Commissioner's Update
December 27, 2011

Dear Superintendents and Leaders of Charter Schools and Collaboratives:

In this Update I have one announcement and five items for your review.

RTTT Technical Assistance Webinars: Performance Measures Reporting

ESE is starting to collect performance measure data to track RTTT implementation. During the month of January we will collect the first round of performance measure data. As part of this initial reporting phase, you are required to submit baseline (starting point), benchmark (goals), and target dates for the performance measures related to the projects that your district selected in response to the Years 2 to 4 RFP. The information that you submit will be tracked in the Goals and Performance Measures Workbook.

We will be collecting this information in an Excel template that you will be able to access through the RTTT drop box on the Security Portal. The templates will be customized for each district to reflect your project selections. The templates will be available for download from the Portal during the first week of January and must be completed and uploaded to the portal by January 31.

We will be holding three 1-hour webinars to provide technical assistance to help you complete the first round of performance measure reporting. The webinars will be held on Friday, January 6, Wednesday January 11, and Thursday January 12 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. If you have questions about the webinars, please contact rttt@doe.mass.edu.

Please register for the webinar of your choice at http://www.doe.mass.edu/conference/?ConferenceID=1236.

The performance measure template will track both process and outcome measures for your projects and will cover the planning work undertaken in Year 1 as well as the work that your district proposed to do in Years 2 to 4. For some measures, we have pre-populated the baseline and benchmark information so the only information that you need to provide is the target date. Other measures require you to enter numbers, percentages, or yes/no for baselines and benchmarks in addition to setting a target date. Going forward, we will be collecting reports on your progress toward meeting your benchmarks on a semi-annual basis.

Items Posted at www.doe.mass.edu:

1. Educator License Waivers - Superior Court Decision
2. ESE Research Update
3. Proposed Regulations on Innovation Schools 603 CMR 48.00
   [ No longer available ]
4. Notice of Public Comment for Proposed Amendments to 603 CMR 48.00
   [ No longer available ]
5. Distinguished Elementary Educators

Sincerely,

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