Commissioner's Update
October 10, 2008

Dear Superintendents and Leaders of Charter Schools and Collaboratives:

In this Update I have seven announcements and five items for your review.

All Advisory Councils Meeting on Monday, November 3, 2008
The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is expected to vote on Commissioner Mitchell D. Chester's advisory council membership recommendations for the 2008-2009 school year at the October 21, 2008 Board meeting. All members of the 17 advisory councils are invited to an All Advisory Councils meeting on Monday, November 3, 2008 at the Hogan Campus at Holy Cross College in Worcester. Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m. Invitations to new appointees will be sent following Board approval. Board Chair Maura Banta and Commissioner Chester will present the Board's and Department's goals and priorities and charge the councils with their work for the next year. Advisory council volunteers who have completed their service will be recognized at the Appreciation Luncheon following the charge to the councils.

The 17 advisory councils are: adult basic education, arts education, community service learning, educational personnel, educational technology, English language learners/bilingual education, gifted and talented education, global education, interdisciplinary health and human services, life management skills, mathematics and science education, parent and community education and involvement, racial imbalance, school and district accountability and assistance, special education, technology/engineering, and vocational technical education. Council membership, including 2008–2009 new member recommendations, can be found on the Board's website at http://www.doe.mass.edu/boe/docs/0908/item3.html.

ESE Online Services – Service Interruptions Nov 21st – Nov 25th
The weekend before Thanksgiving, ESE will be moving its data center to a new location. During this time there will be an interruption of service that will be substantial as we are bringing a new network online and moving over 130 servers. We will work to keep the interruption as short as possible, but please make sure to plan around the schedule below. Please expect that all ESE online services will be unavailable starting Friday, Nov 21st and continuing through the entire weekend of Nov 22nd - 23rd.

Our goal is to bring services back online according to the following schedule - services may be down until the date listed:
By Monday, Nov 24:

• ESE public website
• ESE e-mail

By Tuesday, Nov 25:
• MassONE
• Directory Administration
• ELAR (online teacher licensure)
• SIMS and EPIMS data collections
• School and district profiles
• ESE website search
• SMARTT

By Wednesday, Nov 26:
• Vocational Technical Competency Tracking System
• ESE Data warehouse
• Nutrition
• Drop boxes
• MCAS Look up/Score request
• PQA Web-Based Monitoring System

We will accelerate this schedule if at all possible. Thank you for your patience.

Massachusetts Celebrates Learn and Serve Challenge Week: October 6 - 12, 2008
Service-learning is a teaching and learning strategy that combines content standards with service to the community. Students and teachers engaged in service-learning throughout Massachusetts are meeting real community needs while improving academic knowledge and sharpening skills for the 21st century.

The week of October 6–12 marks National Learn and Serve Challenge Week, a week designed to raise awareness and public support for service-learning. Research shows that service-learning has a positive impact on students, schools and communities. In 2006, the Corporation for National and Community Service set a national goal to engage 50 percent of America's K–12 schools in service-learning by 2010.

During 2007–2008 in Massachusetts, through funding from Learn and Serve America, nearly 20,000 students engaged in service-learning projects. Through these projects, students applied a wide range of academic skills and knowledge to community issues such as environmental awareness/protection, health education, historical preservation, community development and more.

The following are some of the ways that Massachusetts supports and promotes service-learning as a strategy for student engagement and success:

Announcing 2008–2009 Massachusetts Service–Learning Leader Awards Program
The Community Service–Learning Advisory Council to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education provides recognition for excellence in service–learning practice through its annual Service-Learning Leader Awards Program. Awards are presented to a superintendent, principal, curriculum/CSL coordinator, community partner, higher education partner, and up to ten teachers who demonstrate dedication and commitment to service–learning as a strategy for engaging students in their schools and their communities. The awards are given each year at the Statewide Service-Learning Conference, sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Massachusetts Service Alliance. See the news section on the bottom of the home page of our CSL web site for nomination information.

The 2007-2008 Massachusetts Service-Learning Leader Award recipients:

Teacher Leader Awards:

• Sarah Benis Scheier-Dolberg, Humanities Teacher, New Mission HS, Boston
• Kenneth High, Social Studies Teacher, Hudson HS, Hudson
• Mary "Gret" Lozeau, Social Studies Teacher, Hanson MS, Whitman–Hanson
• Zachary Snow, Biology Teacher, Newton North HS, Newton

Superintendent Leader Awards:

• Ruth Gilbert-Whitner, Assistant Superintendent, Whitman-Hanson Regional Schools

Community Partner Leader Award:

• South Shore Habitat for Humanity

Higher Education Partner Leader Award:

• Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts

Massachusetts Community Service-Learning Regional Mentoring Centers (RMCs)
The Regional Mentoring Centers are grant-funded districts/collaboratives that have demonstrated leadership in implementing and sustaining service-learning practice. They are charged with maintaining CSL and sharing promising practices to engage more districts throughout the state. Funding supports activities that emphasize improving practice, disseminating promising practices, and solidifying service-learning as part of a district's culture. Mentoring grantees serve as a resource for districts less familiar with CSL methodology. The 2008-2009 Regional Mentoring Centers are: Danvers Public Schools, Hampshire Educational Collaborative, Hudson Public Schools, North Adams Public Schools, and Whitman-Hanson Regional School District. For more information about the RMCs please contact Kristen McKinnon.

Massachusetts Community Service-Learning Promising Practices Community Service-Learning (CSL) Promising Practices are activities, projects, strategies, and approaches that have been shown to be effective through experience and have led to positive outcomes for youth. The Department believes Community Service-Learning deserves serious attention as a powerful educational practice that addresses many of the components necessary to build strong learning environments. Of equal importance, CSL offers a unique resource for the revitalization of our communities. Visit the CSL Promising Practices page for more than 40 examples of CSL projects implemented in schools in Massachusetts.

2008 STEM Summit V: Implementing the MA STEM Plan
Registration is available for the 2008 STEM Summit V: Implementing the MA STEM Plan to be held at the Sturbridge Host Hotel and Conference Center. Sturbridge, MA on Tuesday, October 28, 2008. Educators, both pre-K-12 and higher education, community and business leaders, and state and local-level policymakers are invited to attend. The combined efforts of all stakeholders will accelerate successful student preparation for careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in Massachusetts. The Keynote Speaker is Nobel Laureate Craig C. Mello, PhD., Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, The Blais University Chair in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School. To register, go to: http://www.massachusetts.edu/stem/index.html. Please feel free to forward this message.

Items Posted at www.doe.mass.edu:

1. MCAS Assessment Development Committee (ADC) Recruitment
2. Notice of Public Comment for the Proposed Amendments to Regulations on Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System and Standards for Competency Determination: Performance Appeals Process 603 CMR 30.00
   [ No longer available ]
3. November is Family Literacy Month
4. Regional Forums on the Educational Proficiency Plan and MassCore
5. Update on Required Teaching Licenses or Persons Engaged in Reading Instruction

Sincerely,

Mitchell D. Chester, Ed.D.
Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education