Commissioner's Update
April 2, 2007
Dear Superintendents, and Leaders of Charter Schools and Collaboratives:
In this Update I have nine announcements and five items for your review.
Update
Children's Trust Fund Message: Prevention Works!
The Children's Trust Fund is launching a new campaign in April called "Prevention Works," highlighting the impact of child abuse in Massachusetts and how it can be prevented. Their goal is to make the public aware of the people working daily to prevent child abuse, and to provide parents, the public and businesses with calls-to-action they can undertake in their own communities. I would encourage you to review this site and to post links on your own district sites so people in your community can benefit from this resource. Their website is www.mctf.org.
National High School Journalism Teacher Awards
The Dow Jones Newspaper Fund, which publishes the Wall Street Journal, is holding a contest to honor the nation's best high school newspaper, news magazine and/or website advisor. The winning educator will receive a laptop computer and be a featured speaker at industry and journalism conferences, and a student at his or her school will receive a $1,000 scholarship to study journalism. For more information about this contest or to download an application form, look online at http://djnewspaperfund.dowjones.com/fund/hst_teachers.asp.
Film On The Global Crisis In Educational Access
PBS and Wide Angle Productions are producing a multi-part film about the global crisis in access to education. They are following seven children in seven countries who are struggling to make it through grade school. Filming began in their first year and will continue through 2015, the year they should graduate. The completed parts of this film are available on a DVD structured for educational use, so it can be played straight through or story-by-story. Educators nationally have used the films as a starting point to build a curriculum around the international education crisis. I would encourage you to review this powerful work. Teachers can download educational materials at www.pbs.org/wideangle/.
MEFA Website for Families
The Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority has established a website to guide Massachusetts families in navigating the entire college financial aid process while avoiding the risk of internet scams and unnecessary fees. For easy access please post www.mefacounselor.org on your district's webpage and encourage students and their parents to carefully review the financial aid opportunities that MEFA has to offer.
U Fund Investing Plan
Cost is one of the biggest barriers to continuing education beyond high school, but if parents plan ahead they can save a significant amount of money by the time their children are ready for college. The MEFA's 529 Plan, known as the U.Fund, is one way to do that. By saving in a 529 Plan, parents have a simple, tax-advantaged way to help prepare financially for the future cost of a higher education. Unfortunately many families are unaware of this option until it is too late. I would encourage you to raise awareness of this opportunity by contacting MEFA and getting materials to distribute in your school. If you have any questions about the U.Fund, please call MEFA at (617) 261-9760.
2007 Massachusetts SJC and ESE High School Essay Contest
The deadline for submitting entries to the 2007 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and Department of Elementary and Secondary Education High School Essay Contest is April 9th. The essay question this year concerns concepts of law as created in the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 and was designed to be compatible with the Massachusetts History and Social Science Curriculum Framework. Essay contest materials can be found at http://www.mass.gov/courts/jaceducation/pdf/2007essayquestion.pdf. Please contact Carol Lev, Coordinator of Program and Policy Development for the Supreme Judicial Court, at (617) 557-1074 or email her at carol.lev@sjc.state.ma.us for more information.
This is an important opportunity for students and I hope that you will spread the word. Attached is the letter I first sent to you in January to inform you of this unique contest.
Student Advisory Council Elections
Massachusetts is one of only a handful of states with a student member with full voting rights on the Board of Education. This student brings a unique and critical perspective to the Board's discussions, and ensures that the voice of our students is always represented. Each year this student is elected by the statewide Student Advisory Council. I recently sent information to principals, charter school leaders and student advisorys on how to help conduct the annual election of secondary school students to the statewide Council. 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/election/.
Coming Soon! Summer 2007 Professional Development Institutes Brochure
The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is pleased to announce that we will be offering Professional Development Institutes for summer 2007, an enhancement of our successful Content Institute Program of prior years. This year's Institutes will focus on effective standards-based teaching skills and strengthening teachers' content knowledge in mathematics, science, technology/engineering, reading, and writing.
In its 12 year, this statewide program will sponsor more than 20 institutes during the summer. Follow-up sessions will be held in the fall and winter to support educators as they implement content instruction in the classroom. All institutes will offer professional development points (PDPs) and optional graduate credit that can be applied toward educator re-licensure. A list of all institutes and information about many other professional development experiences being offered this summer will be posted by mid-April at: http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/cinstitute/.
Please share this information with your networks and school faculties.
Conference For High-Ability Learners
Policies, Strategies and Programs for High-Ability Learners conference will be held on Thursday, April 26th, 2007, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Delaney House in Holyoke. Lunch will be provided. The conference will feature Jeanne Purcell, lead author/editor of Designing Services & Programs for High-Ability learners: A Guidebook for Gifted Education. She and her team will discuss policies and practices and work with conference participants on concrete strategies and programs for use with this population. There is no fee to attend this conference. Districts should send 3-person teams including a superintendent/designee, a curriculum director/coordinator, and an interested principal or teacher.
If you have any questions, contact Andy Churchill, project assistant, at achurchill@educ.umass.edu or 413-545-0958. You may also contact Deborah Smith-Pressley, ESE Gifted and Talented State Coordinator, at Dsmith-pressley@doe.mass.edu or 781-338-3360.
Items Posted at www.doe.mass.edu:
- School Choice Roster Updates, Spring 2007
- Important Information on English Proficiency Testing For LEP Students: Retraining All Massachusetts English Language Assessment-Oral (MELA-O) Administrators and Trainers
- Submitting Spring 2007 Massachusetts English Language Assessment - Oral (MELA-O) Scores for Limited English Proficient (LEP) Students in Grades K-2
- 2007 MCAS-Alt Summer Scoring Institute Scorer Application
- 2006 MCAS Alternate Assessment (MCAS-Alt): State Summary of Participation and Performance
 
Sincerely,
David P. Driscoll
Commissioner of Education
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