Hubs - We invite all districts that are currently using Edupoint Synergy, MISTAR, PowerSchool, Skyward or SunGard eSchoolPlus to begin the onboarding process. Please visit the  District Application Information page  and click on the link for the sign-up form. 

MI Open Books - Free Social Studies Open Educational Resources (OERs) Now Available . Download yours here:  http://textbooks.wmisd.org/

EduPaths - New courses are being added all the time! Click here to sign up for FREE, bite-sized professional learning:   https://EduPaths.org/

Project Tomorrow Speak Up - Survey is now open until January 13, 2017. Go here to take it: http://www.speakup4schools.org/speakup2016/

TRIG on Twitter - Follow us! @22iTRIG   @MiOpenBook  @EduPathsMDE
legislative2016-17 22i: Technology Readiness Infrastructure Grant Legislative Report 

In accordance with the guidelines set forth by the Michigan Legislature, a final report detailing the work of the Technology Readiness Infrastructure Grant (TRIG) has been compiled. We would like to share with you an excerpt of this report below and encourage you to view the full report for more information. In addition, we would like to say thank you to the Michigan Legislature, to the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) and to the Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators (MAISA). As a result of their foresight and leadership, Michigan is now able to successfully test online!

In 2012, the Michigan Legislature set forth a vision and provided funding to prepare Michigan schools for the transition from paper-pencil assessments to online state assessments. Michigan's educators were also faced with the challenge of how to support student achievement in more effective and efficient ways. The two biggest issues they encountered were a lack of technological infrastructure and innovative capacity available to schools. Stemming from these needs, the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) administered a comprehensive competitive grant program that would meet the need to test online, as well as build the foundation for supporting student achievement through a statewide technology infrastructure. 

During the 2012-13 school year, the Technology Readiness Infrastructure Grant (TRIG) program was deployed. The unique and collaborative design guaranteed the legislative vision would be met and educators would soon have the infrastructure needed to support student achievement. The grant was structured to provide long-range efforts that built a sustainable, systematic infrastructure of ubiquitous access, actionable data, and personalized learning for students and educators across Michigan.

The continued support from the Michigan Legislature, over the past four years provided  $160,000,000 of grant funds that are being used to create a framework that supports the interaction between learners, educators, strategic partners, and the systemic infrastructure. This framework provides the successful implementation of online assessments and "Any Time, Any Place, Any Way, Any Pace" learning, as well as providing direct and indirect savings to districts totaling more than
$252,000,000

The full TRIG Legislative report strives to inform the Legislature and other key stakeholders of the impact on the  56 Intermediate School Districts (ISDs),  530 Local Education Agencies (LEAs), and  169 Public School Academies (PSAs), representing over  1.4 million students. It must be shared that Michigan, like many other states, made the choice to move to online testing - but where other states failed, Michigan prevailed. With the aid of the legislative vision and funding, the TRIG program has successfully prepared Michigan schools to transition to online state assessments by:
  • Providing $75,700,000 in funds directly to schools for technology readiness efforts.
  • Putting over 590,000 devices in the hands of students and educators across the state and in the process saved schools over $87,000,000.
  • Deploying five regional data hubs that supports the data of 85 percent of Michigan students. 
  • Leveraging E-Rate discounts for internet access and Wi-Fi in the amount of over $66,000,000 in 2015 for both schools and libraries.  
  • Working to connect K-12 networks to a statewide intranet for secure, efficient transfer of educational content, collaboration and online assessment. 
  • Creating a K-12 series of social studies resources that align to the Michigan Grade Level Content Expectations (GLCEs) and saving districts an estimated $15,000,000
  • Offering over 100 courses of high-quality supplemental online professional development for teachers.
Ultimately, Michigan's success is measured by the 96 percent of students and school districts that tested online during the 2015-16 school year and additional trending data illustrates a projected increase of students testing online for the 2016-17 school year.


tomorrowProject Tomorrow - 
Speak Up Survey 

As you may know, districts are able to use data from MTRAx to support technology bonds and millages.  But did you know that additional support for technology funding can be obtained through district participation in Project Tomorrow's Speak Up Survey?

The survey offers students, parents, and educators opportunities to inform local decisions about technology and contribute to a national dialogue regarding educational technology. In our continued partnership with Project Tomorrow, we are encouraging all districts to utilize the Speak Up free surveying tool. Take the survey today, and pass it on! The survey is available until January 13, 2017. Click here to see the 2016 Participating Districts by state

Results will be available for free to all participating schools and districts in February 2017 and will include state and national data for comparison. For more information, contact Jenny Hostert on the Project Tomorrow team at jhostert@tomorrow.org.

jobMichigan Department of Education Job Posting
E-Rate Specialist

The Michigan Department of Education has posted a Departmental Specialist 13 position with the Office of Education Improvement and Innovation on the State of Michigan posting site.  This permanent, full-time position is located in Lansing and open to all applicants.  To apply and/or view the position description, click on the link below. 



PDTRIG/Dell Virtual Professional  Learning 
for January 2017
No Cost Professional Learning
(open to all districts) 


All courses below are 3 weeks in length and contain two live, 1-hour webinars. After registering, you will receive course instructions; webinars will begin
the second week of the month (first week  is rolling enrollment and pre-course readings).  All courses are eligible for 6 SCECH credits per course. 

Click on the links below to get 
more information on each course and to register. 
*Please note, our registration partner is REMC.org. If you are registering for one (or more!) of these courses, please go to  https://www.solutionwhere.com/ww/remcam/. If you have not registered for professional learning through  REMC.org before, you will need to create an account. We look forward to bringing you more courses with this partnership throughout the year!


For additional TRIG Professional Learning Opportunities, 
visit EduPaths.org


datesTRIG Upcoming Dates 

Friday, January 6, 2017
TRIG Steering Committee Meeting

Monday, January 9, 2017
TRIG/MDE Team Meeting
South West Michigan Consortia Meeting

Wednesday, January 11, 2017
SEN Advisory Meeting
TRIG | (517) 327-9263 | 1001 Centennial Way Suite 300, Lansing MI 48917 | 22iTRIG.org
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