AdvancED has begun the development of a new diagnostic and improvement platform to replace the AdvancED Adaptive System of School Improvement Support Tools™ (ASSIST™).  This new platform, called eProve® currently is at the early stages of design and development.  AdvancED plans to release components of the platform beginning in the 2015-16 school year.  AdvancED already has begun to solicit stakeholder feedback on the strengths and challenges of the current ASSIST platform to inform the design and development of eProve.  This feedback will help guide the design of a user friendly and customizable tool with added features and utilities not currently found in ASSIST. 

The Michigan Department of Education (MDE) currently is working with AdvancED on a transition plan that includes school, district and Intermediate School District beta testing.  At the present time, MDE is not planning a statewide transition to eProve before the start of the 2017-18 school year.  As a result, there is no need for immediate action by Michigan school systems and schools, but we did want to make you aware of this exciting information. Additional information will be provided as it becomes available. MDE and AdvancED will continue to collaborate with Michigan school and system end users with the betterment of our students at the forefront.

We have received questions regarding the Annual Education Report and how to complete the School Additional Requirements Diagnostic.  For those schools that have not yet completed their School Additional Requirements Diagnostics in ASSIST, it is suggested that you do the following:

• In the School Additional Requirements Diagnostic, in item two, Our school published a fully compliant annual report. (The Annual Education Report (AER) satisfies this). If yes, please provide a link to the report in the box below.
  • Choose No as your response
  • Enter N/A in the text box

For further information, please see the May 7, 2015, MDE Memo regarding Annual Education Reports.  Please note that this memo only applies to the Annual Education Report for the 2015-2016 school year.

ASSIST currently is scheduled to undergo an upgrade and enhancement release August 29 – 30.  This is the weekend before the School Improvement Plan is due.  Please plan accordingly.

Schools that have new administrators for the 2015-2016 school year must update the Education Entity Master (EEM).  Administrator names are updated in ASSIST via the EEM.

As a reminder, there is a recent ASSIST enhancement that allows users to select up to four activity types.  For example, Professional Learning and Technology can be selected as activity types for the same activity.  This enhancement allows school systems to run activity reports for all Technology Activities, which can be used in District Technology Planning.

Did you know that a random sample of School Improvement Plans are reviewed each year? These random sample reviews are used to inform the annual report presented to the State Board of Education and Michigan Legislature.  Further information about legislative requirements can be found on the Michigan Legislature website.

Mark your calendars for the following upcoming conferences:

• November 5 – 6:  AdvancED Fall Conference, Suburban Collection Showplace, Novi, MI

• November 16 – 17:  MDE School Improvement Conference, Lansing Center, Lansing, MI