Commissioner's Update
March 11, 2010

Dear Superintendents, and Leaders of Charter Schools and Collaboratives:

In this Update I have three announcements and two items for your review.

Connect with Hundreds of Colleges at a Free Online Spring College Fair

CollegeWeekLive, the world's largest college fair -free and online, has its next meeting on March 24th and 25th. Register for free now.

At CollegeWeekLive SPRING, students can chat online live with admissions representatives and enrolled students from hundreds of schools around the world. Participating Massachusetts schools include: Anna Maria College, Assumption College, Bay Path College, Becker College, Bentley University, Boston University, Emerson College, Lasell College, Lesley University, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health, Merrimack College, Mount Ida College, Northeastern University, Stonehill College, Suffolk University, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Western New England College, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. View a full list of participating schools. CollegeWeekLive supporting partners include the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority, the US Department of Education Federal Student Financial Aid Office, the Hispanic Colleges and Universities Association (HACU), and SallieMae. Register Now.

Expanded Learning Time: Making Every Minute Matter

This spring, three urban charter schools that offer longer school days and/or years are offering free full-day study tours. These events give teams of teachers and administrators the opportunity to:

• Tour a host school, observe a classroom
• Speak with school leaders, staff, and collaborators
• Network with other attendees
• Participate in a workshop focusing on academics, enrichment, or instructional improvement
• Engage in action planning
• Come away with a new research document on expanded learning time practices

The study tours are a continuation of tours offered in fall 2009, and are a part of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's charter school dissemination project. The tours are for those offering or considering expanded learning time, as well as educators who work in schools with traditional calendars. The schools hosting study tours are:

• April 13: Boston Preparatory, Hyde Park
• April 29: Rising Tide, Plymouth
• April 30: City on a Hill, Roxbury

The project is the work of Boston Preparatory Charter Public School, in collaboration with eight other charter schools in the Commonwealth, as well as the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association (MCPSA). Details are available online at http://www.mccpse.org/oppoelt.html.

Space is limited, pre-registration required, and deadlines are fast approaching. Attendees from district schools are welcome, and limited funds to reimburse schools for substitute teachers are available. To learn more and to register, contact banderson@mccpse.org or call 781-475-8879.

Massachusetts Mathematics Initiatives in the News

The Massachusetts Intel Mathematics Initiative (MIMI) helps K-8 teachers of mathematics improve their teaching through a content course and job-embedded professional development. The content course, Intel Math, was recently highlighted by the White House as an exemplary public-private partnership that provides high quality professional development to mathematics teachers. The job-embedded component takes place in Mathematical Learning Communities that involve looking at student work to connect mathematics content to student thinking. The (MLC) materials are available free of charge on the ESE website. For more information on these two programs, see the Office of Mathematics, Science and Technology / Engineering news headlines at http://www.doe.mass.edu/omste/.

Items Posted at www.doe.mass.edu:

1. Distribution of 2009-10 NCLB Report Cards
2. Ordering Materials for the April 2010 and June 2010 MCAS Science and Technology/Engineering (STE) Test Administrations - Deadline to Respond: March 25, 2010

Sincerely,

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