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A message from the
Massachusetts Department of
Elementary and Secondary Education

January 25, 2019
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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: Pappas Rehabilitation Hospital for Children
  3. Governor’s Budget Proposal
  4. Webinars on Benchmarks for English Learners
  5. VISTA 2019 Survey Window is Open
  6. Planning for Success
  7. Massachusetts WIC Program Remains Open
  8. For Your Info: Quality Counts

1. Board of Elementary and Secondary Education Meeting:


The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education met on January 22 and approved two motions with respect to an expansion request from Alma del Mar Charter School (download) in New Bedford. The first motion approved an expansion of 450 seats as part of an innovative compromise between the charter school and the New Bedford Public Schools to serve New Bedford families. If the negotiations and legislation needed for that compromise do not come to pass, the Board’s second motion would apply and would grant Alma del Mar an increase of 594 seats following the normal process.
 
The Board also voted to renew the charter for City on a Hill Charter Public School, New Bedford and place the school on probation with conditions related to improving the school’s academic performance as well as school climate.
 
Also on January 22, the Board voted to keep the Helen Y. Davis Leadership Academy Charter School in Boston on probation and establish a new set of conditions related to the school’s governance and academic performance.

A video of the meeting is available at https://livestream.com/accounts/22459134.

Picture of the Week:

On December 20, Commissioner Riley and others from DESE visited the Pappas Rehabilitation Hospital for Children in Canton, where they saw a student performance and met students and staff. The Department provides educational services for students at the hospital, which serves children ages 6-21 who have special health care needs. (Photo courtesy of the Special Education in Institutional Settings Program at Pappas Rehabilitation Hospital for Children)
Commissioner Riley squats down to speak with a girl in an uatomated wheelchair who is wearing holiday corsages. A crowd of other students, some with wheelchairs or scooters, and adults are in the background.

3. Governor’s Budget Proposal:


On January 23, Governor Baker unveiled his administration’s budget proposal and a multi-year plan to make major changes to education funding that focuses additional money on economically disadvantaged students, English learners, and students in struggling schools. The proposal would address needs that the Foundation Budget Review Commission identified, consolidate charter school tuition reimbursements into a more reliable three-year schedule, and give the commissioner increased opportunity to partner with underperforming schools when they have not effectively implemented their turnaround plan.
 
The FY20 estimates for Chapter 70 aid and required local contributions, along with a link to H.70, An Act to Promote Equity and Excellence in Education, are posted on the DESE school finance webpage.
 
The governor’s proposal is the beginning of the FY20 budget process. The Department will keep districts updated as the process continues.

4. Webinars on Benchmarks for English Learners:


The Language Opportunity for Our Kids (LOOK) Act requires districts to identify English learners who do not meet English proficiency benchmarks. (An English learner who is “meeting benchmarks” is on track to attain English proficiency within six years of entering a Massachusetts public school.) Districts must adopt procedures to identify English learners who are not meeting benchmarks, identify the areas in which the students need improvement, establish personalized goals for attaining proficiency, track students’ progress, review services available to help students, and incorporate input from parents.
 
The implementation of student benchmark requirements will begin in SY2019-20. The targets that DESE will expect students to meet during the 2019 ACCESS for English Language Learners assessment are now available in the DESE’s Security Portal Drop Box 2018 ACCESS folder.
 
The Department’s Office of Language Acquisition is offering four webinars to help districts meet the LOOK Act’s benchmark requirements. The first webinar is for English learner education directors and will be at 10:00 a.m. February 6. The Department will hold other webinars at 2:00 p.m. February 7, 11:00 a.m. February 25, and at 10:00 a.m. March 5. The webinars will provide information about where to locate benchmark data, identifying areas of growth for students who are not making anticipated progress, and what districts may consider in establishing goals for each student. Registration is open online. In addition, more information about Guidelines for the Use of Benchmarks toward Attaining English Proficiency is also available online. More information regarding DESE’s Guidelines for the Use of Benchmarks toward Attaining English Proficiency is also available online.

5. VISTA 2019 Survey Window is Open:


The survey window for DESE's annual Views of Instruction, State Standards, Teaching, and Assessment (VISTA) surveys is open. Superintendents and principals should have received an individual link from Westat to their surveys. This year, the survey gives educators the opportunity to share their views on four strategic areas of the agency's work: educator effectiveness (hiring, developing, evaluating, and retaining effective educators); the Massachusetts curriculum frameworks; social and emotional learning, health, and safety; and DESE supports.
 
Results and more information from prior year’s VISTA surveys are available here. The Department has used educator feedback to improve implementation of initiatives, focus resources, grants and supports, and inform policies. The survey is shorter than last year’s and should take 20 to 25 minutes to complete. Superintendents and principals who have not received a survey or who are having trouble accessing their surveys can contact the VISTA Study Help Desk at MAVISTA@westat.com. Anyone with specific questions can email Shelagh Peoples, DESE’s VISTA coordinator, at speoples@doe.mass.edu.

6. Planning for Success:


Last chance to register for Planning for Success facilitation training! This free, four-day workshop on February 19 to 22 prepares participants to facilitate the full strategic planning process in their own district or for others. Participants can earn 24 professional development points. Contact Planning for Success Consultant Lori Likis (lorilikis@ccoaching.com) or Kathy Cross (kcross@doe.mass.edu) for an application or additional information.

7. Massachusetts WIC Program Remains Open:


The Massachusetts Women, Infants & Children Program would like to emphasize that the WIC programs are open for business as usual during the federal government shutdown:
  • Massachusetts WIC is open for all eligible families to receive program benefits and services.
  • WIC food/formula benefits should continue to be redeemed at all authorized retailers.
  • WIC participants should keep their appointments to continue their participation in the program.   
For more information, visit mass.gov/wic or call 1-800-WIC-1007. Follow the program on Twitter at @MassWIC. 

8. For your info:

  • Quality Counts: Massachusetts has again ranked top in Education Week’s annual Chance-for-Success Index, part of the news outlet’s Quality Counts coverage that compares public education systems in different states. The index uses 13 indicators that span a lifetime.
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