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A message from the
Massachusetts Department of
Elementary and Secondary Education

June 15, 2020
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News from Commissioner Jeffrey C. Riley and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Contents:

  1. Emergency License
  2. Picture of the Week: Graduations
  3. Webinars on Planning and Adjusting Instruction
  4. Summer/Vacation Learning Program Grant
  5. Reminder about Student Advisory Councils
  6. Early Grades Literacy Grant Available
  7. Acquisition Support for Safety Supplies
  8. Grant Opportunity to Support Summer Meals
  9. Determining Homelessness
  10. Updated RADAR and DART Reports, and a New RADAR Report
  11. For Your Info:

1. Emergency License:


As a result of special legislation, the Department is now offering an emergency license. This license will help aspiring educators looking to join the profession, people who hold a license in one category (teacher, administrator, specialist teacher, or professional support personnel) who have been prevented by COVID-19 from qualifying for a license in another category, and school districts looking to bring on new hires. The emergency license will be valid for employment in the 2020-2021 school year and will expire on June 30, 2021. The emergency license is now available to apply for in ELAR (Educator Licensure and Renewal).

Picture of the Week:

David Adarkwah, president of the Class of 2020 at Doherty Memorial High School in Worcester, was one of many graduating seniors from across the state who were included in “Massachusetts Commencement 2020”, a program created by Governor Baker and WGBH and which included a speech from Governor Baker, a student speech, and congratulatory messages from local celebrities. The half-hour event aired on Tuesday, June 9 and can be viewed at the link above. The City of Boston’s celebration of its graduates aired on Saturday, June 13 on channels 5 and 11 and can also be viewed online.
graduate smiling

3. Webinars on Planning and Adjusting Instruction:


The Department’s Center for Instructional Support is providing content-specific support to assist teachers, coaches, and instructional leaders with strategies for planning, assessing, and adjusting instruction to address anticipated learning gaps caused or exacerbated by this spring’s school closures. These webinars will be recorded live and posted with links to resources. Pre-registration is not required. The webinars are: More information will be posted at http://www.doe.mass.edu/covid19/learn-at-home.html. Please contact Alexia.J.Cribbs@Mass.Gov with questions regarding any of the sessions listed above.

4. Summer/Vacation Learning Program Grant:


The Department is pleased to announce the Summer/Vacation Learning Program Grant. The purpose of this new, competitive, federally-funded grant is to help local school districts, vocational technical schools, and charter schools develop, expand, or enhance high-quality, in-person, remote, or hybrid learning programs for the summer of 2020 and/or school vacations during the 2020-2021 school year. The grant can also be used to support the development and implementation of weekend learning programs that will take place during the 2020-21 school year.
 
Interested applicants should fill out the intent to apply survey by Thursday, June 18. The RFP will be posted at http://www.doe.mass.edu/grants/current.html.

5. Reminder about Student Advisory Councils:


There is still time for high schools to elect representatives to state and regional student advisory councils for the 2020-2021 school year. Election information is available online and includes suggestions for conducting elections during school closures as well as a Survey Gizmo link to register your students and school for membership. Anyone with questions can contact Donna Taylor at 781-338-6320 or dtaylor@doe.mass.edu.

6. Early Grades Literacy Grant Available:


The Department is pleased to announce the FY21 state-funded, competitive Early Grades Literacy grant, called From Research to Practice: Evidence-Based Early LiteracyPending funding, DESE expects to award approximately $896,000 to support selected schools’ work to improve student reading in grades K-3. Grant funding will be used for: professional learning specific to foundational skills, teacher stipends, substitutes, school-based literacy consultant support, evidence-based early literacy screeners and progress monitoring tools, and evidence-based materials. Proposals are due on Friday, July 10. The Department will hold an informational webinar about the grant via Zoom at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, June 22. For access, please email Tracey Martineau at Tracey.J.Martineau@mass.gov.

7. Acquisition Support for Safety Supplies:


As referenced in a June 10 On the Desktop message (download), DESE is facilitating a state-sponsored health safety supply/PPE ordering process. This support is made possible through the Operational Services Division (OSD), which has played a leading role in the Commonwealth’s acquisition of health safety supply/PPE to date for health care workers and first responders. The memo (download) has details about how to participate in the process.

8. Grant Opportunity to Support Summer Meals:


On Thursday, June 11, the Baker-Polito Administration announced $36 million in funding for the Food Security Infrastructure Grant Program. This grant focuses on ensuring that families and individuals across Massachusetts have access to food, with an emphasis on equitable access to food that is produced locally. National School Lunch Program Seamless Summer Option (SSO) sponsors and Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) sponsors, including both school districts and community organizations, are eligible to apply for this grant. Grant applications are being accepted on a rolling basis until 4 p.m. on Tuesday, September 15.

9. Determining Homelessness:


Across Massachusetts, school districts are increasingly reporting children living in less than adequate housing. This is a result of the growing scarcity of affordable housing, and job losses during the current closures have only increased concerns. The Guidance on Fixed, Regular, and Adequate Housing: Identifying Family and Youth Homelessness intends to clarify guidelines for determining homelessness and provide a common set of parameters around what is fixed, regular, and adequate housing based on the state’s sanitary code. Anyone with questions about this topic can email Sarah.E.Slautterback@mass.gov.

10. Updated RADAR and DART Reports, and a New RADAR Report:


The Department’s Office of Planning and Research has updated RADAR Benchmarking and RADAR Special Education with 2020 data about students and staffing and 2019 finance data. Districts can use this data to compare themselves to 10 other districts for planning and budgeting discussions. The Department has also updated District Comparison Indicators, which is useful for quick information about other districts, and added District and Town Data, which allows users to select up to 30 districts and 50 towns to easily find wide-ranging data, including teacher contract data, Department of Revenue data, and which city or town a district’s students come from.
 
In addition, DART Detail: Staffing and Finance is updated with 2019 finance and 2020 staff data and now includes charter schools.

11. For your info:

  • Elementary Principal of the Year: The Massachusetts School Administrators Association recently announced that Stephen Wiltshire of the North Street Elementary School in Grafton has been selected as the MSAA Thomas C. Passios Elementary School Principal of the Year. Congratulations, Mr. Wiltshire!
  • Census-related activities for kids: The U.S. Census Bureau’s Statistics in Schools program has developed parent/caregiver toolkits of activities to use at home. Each toolkit contains a teaching guide, a student worksheet, a list of materials, and an estimate of how long each lesson takes (5 to 20 minutes). Young children might also be interested in the VeggieTales: Everyone Counts! video.
  • Learning Ally audiobooks: Learning Ally Audiobooks Solution is offering Massachusetts schools free access to their online audiobooks until Saturday, August 1, 2020. A district or school administrator must complete district or school’s enrollment before students can access the audiobooks. To enroll, district or school administrators must email Becky Hatcher at rhatcher@learningally.org. Parents cannot register for free access on their own.

  • Condition of Education: The National Center for Education Statistics recently released “The Condition of Education 2020,” which presents data on 47 indicators. The report includes an executive summary and an “At a Glance” section.
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