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A message from the
Massachusetts Department of
Elementary and Secondary Education

October 18, 2019
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News from Commissioner Jeffrey C. Riley and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Contents:

  1. Applicants Sought for Sontag Prize
  2. Pictures of the Week: Influence 100 and InSPIRED Fellows
  3. College and Career Advising and MyCAP
  4. Accountability and Assistance Advisory Council to Meet
  5. PAEMST Winners
  6. School Safety Grants
  7. DESE Resource Corner: The Great Fight for Disabilities Rights
  8. For Your Info: DLCS district implementation planning workshops

1. Applicants Sought for Sontag Prize:
 

The Sontag Prize in Education is an annual award that recognizes and celebrates outstanding educators for their teaching excellence. First-time Sontag Prize recipients receive a $3,000 honorarium, an invitation to an awards dinner gala, and professional development led by leading education practitioners and researchers.

Educators who are selected for and accept the Sontag Prize expand their impact by committing to teach in an Acceleration Academy, a week-long academic program designed to accelerate student learning through engaging, standards-aligned lessons. The Acceleration Academies take place during the February and April school vacations, with a focus on English language arts in February and math and science in April.

Applications for the Sontag Prize are due by 11:59 p.m. November 30. Anyone with questions about the Sontag Prize and Acceleration Academies can email educatorrecognition@doe.mass.edu and write “Sontag Prize” in the email’s subject line.

2. Pictures of the Week: Influence 100 and Inspired Fellows
A group of about 48 professionals pose for a photo, looking up at the photographer from a floor below.
On October 11, DESE kicked off the Influence 100 pilot program (top photo), an initiative aimed at increasing the racial and ethnic diversity of superintendents and creating more culturally responsive districts and leaders in order to promote better outcomes for students. Also that day, DESE began the second cohort of InSPIRED fellows (bottom photo, which includes fellows and district partners), In-Service Professionals who are committed to Increasing the Racial and Ethnic Diversity of the teacher workforce.
A group of about 40 professionals poses for a photo.

3. College and Career Advising and MyCAP:


Registration will close soon for Cohort 2 of the College and Career Advising/My Career and Academic Plan (MyCAP) Professional Development Series. The three-day workshop series is being offered regionally starting October 23. Schools are asked to register teams of four high school staff led by counselors and including teachers and administrators. Teams will design a high quality college and career advising framework that identifies activities and lessons in three domains: personal/social; career development education; and academic, college, and career planning. Individual students’ achievements within each domain will be captured in the individual, student-driven academic and career plan called MyCAP. Click here to hear from last year’s participants about the value of these tools.

4. Accountability and Assistance Advisory Council to Meet:


The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Accountability and Assistance Advisory Council will meet from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on October 25 at the Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel, 181 Boston Post Road West, Marlborough. Topics for discussion include the 2019 MCAS and accountability results and updated planning requirements for schools identified as requiring assistance or intervention.

5. PAEMST Winners:
 

This week, the White House announced the winners of the 2017 and 2018 Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, and the four winners from Massachusetts are Danielle Merdin, a mathematics teacher at the Dr. William W. Henderson K-12 Inclusion School in Boston; Aaron Osowiecki, a science teacher at Boston Latin School; Jamil Siddiqui, a mathematics teacher at East Bridgewater Junior/Senior High School; and Melissa Zeitz, a science teacher at Liberty Elementary School in Springfield. Congratulations to all! More information about the awards, including how to nominate educators for the award, is available online.

6. School Safety Grants:


On October 15, Governor Baker, Lt. Governor Polito, Secretary Peyser, Commissioner Riley, Framingham Mayor Yvonne M. Spicer, and other state and local education and public safety officials participated in a roundtable discussion on school safety at Walsh Middle School in Framingham. While there, Governor Baker and Lt. Governor Polito announced $7.2 million in grants to more than 140 school districts across the Commonwealth to upgrade school security equipment. The grants are being awarded by the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security in conjunction with the Executive Office of Education.
 
The grant funding was included in a Fiscal Year 2018 supplemental budget proposed by the Governor and passed by the Legislature. In addition, the budget bill that the Governor signed included $7.5 million in additional aid for school districts to hire social workers, mental health counselors and psychologists.

7. DESE Resource Corner


The Great Fight for Disabilities Rights: October is Disability History Month, and a new resource is now available among the model curriculum units on the DESE website. The Great Fight for Disabilities Rights Video was added recently and can fit well within high school students’ studies of activist movements since 1970.

For your info:
  • DLCS district implementation planning workshops: Broadening Advanced Technological Education Connections (BATEC), in partnerships with Dell, is offering free digital literacy and computer science district implementation planning workshops using the Strategic CSforALL Resource & Implementation Planning Tool (SCRIPT), a framework to guide teams through a series of goal-setting exercises to create or expand upon a digital literacy and computer science education implementation plan. Several workshops will be offered around the state in December and January.
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