Google, State Partner to Offer Free AI Training

The Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development (MDHEWD) and the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) are pleased to announce a new partnership with Google to help empower educators, students, and job seekers across the state with critical job ready and AI skills, all at no cost.  

Missouri is home to nearly 100,000 active educators and 1.1 million students across all levels of education. These tools will further streamline educator workloads and create customized classroom materials that allow for a concentrated focus on supporting students, while giving learners access to innovative, active, and constructive learning experiences. 

“This partnership reflects Missouri’s commitment to using AI in ways that directly benefit the people we serve,” said Governor Mike Kehoe. “As AI rapidly reshapes our economy, we’re preparing Missouri’s workforce with the skills needed to stay competitive. By prioritizing safe, ethical, and transparent use of technology, we’re making state services more accessible and ensuring Missourians are ready for the high-growth, high-wage jobs of an AI-driven future.”

Missouri is partnering with Google through its Grow with Google initiative, providing residents with free access to Google Career Certificates and Google AI courses. Training courses are flexible and offered online, designed to help Missourians strengthen their skills and gain job-ready AI skills that help them better prepare for high-earning careers. Individuals can secure their free license by registering online.  

“These courses strengthen our commitment to helping job seekers gain the practical skills and confidence needed to step into high-quality careers,” said Dr. Bennett Boggs, Commissioner of the Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development. “By expanding access to cutting edge AI training and education to job seekers, students, and instructors, we’re preparing Missourians for the workforce of the future and ensuring individuals at every stage of their career journey remain competitive.”  

In addition, MDHEWD and DESE will provide educators, students, and staff with access to Google for Education AI tools, including Gemini for Education and Gemini Notebook and the Google AI Educator Series which provides standards-aligned training at no-cost to help educators understand and use these tools effectively.    

"We’re proud to partner with Missouri to give educators, students, and professionals across the state no-cost access to secure, cutting-edge AI tools, training, and certifications,” said Chris Phillips, Vice President and General Manager, Education, Google. “By delivering these resources directly through K-12 schools, colleges, universities, and local Missouri Job Centers, we are helping residents statewide build practical AI fluency so they can thrive at school and in their careers today and prepare for the opportunities of tomorrow."

“School districts and charter schools continue to have full discretion over the adoption of these tools, and for those that implement them, this work strengthens personalized learning and helps students interact with AI safely, ethically, and responsibly,” said Dr. Stacey Preis, Interim Commissioner of Education. “DESE is committed to ensuring the best conditions for student success and upholding a vision in which every Missouri student graduates with a great education.” 

DESE has four key areas of support that will guide the state’s rollout of these tools: 

 Support for Educators: Tools will help educators generate lesson plans, develop grading rubrics, and summarize classroom discussions, reducing administrative tasks and strengthening instruction.

 Customized Learning: Tools will provide practice exercises and materials tailored to each student’s learning pace and needs, enhancing teacher instruction. 

 Research and Brainstorming: Students can use technology as a supplemental resource while learning to verify the accuracy and reliability of AI provided information. 

 Digital Citizenship: A dedicated AI literacy curriculum will ensure students understand how to use these tools effectively and ethically. 

Rigorous standards for data security and privacy are built into the foundation of Google’s education tools. Clear guidelines and expectations are available for educators to help students use resources appropriately. By pairing the technology with digital citizenship instruction, educators can reinforce ethical use and help students develop the skills needed to engage with AI responsibly. 

North Nodaway Gets $50,000 School Safety Grant From State

On Monday, Governor Mike Parson announced 169 school districts and charter schools have received grants from the newly created School Safety Grant Program. North Nodaway got a $50,000 grant from the program.

“Improving the safety and security of our schools is an issue we can all support, and these grants help ensure our schools remain safe environments for Missouri children to learn,” Governor Parson said. “While threats of violence are something we never want to see in our classrooms, we must be prepared and have proper resources and response plans in place.”

The grant program aims to support school safety improvements, including physical security upgrades and associated technology in school facilities (e.g., door locks, monitoring systems), bleeding control kits, and automatic external defibrillators. The $20 million grant was part of Governor Parson's Fiscal Year 2023 early supplemental budget request. Governor Parson's Fiscal Year 2024 budget proposal includes an additional $50 million for the program, if approved by the General Assembly.

“Funding to support safety helps ensure schools remain among the safest places for our students,” Commissioner of Education Margie Vandeven said. “These grant funds to support the physical safety of schools are an important part of ensuring our students have a safe environment for learning and growing.”

