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The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education

Response to Proficiency Gap Task Force Recommendations

To:Members of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education
From:Mitchell D. Chester, Ed.D., Commissioner
Date:June 17, 2010

At the special meeting of the Board on May 24, 2010, Jeff Howard presented the report and recommendations of the Board's Proficiency Gap Task Force. I would like to thank Jeff for his leadership of the Task Force and for bringing so many varied and knowledgeable voices to the table on this critical issue. The Task Force's recommendations will serve as an important guide for much of the agency's work over the coming years, especially as additional resources become available.

Below I have summarized some of the key agency activities either ongoing or planned for the short term that support the recommendations in the report. Our current investments focus on building statewide infrastructure and tools that can drive greater attention to and support for closing proficiency gaps as the primary endeavor of the education community.

A clear objective

The Task Force recommended that the Board adopt a goal that "by the year 2020, at least 85 percent of students from every subgroup, statewide, will score Proficient or Advanced on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exams."

We have taken our first steps toward holding schools and districts accountable for closing proficiency gaps.

Further, we make available data that allows districts, schools, and the public to assess progress toward this goal in several ways:

An operational structure

The Task Force's recommendations reinforced that agency structures must be built to ensure sufficient focus on and implementation of its recommendations.

Strategies for change: Focused intervention

The Task Force recommended establishing a voluntary Commissioner's Network of 15 to 30 low performing Level 3 and Level 4 schools. The purposes of this Network are to support schools in gathering data frequently (e.g., through interim assessments and other student indicators) and using their data effectively, and to develop a laboratory for disseminating strategies for closing proficiency gaps.

We are implementing several activities to support more effective use of data statewide, and several more are featured in our Race to the Top proposal. Together, they will establish the essential foundation for focused intervention.

We have also begun to improve our ability to identify and disseminate best practices, beyond the OSPRE activities discussed above.

Strategies for change: A drive for statewide improvement

In this section, the Task Force made a number of other specific recommendations in the areas of English language learners, instructional leadership, early literacy, and family and community engagement. Work and planning is already underway in a number of these areas.