Public Districts, Special Purpose Schools

The ADVISER Data Elements guidance document has been updated for the 2025-2026 school year, including two key changes for data being collected in 2025-2026 (see Appendix A for a list of all changes).

First, due to the recent adoption of the updated Rule 15 statute regarding regulations for English Learner programs, students may no longer be dismissed from English Learner testing via an IEP team review. As a result, the “Dismissed Via IEP” flag in ADVISER should no longer be used in the 2025-2026 school year. The NDE will conduct a check to identify any students with that flag set before the end of the year.

Second, the NDE is introducing a new data collection for instances of emergency exclusions (as defined in Nebraska Revised Statute 79-264), and several new data elements have been created in ADVISER to support this collection. The NDE would like to begin collecting emergency exclusion data for the 2025-2026 school year beginning 7/1/2025. However, please be aware that your Student Information System vendors will first need to make changes to their software to allow reporting of this data. The tentative goal for vendors to add support for the new emergency exclusion data elements in ADVISER is March 2026, so please watch for any communications from your vendors about their updates.

Contact Information: NDE Service Desk (NDE.ServiceDesk@Nebraska.gov)

Public Districts

The Future Ready District Technology Profile is now available to Public Districts only in the NDE Legacy Portal within the “Data Collections” tab. It opened February 2, 2026.

PLEASE NOTE: The 2025 – 2026 Future Ready District Technology Profile has been fully updated and redesigned. While a small number of questions remain the same, most of the questions are new. We strongly recommend reviewing and gathering your information using the PDF version of the profile before entering data in the portal.

In addition, the data collection has moved from Qualtrics to QuestionPro. The new system functions differently, particularly in how progress is saved, so advance preparation will help ensure a smoother experience.

Additional information and resources for the new Future Ready District Technology Profile are available on the Technology Plan website, which includes links to the following documents:

1. PDF version of the new profile instrument
2. PDF of the instructions to access the profile in the portal
3. PDF of frequently asked questions (FAQ’s)

If you have difficulty accessing any of these documents on the NDE Technology Plan website, please contact Dorann Avey, Digital Learning Director at dorann.avey@nebraska.gov to request that the materials be emailed to you. Thank you.

Contact Information: Dorann Avey - dorann.avey@nebraska.gov

Nonpublic Systems

The NDE Service Desk and Accreditation teams are offering two office hour sessions to support Nonpublic Schools in completing their Nonpublic Curriculum Reports:

• Thursday, February 19, from 2-3pm CST
• Monday, February 23, from 11am-12pm CST

There will be no presentation. Service Desk and Accreditation staff will be available to answer any questions you may have. Feel free to drop in for part of, or the entire, hour.

The zoom link is available here.

Contact Information: NDE Service Desk (NDE.ServiceDesk@Nebraska.gov)

Nonpublic Systems

We have moved the Nonpublic Curriculum Reporting collection from the Legacy Portal into the New NDE Portal and it is now open!

The Nonpublic Curriculum Reporting System collects data for course codes assigned to instructional staff. Reported data is used to confirm compliance with Rule 10 Accredited School and Rule 14 Approved School regulations.

New: This application now requires an approval. This can be done by either the portal District Admin or Proxy.

• The following New Portal Roles automatically have access to the new application: District Admin-Nonpublic, Proxy Admin-Nonpublic, Data Steward-Nonpublic.

• To request access, once logged in to the New Portal, go to Profile>Requests and request the “Nonpublic Curriculum Reporting-District” role.

We will offer a few Nonpublic Curriculum Workdays mid/late February. Look for an announcement with those details, at a later date.

New Portal Resources: https://www.education.ne.gov/portal/

Need Help?
Nonpublic Curriculum or Accreditation/Approval Questions: Contact the Accreditation team (NDE.Accreditation@Nebraska.gov )
Technical Questions or Portal Support: Contact the NDE Service Desk (NDE.ServiceDesk@Nebraska.gov)

Contact Information: NDE Service Desk (NDE.ServiceDesk@Nebraska.gov or 888-285-0556)

We are excited to announce a call for presentations for the NDE 2026 Data Conference, scheduled for April 28 and 29, 2026, at the Younes Conference Center South in Kearney, Nebraska. We welcome submissions from anyone with valuable experience in education data. Presentations around the theme are preferred but not required. This year’s theme is:

From Evidence to Impact: Advancing Literacy and Accountability through Data
Grounded in AQuESTT and guided by literacy as an agency priority, this theme focuses on using data to move from information to action. It emphasizes how meaningful data practices drive literacy growth, inform accountability, and advance educational excellence statewide. 

If you are interested in presenting, please utilize this link to submit your proposal:
2026 Data Conference Call for Presentations 

All submissions must be received by January 31st, 2026. A notification of acceptance will be sent by February 13, 2026.  All accepted submissions will receive a complimentary ticket to the NDE 2026 Data Conference. 

We appreciate your consideration and look forward to receiving your proposals. We thank you for helping us to make the Data Conference in 2026 a success.

Please contact NDE.DataConferenceHelp@nebraska.gov with any questions.

Contact Information: NDE Data Conference (NDE.DataConferenceHelp@Nebraska.gov)

The purpose of this bulletin item is to provide information on how to request a conditional, temporary or alternative permit for teachers who have been hired to start in SPRING 2026 and may not have all their necessary documentation prior to the first day of school with students.

Conditional Permits:

• A Conditional Permit allows someone to sign a contract and work as a certified staff member with a location (school system) limitation and deficiencies that have not been met to be issued a regular teaching certificate such as a content test.
• A Conditional Permit can also be requested for someone who has applied for a local substitute permit and has not completed the human relations training course and/or is waiting on fingerprint clearances from the Nebraska State Patrol.  

Alternative Permits:

• An Alternative Permit is designed for an applicant to complete a program before applying for a regular certificate while being employed as a contracted teacher. Filling out this form verifies that applicant is hired as a teacher for your district. 

Temporary Certificates:

• A Temporary Certificate is designed for an applicant that is currently a para in a Nebraska school system but is being hired as a teacher on a full-time basis and has taken and passed the appropriate Praxis Content Test. This form does not verify the paraprofessional status of the applicant. You will need to include a letter and/or contract to nde.tcertweb@nebraska.gov. 

Conditional Permits, Alternative Permits and Temporary Certificates can only be requested for employment in a Nebraska school system.  If an applicant has not been a continuous resident of Nebraska for the last five years, fingerprint cards will need to be sent to the certification office before any permits can be issued. Once…Read More › – Conditional, Alternative and Temporary Certificate/Permit Request Form

Contact Information: Educator Certification (nde.tcertweb@nebraska.gov or 402-471-0739)

The Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) is aware of the continued shortage of substitute teachers in school systems this school year.

The Commissioner may authorize additional days for local substitute teaching permit holders upon request by a Nebraska school system that demonstrates a need for additional days, beyond the 90 full-time days per school year currently allowed. To authorize the additional days, the Department must receive a request from a Nebraska school system that demonstrates need.

To facilitate school system requests, the Department has created an online form. You or your school system staff can access that form here: Local Substitute Teaching Permit – Request for Additional Days Form. The form does allow for a single request that would cover all local substitute permit holders, which would eliminate the need for submission of multiple forms.

Once a request has been submitted, it will be reviewed, and the school system will be notified of the authorization. Please direct any questions about the process to the accreditation team by emailing nde.accreditation@nebraska.gov.

Contact Information: NDE Accreditation - nde.accreditation@nebraska.gov