District/School Administration Administration
The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education

Board in Brief
Tuesday, November 18, 2008

This is "Board in Brief," issued at the request of Commissioner Mitchell D. Chester to bring you up to date on Board of Elementary and Secondary Education matters. This is a report on the regular meeting held on Tuesday, November 18, 2008 at Somerville High School.

Comments from the Chair

Chair Maura Banta thanked Somerville Superintendent Anthony Pierantozzi, who welcomed Board members to the city. The chair said that despite the economically very challenging times, there is a lot of important work to do on behalf of students and schools, and that work will be done within the existing resources. The chair said she participated in a number of events and meetings over the past month, including the deliberations of the Board's budget committee, the STEM Summit, the convening of all of the Board's advisory councils at the College of the Holy Cross, the Principal for a Day event, the Wallace Foundation conference in Boston, and the Future of Teaching program.

Comments from the Commissioner

Commissioner Chester provided an overview of the November 3, 2008 convening of the eighteen advisory councils to the Board. The commissioner thanked Chair Banta and Board members Tom Fortmann and AJ Fajnzylber for their participation. The commissioner said the meeting served as an orientation for new members and a way to honor retiring members. Commissioner Chester also gave the councils their charge for the coming year, which centers on closing the achievement gap while addressing the expectation gap by raising the quality of education so all students are ready to succeed after high school in postsecondary education and the workforce. The commissioner said the recommendations of the 21st Century Task Force, which were released later in the meeting, would be forwarded to all advisory councils.

Commissioner Chester described the Wallace Foundation's conference in Boston on educational leadership, and reviewed for Board members the items for information provided in the Board packets, including an analysis of the MCAS achievement gap by gender. The commissioner also provided a summary of a recent Council of Chief State School Officers' policy forum that he participated in with other chief state school officers in Austin, Texas.

Comments from the Secretary

Secretary Paul Reville provided an update on the search for a new commissioner of early education and care and an upcoming meeting of higher education officials on November 21, 2008 on student financial aid. The secretary said that the Governor's Child and Youth Development cabinet met for the first time recently, and that the Readiness Project's Finance Commission would release its formal report in mid-December.

Report of the Task Force on 21st Century Skills

Secretary Reville said he convened the Task Force on 21st Century Skills to better prepare children in our rapidly changing world to be economically successful, to hold a job and be contributors to a 21st century economy, to be prepared to function as active citizens, potential leaders, and successful heads of families, and to be continuous, lifelong learners. The secretary said the creation of the task force was a direct response to the employers who have said it is time to complement and supplement the high academic standards that we have established under education reform with the additional skills that will prepare all students to succeed in the new economy. Secretary Reville's statement is posted at: http://www.doe.mass.edu/news/news.aspx?id=4434.

Board member and Task Force Chair Gerald Chertavian thanked fellow Board members Fortmann, Fajnzylber, and Harneen Chernow as well as the other task force members for their time and contributions. Mr. Chertavian introduced a panel of local business and education leaders - Donna Capella, regional president of Verizon; Gary Gottlieb, president of Brigham & Women's Hospital; and Keith Motley, chancellor of UMass-Boston - who addressed the Board on the importance of 21st century skills.

Mr. Chertavian said the task force's recommendations call for changes to educator licensure, assessment, accountability and standards. He asked the leaders of the four task force subgroups - Teacher Preparation and Professional Development; Standards and Workforce Development; Assessment and Accountability; and Curriculum Development, Instruction and Learning Environments - to discuss the levers for change associated with their areas. Their recommendations include:

• Educator Quality and Support: Overhaul the state's teacher training and professional development programs to recruit and retain high achieving educators who have a background in and up-to-date knowledge of 21st century skills.

• Standards: Raise the state's bar on rigor by embedding complementary 21st century skills and content throughout the Commonwealth's curriculum frameworks in every subject.

