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ESEA Coordinators, please share the following information with your non-public contacts!
The Maine Department of Education’s new student information system, Connect, will be used to collect necessary information for ESEA equitable services. To qualify for FY28 ESEA Title I equitable services and meet the data requirements for October 1 enrollment, Title I enrollment data must be submitted to Connect by October 30, 2026.
For Title I, Part A proportional shares, non-public schools will need to enroll Title I eligible students. Please note, a student is only eligible for a Title I proportional share if they are identified as low-income and would have attended a Title I public school in their residential SAU. Non-public students receiving targeted services need to have their Math or Reading services identified in their enrollment in Connect as well.
The Maine DOE Data team will host a series of trainings over the summer to help SAUs and non-publics familiarize themselves with this data collection process. All Connect trainings can be accessed on Maine DOE’s Event Calendar. Please note the Area of Focus should be filtered to “Data” to see all Connect trainings for the summer and fall.
Connect General Training titled “Data Summer Training” will be hosted by the Data team. There will be six in-person opportunities throughout the state all providing the same information related to Connect enrollment. These trainings are not specific to non-public schools but will provide instruction on Connect reporting resources including best practices, website navigation, MEDMS support, and more. We recommend that non-public and SAU staff attend one of the following in-person general trainings on the Connect system.
- July 28 – Presque Isle
- July 29 – Old Town
- July 30 – Harrington
- August 11 – Waterville
- August 12 – Lewiston
- August 13 – Buxton
Title I Connect Enrollment Procedure Training: Beyond general Connect training, the ESEA team recommends that non-public staff attend all three trainings listed below. These webinars will walk participants through how to enroll students in Connect and flag students’ poverty status, multilingual status, and other important metrics.
We encourage ESEA Coordinators to attend to understand the process for capturing enrollment data. This updated process aligns the ESEA team’s data processes with data collection protocols used throughout the Maine DOE.
Please note, all webinars are posted on the Maine DOE Data YouTube playlist following the session. Lastly, we recommend that both non-public staff and ESEA Coordinators sign up for the Data Reporting Update newsletter distributed the first of every month to stay informed about any data reporting elements related to ESEA programming. For more information, please reach out to your ESEA Regional Program Manager and Educational Quality Data Trainer, AlLee Cookson at alexandra.cookson@maine.gov.