Statewide Initiatives to Improve Educator Effectiveness
| To: | Members of the Board of Education |
| From: | Jeffrey Nellhaus, Acting Commissioner of Education |
| Date: | February 19, 2008 |
At the February 26th meeting, the Board of Education will resume its discussion of issues and initiatives related to educator effectiveness. This discussion will lay the foundation for the Board's consideration of proposals to strengthen and streamline our educator preparation, licensure and professional development systems later this spring.
Under state law, the Board establishes standards for certifying (licensing) teachers, administrators, and other educational personnel in public schools; adopts regulations concerning educator preparation and licensure; and approves the state plan for professional development of educational personnel. We issue guidance on these and many related areas, such as promoting the use of the professional standards for teachers and administrators as a basis for supervision and evaluation. Our work benefits from our collaboration with the Board's Educational Personnel Advisory Council. The advisory council is broadly representative of teachers, administrators, preparation institutions and others who are knowledgeable about and committed to improving educator quality at every level, especially in the areas of recruitment and retention, induction and mentoring, preparation program approval, and resources for educators.
At the February meeting, we will provide an overview of our current licensure system and highlight four statewide initiatives that are aimed at strengthening educator effectiveness in the Commonwealth:
- An Act Relative to Educator Excellence (H.451 / S.284)
- Governor Patrick's Readiness Project: Subcommittee on Recruiting and Retaining Educators
- The Teaching, Learning and Leading Survey
- Proposals developed by the Board's Educational Personnel Advisory Council
I have included for your review the paper, "Elements of a New System for Educator Effectiveness," which the Board discussed last year. Our discussion this month will likely be brief since we have several other important items on our agenda. We will continue to address educator effectiveness initiatives at future meetings.
Attachment:   Elements of a New System for Educator Effectiveness in Massachusetts (Discussion Draft April 2007)
last updated: February 22, 2008
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