Educator Effectiveness

Massachusetts Plan for Equitable Access to Excellent Educators, 2015-2019

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The Massachusetts Equity Plan aims to meet our moral imperative that all students — particularly those who are economically disadvantaged, students of color, English Learners, and/or students with disabilities — have equal access to excellent teachers and principals. The 2017 Equity Plan Update provides recent information on new and ongoing equity initiatives, as well as new and updated data on statewide gaps in equitable access.

For a quick overview of equity strategies and statewide data, please see the Massachusetts Playbooks for Equitable Access to Excellent Educators.

Massachusetts equity strategies do not call for redistribution of teachers, but rather focus on increasing students' experiences with quality teachers through approaches such as increasing overall teacher effectiveness, reducing teacher turnover, and hiring qualified, effective new teachers.

We know that the quality of educators is the single greatest in-school factor in determining student success. We also know that the Commonwealth currently faces inequities in students' access to excellent educators.

The data show three main statewide gaps in access to educators:

  • Educator Experience Gap
    based on years of experience working in Massachusetts public schools

  • Educator Preparation Gap
    based on whether educators are working in their field of licensure

  • Educator Evaluation Rating Gap
    based on Summative Performance Ratings

Engagement with stakeholders — including educators, parents, and Educator Preparation Programs — was instrumental to developing the equity plan, particularly the analysis of the equity gaps' root causes.

Examples of statewide equity gaps

See the 2017 Equity Plan Update for more information about, and examples of, statewide equity data.

Teaching staff in schools, by population of students in poverty First year teachers: 5.4% of teachers in low poverty schools 11.4% of teachers in high poverty schools Teachers rated Needs Improvement/Unsatisfactory: 2.1% of teachers in low poverty schools 6.6% of teachers in high poverty schools

Teaching staff in schools, by population of students of color First year teachers: 5.0% of teachers in schools with low % students of color 11.1% of teachers in schools with large % students of color Teachers rated Needs Improvement/Unsatisfactory: 3.1% of teachers in schools with low % students of color 5.9% of teachers in schools with large % students of color

Classes in high-poverty schools are more than 8 times more likely to be taught by out-of-field teachers, compared to classes in low-poverty schools.



Hispanic/Latino students were more than twice as likely as white students to be assigned to a teacher rated Needs Improvement/Unsatisfactory, over the past three years.

English Learners were more than twice as likely as non-English Learners to be assigned to at least one out-of-field teacher in 2015-16.

* DESE compared the 25% of schools with the largest proportion of economically disadvantaged students (high poverty) to the 25% with the smallest proportion of economically disadvantaged students (low poverty) in 2015-16. The same applies to schools with large and small proportions of students of color.

Where to learn more about Equity Gap data for your school or district

Note: School & District Profiles data are publicly available. Hyperlinks are included below.

Edwin Analytics Reports are only available to certain school and district personnel.

Experience Gap:

  • Profiles: Educator Retention Rates
    • Shows proportion of superintendents, principals and teachers who remain in the same position from one year to the next
  • Edwin Analytics: Staff by Length of Service Cube View (ED209)
    • Shows proportion of staff with different durations of experience in a district or school; filters include job category, such as teacher or principal

Preparation Gap:

  • Profiles: Teacher Data Report
    • Shows proportion of licensed teachers and proportion of core academic classes taught by highly qualified teachers; can filter by district or school, and by subject
  • Edwin Analytics: Core Academic Area Professional Development Needs (ED204)
    • Shows proportion of classes not taught by HQTs, by subject, for a school/district

Educator Evaluation Rating Gap:

  • Profiles: Teacher Evaluation Data
    • Shows the proportion of educators who received each of the four evaluation ratings; can filter by school or district, and by educator job category

Last Updated: June 3, 2020

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