District/School Resources Administration
Office of Strategic Planning, Research, and Evaluation

ESE Research Update

Research from ESE

	Year Two Report: 2007-2008 Executive Summary: Evaluation of the Expanded Learning Time Initiative Abt Associates, evaluators of the Expanded Learning Time Initiative, report that in the second year schools generally implemented a more seamless schedule for the longer day and increased the adaptation of teaching to longer time periods. Teachers in ELT schools were significantly more positive about the teaching environment than teachers in comparison schools. The evaluators believe additional years will be needed to see significant performance results.
	Galileo and Interim Assessment This ESE policy brief reviews findings from ESE's three-year pilot of the Galileo math assessment system with nine districts from 2005 to 2008. Successful outcomes of the pilot include findings that Galileo is effective at identifying students who need instructional interventions and that teachers increasingly accepted this assessment system. Long-term effectiveness will ultimately depend on district and school level systems of intervention with students to improve teaching and learning.
	Special Education Placements and Costs in Massachusetts More than 10,000 students with disabilities, about 1 percent of the total student population, receive specialized educational services in out-of-district programs, accounting for 6 percent of districts' total expenditures. This ESE policy brief examines public and private special education programs and their costs, the impact of the state reimbursement fund for out-of-district placements (also known as "Circuit Breaker" ), and the challenges and opportunities for developing more collaborative and in-district special education programs of high quality.
	Briefing of Baseline Characteristics and Change at Homer Street Elementary School A component of the ongoing evaluation of Commonwealth Pilot Schools by the Donahue Institute, this briefing reports baseline data for the most recent school entering this initiative, the Homer Street Elementary School in Springfield. Last fall, Homer Street School became the fifth school to reopen as a Commonwealth Pilot.

Reports from ESE

High School Dropouts 2007-2008 This newly released report shows that the high school dropout rate in Massachusetts, already among the lowest in the nation, declined from 3.8 percent in 2006-2007 to 3.4 percent in 2007-2008.

Research on Massachusetts education policy

	Massachusetts Teaching, Learning and Leading Survey: Creating School Conditions Where Teachers Stay and Students Thrive In March 2008, 40,000 Massachusetts educators responded to the Teaching, Learning and Leading Survey (TeLLS) sponsored by a broad coalition of stakeholders. The final report finds evidence that teachers' perception of working conditions, particularly instructional leadership and participation in decision-making, influence their decisions about where to work. The authors recommend that the findings and data be used to begin conversations among educators and not to make high-stakes decisions.
	Listening to Experts: What Massachusetts Teachers Are Saying About Time and Learning and the Expanded Learning Time Initiative Mass2020, the Massachusetts Teacher Association, and the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts use information from both the TeLLS survey and the evaluation report on the Expanded Learning Time Initiative to demonstrate that teachers value having more time in the school day.
	English Learners in Boston Public Schools in the Aftermath of Policy Change: Enrollment and Educational Outcomes AY2003-AY2006 In 2002, Massachusetts voters approved Question 2, a referendum to replace transitional bilingual education with a one-year English immersion program. The Gaston Institute at UMass Boston reports that in the three years following implementation of sheltered English immersion in Boston, identification of students and enrollment in programs for English declined, service options for English Language Learners (ELLs) narrowed, dropout rates of ELLs increased substantially, and the achievement gap between ELLs and other Boston students widened.
	High School Science Performance Assessments: An Examination of Instruments for Massachusetts A study by The Education Development Center examines critical components of nine science interim assessments. Findings point to the need for further discussion about hidden costs in development and implementation, support strategies for assessment implementation by teachers, and the gap in performance assessment of "hands-on" science knowledge.
	Alternative High School Math Pathways in Massachusetts: Developing an On-Ramp to Minimize College Remediation in Mathematics Focusing on practical ways to reduce the high need for math remediation in college, this report by the Rennie Center proposes that educators prepare students thoroughly in arithmetic skills by 7th grade and in algebra skills by 12th grade. The Accuplacer test used by Massachusetts state colleges for placements could be an effective interim assessment for high school teachers.
	Meeting the Challenge: Promising Practices for Reducing the Dropout Rate in Massachusetts Schools and Districts The Rennie Center identified 11 Massachusetts high schools in 9 districts that have demonstrated sustained reduction of their dropout rates, and provides case-by-case information about their policies and practices.
	How Eight State Education Agencies in the Northeast and Islands Region Identify and Support Low-Performing Schools and Districts The Regional Education Laboratory-Northeast and Islands found that states, including Massachusetts, vary widely in how they define low-performing schools and districts, determine academic proficiency, calculate yearly progress, and offer assistance to school and districts. A common factor across all eight was that more schools were newly identified as low-performing in 2007-08 as moved out of that designation.
	Franklin County Schools: A 2020 Vision The New England School Development Council presented a report to the Franklin County Schools Project that explores financial and other issues with regard to regionalizing some or all of the 37 schools serving 26 towns in the county.