Commissioner's Update
April 4, 2006
Dear Superintendents, and Leaders of Charter Schools and Collaboratives:
In this update I have 6 announcements and 4 items recently posted at www.doe.mass.edu:
Massachusetts Financial Literacy Initiative
Last spring, the Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs & Business Regulation in partnership with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, launched the Massachusetts Financial Literacy Initiative (HiFi) http://www.doe.mass.edu/news/news.asp?id=2791. HiFi is a voluntary, free high school financial literacy program that provides fee materials from the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE). The Office of Consumer Affairs is offering free training seminars for educators at various locations across the state this spring, and teachers can earn 10 PDP's towards recertification for completion of the training. Educators are reporting great interest in this program. I encourage your participation in this unique initiative.
Biodiversity Days 2006
The Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions (MACC), in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Executive Office for Environmental Affairs, is pleased to announce Biodiversity Days 2006. MACC has planned a week of biodiversity explorations for citizens and school children across the state from June 3 through June 11.
Teachers may incorporate Biodiversity Days in the school day and offer take-home activities for students to do with their families on the weekend. School-wide participation has been very popular in the past. Educators may want to consider involving multiple classrooms, the entire school and/or the district.
A new addition for this year is the 2006 Wild Things School Contest. The contest is open to all school groups, classrooms, and youth organizations. MACC is specifically looking for projects that help students educate their classmates/youth organization, school, or the wider community about local biodiversity. Deadline for project submissions is May.
To register or if you have questions, please contact Cindy Cormier, MACC Program Coordinator (cindy.cormier@maccweb.org, 617-489-3883). For more information on Biodiversity Days or the Wild Things School Contest, visit their website (http://www.maccweb.org/biodiversity_days.html).
National Endowment for the Humanities Grade 11 Essay Contest
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announces a nationwide essay contest for high school juniors as part of We the People, a national civics and American history education initiative sponsored by NEH and announced by President Bush.
This year's essay question asks students to examine the historical debate over the benefits and disadvantages of adopting the First Amendment. Essay finalists will go to Washington, D.C. for an awards ceremony, and the winner and top finalists will receive monetary prizes. The deadline for the 1,500-word essay is April 19. For contest details, please go to www.humanities.gov.
Legacies of Justice
The United States Congress established the Days of Remembrance as our nation's annual commemoration of the victims of the Holocaust. Congress also created the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as a permanent living memorial to those victims.
This year, the Days of Remembrance fall between Sunday, April 23, and Sunday, April 30, with Holocaust Remembrance Day observed on Tuesday, April 25. The theme for this year's commemoration is "Legacies of Justice," in honor of the courage of and the precedents set by those who testified during the trials of Nazi war criminals. The theme also pays tribute to those who work for the cause of justice. Numerous events and programs related to the Days of Remembrance are scheduled between April 23 and 30. For more information, please go to http://www.ushmm.org/remembrance/dor/.
Student Advisory Council Elections
Recently, high school principals, charter school leaders and advisors received information to assist in conducting the annual election of secondary school students to the Student Advisory Council. MGL C.15, S.1E provides for voting student representation on the Board of Education. Massachusetts is one of a handful of states with full voting rights for a student on the Board and the only state in which the student member is elected by his or her peers. Over the years, I have had the personal pleasure of working with the Student Advisory Council and I value the perspective that students bring. I would like to take this opportunity to encourage you to support student involvement on the Council and elections in your schools. Additional information may be found on the Department website at http://www.doe.mass.edu/sac/.
Schools to Receive Technology Funds as a Result of Microsoft Settlement
As a result of an anti-trust settlement with Microsoft Corporation, eligible Massachusetts schools in low-income communities will receive $16 million in vouchers, allowing them to purchase a broad range of hardware, software, and technology services. The school funding will come from unclaimed consumer vouchers from a class-action suit, settled in 2004 with Microsoft. Eligible districts are those with schools in which at least 50% of the students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.
In 2005, the Microsoft Settlement Administrator sent application forms to superintendents in eligible districts asking them to verify the number of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Early this year, the Settlement Administrator sent vouchers to eligible districts that had completed the application. These vouchers allow schools to purchase technology products and services and receive reimbursement from Microsoft through February 21, 2009. The voucher correspondence provides detailed information on qualifying products and services, as well as instructions for redeeming the vouchers. Use of the vouchers is not limited to Microsoft products.
The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education encourages schools to use this funding in accordance with the districts' long-range technology plans. If you need help with long-range planning, please refer to the Local Technology Plan Guidelines posted on the Department web site http://www.doe.mass.edu/edtech/tplanguide04_07.html.
If you have questions about this program, please see the Massachusetts Microsoft Products Settlement web site: https://www.microsoftproductssettlement.com/massachusetts/home.htm or call the Microsoft Settlement Administrator at 1-888-230-0363.
Here are 4 items recently posted at www.doe.mass.edu:
- Submitting Spring 2006 MELA-O Scores for LEP Students in Grades K-2
- 2006 MCAS-Alt Summer Scoring Institute: Scorer Application
[ No longer available ]
- Public Forums on a New Educator Preparation and Licensure System
- IDEA 2004 OSEP Guidance on Parentally Placed Private School Students
All the best, and
Sincerely,
David P. Driscoll
Commissioner of Education
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