Assessment/Accountability
School and District Accountability and Assistance

Urban and Commissioner's Districts

Check back in late February for links to district support resources like the Guidance for Professional Learning Communities, Learning Walkthrough Implementation Guide, District Data Team Toolkit, and Common Planning Time Self-Assessment, or email districtassist@doe.mass.edu.

General Purpose and Approach

Ten districts combine to form a cohort known as the Commissioner’s Districts – Boston, Brockton, Fall River, Holyoke, Lawrence, Lowell, Lynn, New Bedford, Springfield, and Worcester. These districts were identified because they share the following characteristics:

• 10,000 or more students (Holyoke is an exception because it has fewer students)
• Highest poverty and subgroup enrollment in the state
• Three or more schools in Corrective Action or Restructuring in the aggregate for ELA, math or both
• In Corrective Action either in the aggregate or for subgroups as a district

The Center for Targeted Assistance operates on a theory of action that posits that if districts assume as a key function the responsibility for establishment of the conditions for school effectiveness at each school, then student and school performance will improve. The Commissioner’s Districts are believed to be large enough to sustain an infrastructure to manage, oversee, and support the improvement of standards based teaching and learning for all students in their districts. Since 2007-2008, the Office of Urban and Commissioner’s District (UDA) has been charged with providing customized support to the Commissioner’s Districts to enhance their capacity to support high need schools, in addition to all other schools in the district. To this end, UDA assistance, activities, tools, and resources are purposefully designed to complement and strengthen district capacity to guide and monitor school improvement.