School districts and charter schools applied to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) through a competitive grant application process for a maximum grant amount of $900,000 for districts/schools with the largest student populations.

Community Eligibility Provision Offers Schools Way to Offer Free Meals

This year, the Biden Administration did away with giving everyone free lunches, meaning that schools will charge for lunches unless students have a Free & Reduced application on file with the schools. However, the Community Eligibility Provision offers schools an opportunity to offer kids free lunches without parents having to submit the paperwork to get free or reduced lunches.

The Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010 established the Community Eligibility Provision to allow high poverty schools to serve free means to all enrolled students for a period of four consecutive school years. This option is available to all schools participating in both the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program.

Instead of household applications, schools can claim percentages based on the number of identified students for reimbursement. Identified students include:

--Students with direct certification as free lunch eligible. This includes students who are on food stamps or TANF;

--Homeless lists;

--Migrant lists;

--Foster lists;

--Runaway lists;

--Head Start lists.

To be eligible, schools must have an Identified Student Percentage of at least 40% to participate in the program. The school must then have approval from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education prior to implementation. Schools must provide the agency with raw data showing how the ISP was derived. Schools pay the difference between federal reimbursement and the cost of providing all meals at no charge.

If the ISP falls below the 40% threshold at the end of the four year cycle, schools will be allowed to continue the CEP for a grace year if it falls within 30-40% as of April 1st. Those that do not meet this threshold will be required to return to regular program administration, including collecting household applications.

Schools must notify the state of their intent to implement CEP by June 30th of each school year to begin CEP for the following school year. 

In order to participate, schools must do the following:

--Submit the April 1st Community Eligibility Provision Site List report by April 15th;

--Submit the ISP raw data supporting documentation to DESE by June 30th prior to the year of implementation;

--Submit the CEP Police Statement Form, ISP Calculation Worksheets, and a completed web application packed to DESE prior to the year of implementation;

--Following approval by DESE, notify households that meals will be served at no charge.

Schools can recalculate the ISP and report it to the state in order to get a higher reimbursement rate.

North Daviess is currently participating in the program. Eligible, but not participating, is Craig. St. Joseph is participating, but their ISP number fell to 39.8% for this year; they are in their grace year. Grundy County is near-eligible at 35%.

Governor Parson Signs Bill Extending Child Care Quality Improvement Program

On June 7, Missouri Governor Mike Parson signed HB 2365, a bill to remove the pilot status and extend the sunset of Missouri’s child care quality improvement program, known as the Quality Assurance Report.

The voluntary program provides an avenue for child care providers in home-based, exempt from licensure, and center-based care to receive professional development coaching, training, and seek best practices in caring and educating young children.

“We know that quality life-long learning begins with early childhood education. Continuously improving early learning in Missouri is going to set our children up for a lifetime of success,” said Rep. Brenda Shields, sponsor of HB 2365. “I am proud that Governor Parson signed the bill into law for Missouri’s kids.”

Since initial passage in 2016, Missouri’s Quality Assurance Report has had five small cohorts and has allowed Missouri to compete and obtain two federal preschool development grants, resulting in more than $30 million in federal funding since 2019 to streamline and improve Missouri’s early childhood governance and infrastructure.

“This program extension is the latest example of how Governor Parson and the Missouri General Assembly are working together to support our state’s youngest children and those who care for them,” said Craig Stevenson, director of policy and advocacy for Kids Win Missouri.

Through an evaluation report after the first five cohorts, more than 75% of participating child care providers reported that the program resulted in improvements to their program. Improving children’s quality of child care environments and interactions with providers results in better outcomes and kindergarten readiness.

“Having a system in place that can provide additional tools to help families identify quality child care is a win for young children in Missouri,” said Robin Phillips, CEO of Child Care Aware® of Missouri.  “The more tools parents have to make informed choices, the more empowered they are to choose a child care provider they can partner with in their child’s growth and development.”

“The Quality Assurance Report gives early care and education providers a tool that will facilitate a continuous improvement program,” said Linda Rallo, vice president of Aligned. “As a business-leader led organization, we believe high quality early education programs will deliver the highest return-on-investment to society by preparing children for success later in life.”

The Quality Assurance Report will be led by the Office of Childhood within the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and based on feedback, will increase support in implementing best practices to providers specializing in care for infants and toddlers, home-based child care, and Pre-kindergarten age children.