• Assessment: Become a national leader in assessment by integrating the measurement of 21st century skills throughout the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS).

• Accountability: Hold teachers, administrators and the state accountable for incorporating 21st century skills into the curricula in a complementary way and hold students accountable for learning them.

• Demonstration Vehicles: (1) Establish up to five 21st Century Districts and up to ten 21st Century Schools in other communities. (2) Expand the number of Expanded Learning Time schools to 100 or more. (3) Expand the "Creative Teaching Partners Initiative," and strive to place up to 1,000 artists, scientists and/or engineers-in-residence in schools part-time over the next five years.

Chair Banta said the Board would discuss the task force's report    in greater detail at its December meeting and in the coming months. Commissioner Chester thanked Task Force members for their generous service to the state.

National History Teacher of the Year

Chair Banta, Commissioner Chester, and Secretary Reville recognized David B. Mitchell, a history teacher at Masconomet Regional High School, for being named the 2008 Preserve America History Teacher of the Year, and presented him with a citation.

Public Comment

Seven individuals spoke to the Board on topics including 21st century skills, charter school accountability, the FY 10 budget, MCAS, and the Rising Tide Charter School.

Board of Elementary and Secondary Education Budget Proposal for FY 2010

Chair Banta presented the Board's budget proposal for FY 2010 and thanked the members of the Board's budget committee, Gerald Chertavian, Tom Fortmann, and Jeff Howard, for their time and effort. Commissioner Chester said that the numbers in the maintenance column of the budget worksheet are a moving target as the Commonwealth anticipates future revenue and tracks incoming revenue. The commissioner said that the expansion budget identifies the Board's priorities for increased investment should additional revenues become available. Secretary Reville said it is important for the Administration to know what the Board's priorities are. The Board voted in favor of the budget proposal and authorized the commissioner to forward its recommendations to the Secretary of Education.

MCAS Performance Appeals: Amendments to Regulation 603 CMR 30.05 (Performance Appeals in Science)

In September the Board adopted amendments to the MCAS performance appeals regulations to allow students in the class of 2010 and beyond who have not yet passed the high school Science and Technology/Engineering MCAS test to file a performance appeal in that subject area. The Board solicited public comment on the amendments and received only one comment, which has been addressed. The Board voted to adopt the amendments as final regulations.

State System of Accountability: Charter School Review and Renewal Process and Standards

Associate Commissioner Jeff Wulfson and Charter Schools Director Mary Street presented an overview of the charter school review and renewal process. Commissioner Chester noted that the Board is scheduled to take action on renewal of 11 charters this fiscal year.

Charter Schools

The Board voted to approve an amendment for Rising Tide Charter School in Plymouth to add a high school to the current middle school program and to increase the school's maximum enrollment from 320 students in grades 5 through 8, to a total of 700 students in grades 5 through 12. Commissioner Chester also reported on the progress of the Boston Renaissance Charter Public School in meeting the conditions placed on its 2005 renewal and the new conditions imposed when the Board placed the school on probation in February 2007. The Board voted to approve the commissioner's recommendations to modify the conditions related to changing location, reducing enrollment, and extending the school's probation.

Proposed Amendments to Vocational Technical Education Regulations, 603 CMR 4.00

The Board voted to solicit public comment on proposed amendments to revise the sections of the Vocational Technical Education Regulations, 603 CMR 4.00, that relate to licensure of vocational technical educators. The proposed amendments would add one new vocational technical teacher license and align the licensure provisions more closely in several areas with the Educator Licensure and Preparation Program Approval Regulations, 603 CMR 7.00, and the Recertification Regulations, 603 CMR 44.00. The proposed amendments will be brought back to the Board for a final vote in January 2009.

Next Meeting

The next regular meeting of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is scheduled for December 16, 2008 at the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) in Malden. The Board will also hold a special meeting on the evening of December 15, 2008 at ESE to continue its discussion of the 21st century skills report.