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A message from the
Massachusetts Department of
Elementary and Secondary Education

December 21, 2018
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News from Commissioner Jeffrey C. Riley and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Contents:

  1. Board of Elementary and Secondary Education Meeting
  2. Picture of the Week: Influence 100 Design Team
  3. Changes to Placement Process for Higher Education Developmental Courses
  4. Timeline for Implementing the Civics Law and the History and Social Science Framework
  5. Elementary Principals Network Meetings
  6. Large Number of Licensure Renewals Expected
  7. For Your Info: Earthwatch Institute Teacher Fellowships

1. Board of Elementary and Secondary Education Meeting:


The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education met on December 18 in Malden. The agenda included a panel discussion highlighting the roles of teacher leaders in supporting learning standards and instruction, updates from the receivers of three chronically underperforming schools, a panel discussion on adult education that included inspirational stories from students, and a discussion of feedback about the new accountability system. A video of the meeting is available online at https://livestream.com/accounts/22459134.

Picture of the Week:

Members of the Influence 100 Design Team held their inaugural meeting on December 7. Influence 100, led by Special Assistant to the Commissioner Cheryl Camacho, is an initiative to develop and support aspiring senior leaders in education, including 100 senior leaders of color (candidates for superintendent roles and senior leadership positions at DESE) over the next decade in Massachusetts while simultaneously working to make districts more culturally proficient. The design team (pictured) is helping to inform the initiative. Any district interested in learning more about Influence 100 and possibly applying to be a pilot district (and which has not yet indicated interest), is asked to email Cheryl Camacho at cheryl.camacho@doe.mass.edu.
 
21 men and women of different ethnicities stand infront of a screen that has the DESE logo and Influence 100 on it.

3. Changes to Placement Process for Higher Education Developmental Courses:


At its December 11 meeting, the Board of Higher Education voted unanimously to allow all Massachusetts public colleges and universities to make course placement decisions based on incoming students' high school grades.

The vote allows institutions of public higher education to place students directly into college-level, credit-bearing English course if the student has at least a 2.7 cumulative high school grade point average (GPA) and graduated from high school within the past 10 years. Institutions of public higher education can place students directly into a college-level, credit-bearing mathematics course if they have at least a 2.7 cumulative high school GPA and graduated from high school within the past three years.
 
The Department of Higher Education has also adopted a three-pronged approach to reduce remediation and increase student success. This strategy seeks to:
  • assess students properly for credit-bearing courses using multiple measures;
  • ensure that students are taking and completing the appropriate mathematics courses for their major; and
  • give students who require remediation access to support in English and mathematics courses.

4. Timeline for Implementing the Civics Law and the History and Social Science Framework:


Two changes that will impact history and social sciences courses took place this year, and many people have asked how the two relate to each other and what the timeline is for implementing each. The first change came on June 26, when the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education adopted the 2018 History and Social Science Curriculum Framework, which describes what students should know and be able to do in history and social science, including civics, at each grade level or grade cluster from pre-K–12th grade.
 
The second change came on November 8, when Governor Baker signed into law Chapter 296 of the Acts of 2018 (An Act to Promote and Enhance Civic Engagement), which supports implementation of the framework and adds the provision of student-led civics projects in high schools and in schools serving grade 8.
 
Following a year of intensive support in 2018-2019, DESE expects districts to begin implementing the History and Social Science Curriculum Framework in the 2019-2020 school year. At that time, student-led civics projects should also begin in many districts. By 2020-2021, students in all middle and high schools should be doing civics projects. The Department foresees collecting information on local implementation of these civics projects beginning in the 2019-2020 school year.
 
For more information, visit http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/current.html. Please contact Michelle Ryan, history and social science content support lead, at Michelle.Ryan@doe.mass.edu or (781) 338-3251 with any questions.

5. Elementary Principals Network Meetings:


The Department’s Early Learning Team and Massachusetts School Administrators’ Association will host a round of three winter regional network meetings for elementary principals on January 25, 28, and 31. These sessions will provide elementary principals the opportunity to network with area colleagues on topics related to early learning (preschool-third grade), receive professional development, and discuss problems of practice. Network topics will be based on the interests of the participants and may include but will not be limited to:
  • Early literacy and math curriculum and instruction,
  • Assessment practices,
  • Social and emotional learning,
  • Safe and supportive early learning environments,
  • Serving English language learners,
  • Addressing gender identity in the early years, and
  • Birth to grade 12 family engagement.
Elementary school principals can register online for one of the sessions and are encouraged to share the information with other elementary school principals.

6. Large Number of Licensure Renewals Expected:


June 2019 will mark the fifth major Professional license renewal cycle since DESE’s very first five-year cycle back on June 17, 1999. Given the large number of educators who earned a license in June 1999, it is expected that some 25,000 veteran educators across the Commonwealth will need to renew one or more Professional level license(s) by June 16, 2019.   
 
Districts will receive a reminder about licensure renewal requirements, and several resources are available online, including:

7. For your info:
  • Earthwatch Institute teacher fellowships: Earthwatch Institute is accepting applications until January 10 for two teacher fellowships: Teach Earth, in which teachers of any subject leave the classroom for an outdoor environmental learning experience, and Project Kindle, which trains high school science teachers to bring a group of students into the field on an hands-on learning program. More information is available at the links above.
NOTE: The next Commissioner’s Weekly Update will be on January 4. Best wishes to you, your students, and your families for a joyous and peaceful New Year!
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