Commonwealth Conversations: Education

Statement of Secretary Reville on Newtown, CT Tragedy

Secretary Paul Reville
Secretary, Executive Office of Education
View Secretary Reville's bio

On behalf of Governor Patrick and the entire Patrick-Murray Administration, my thoughts and deepest condolences go out to the families affected by this horrible crime, and to all the people of Connecticut in this time of loss.  As a parent, first and foremost, I can only begin to imagine the horror and tremendous suffering this senseless act of violence has caused.  Our hearts break for those children whose lives have been cut short and for their families and loved ones who are left behind.  We stand in support of all those affected, and are ready to assist in any way we can. 

We know that difficult news like this can be hard to make sense of and even harder to explain to a young child.  Below are a few resources that may help you when having conversations with your children about this difficult and tragic situation.

• Talking with Kids About News - PBS
• Tips for Talking to Children about Difficult News - American Psychological Association
• Helping Children with Scary News - PBS Parents
• How To Talk To Kids About Tragedies In The Media - Child Development Institute
• Helping Children Cope with Tragedy Related Anxiety - Mental Health America

My Deepest Thanks

Secretary Paul Reville
Secretary, Executive Office of Education
View Secretary Reville's bio

Friends and Colleagues,

I am writing to let you know that I will soon be stepping down as Secretary of Education.  I have been honored to serve Governor Patrick in this role for the past, nearly five years and in the role of state Board of Education chair before that.  The Governor recently asked all his senior officials to make a two year commitment to coincide with the end of his second term.  Because of other interests and commitments, I could not commit for two full years, so I will be departing in January and returning to the Harvard University Graduate School of Education where I will continue teaching while pursuing a variety of other projects.

I have loved, and still love, my job, my colleagues and this work.  I have been privileged to work with Governor Patrick, Lieutenant Governor Murray and you on the most urgent work of our time, the challenge of educating all of our children for success in the 21^st century.  We have accomplished a great deal, but we still have a long way to go.  As proud as I am of what we have achieved together from Race to the Top to the Achievement Gap Act of 2010, from the Early Learning Challenge Grant to the UMass School of Law, from the Vision Project to our recent community college reforms, and so much more, I am acutely aware that we still have deep, persistent achievement gaps to close.  I am ecstatic to see our continuing stream of nation-leading, sometimes world-leading student achievement results, but when I visit early childhood centers, schools and colleges, I am regularly reminded of the daily challenges facing those students striving to obtain a first class education and those educators straining to provide that education.

Like so many of you, I have made a lifetime commitment to this work, to finishing the job.  This career change for me means the end of one chapter and the beginning of the next.  I will continue to do the work, approaching it now from a different angle, attacking the challenges, once again, from outside of government . 

I look forward to continuing to work with you and to supporting my exceptional successor, Matt Malone,  and our extraordinary team in the Executive Office of Education, our outstanding, education leaders,  Commissioners Freeland, Chester and Killins and President Caret,  the Department of Early Education and Care, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Department of Higher Education and the University of Massachusetts.  We will all continue to work in partnership with our education providers and the myriad associations, philanthropies, non-profits, independent universities, unions and advocacy groups who seek to make education in Massachusetts the best in the world.

I thank Governor Patrick for having given me this once in a lifetime opportunity, and I thank you for your commitment, continuing service and partnership with me over the years.  I look forward to working with you all in the future.

Sincerely,

Paul

STEM Summit 2012

Marissa Cole
Deputy Chief of Staff
Executive Office of Education

On Thursday, October 18^th, I had the pleasure of attending the 9^th Annual statewide STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Summit, held at Gillette Stadium. Like many attendees, I have attended several STEM Summits, and I think I can speak for many when I say they get better (and bigger!) each year.

(Secretary Reville offering remarks at the 2012 STEM Summit. Photo Credit: UMass Donahue)

This year’s event entitled, Game Plan: Aligning Priorities and Bridging Communities, placed a greater emphasis on the connection between STEM and workforce development, as we are increasingly recognizing a direct connection between growth in the STEM sectors and our economic well-being here in the Commonwealth. The event began with a morning plenary session, featuring speakers including Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray, who serves as the Chair of the Governor’s STEM Advisory Council and has been an extraordinary leader on STEM issues; New England Patriots’ owner Bob Kraft and Rose Kirk, President of the Verizon Foundation. Secretary Reville spoke as part of the morning session, alongside Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Joanne Goldstein.  An excerpt from his remarks is included below. If you attended year year’s Summit, please feel free to leave a comment about your experience. And we hope to see you at the 10^th Annual STEM Summit next Fall!

Secretary Reville’s Remarks at the STEM Summit, October 18, 2012: 

• In years past you’ve heard me talk about achievement gaps, opportunity gaps and inspiration gaps we have in STEM education.  What I would like to focus on today is what’s at stake if we don’t find a way to come together and more rapidly close those gaps for our students. 
  
  
• We have a knowledge-based economy here in the Commonwealth.  Our natural resource isn’t coal or corn – it is brainpower.  The strength of our economy and its continued growth depends on a highly educated and well-skilled workforce. 
  
  
• In particular, our economy is heavily reliant on science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM-related fields – biosciences, precision manufacturing, information technology and others – these are the industries we need to support and attract to the Commonwealth. We have double the national average of STEM jobs in Massachusetts. In order to meet the demands of businesses growing and locating here, we need to cultivate both a highly-educated and passionate generation of students engaged in and pursuing STEM fields. Such an undertaking requires coordination at every level, from every stakeholder.
  
  
• Our Administration, under the leadership of the Governor Patrick, and Lieutenant Governor Murray, who has been spearheading our STEM efforts, is deeply committed to this work.

• This year’s state budget included $1.5 million in funding to increase the number of students in programs that support careers in the STEM field, increase the number of qualified STEM teachers, and improve STEM offerings in schools across the state; and $2 million dollars in new funding to support AP Math and Science Initiatives. Through our successful Race to the Top initiative, we have invested $6 million to support STEM education. 
  
  
• As you heard the Lieutenant Governor mention, the Administration recently invested over $1 billion in capital funding for our state colleges and universities to advance high-quality instructional, lab and research facility projects throughout our public higher education system so our students can compete in the global economy. 
  
  
• I recently visited the Marlborough STEM Early College High School where I not only saw the students being inspired, but the teachers and administrators being inspired by and learning from one another. The program’s rigorous classes are cross-curricular, blending math, science, English and history all through the lens of engineering.  Students engage with innovation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics through project and problem-based learning, all the while cultivating their critical thinking, problem solving, communication and collaboration skills and creativity.  This instruction is enhanced by a dual-enrollment partnership with Framingham State University where students can take and earn college level credit during their junior and senior year of high school. Marlborough is an excellent model of innovative education promoting enthusiasm for a future in STEM.  When you present the material in engaging ways, you are naturally cultivating a passion for STEM and there’s no need to try to “sell” it as being more exciting than it is - those kids are genuinely engaged.
  
  
• I know that all of you in this room are committed to this work of ensuring our students, our employers our economy and our Commonwealth continues to grow and prosper. I hope you will use your time here today to explore how we can take our efforts to the next level – how we can extend time, increase students’ exposure to STEM fields and maximize hands-on personal experiences with professionals in these sectors to show students that these fields are the future and inspire them to hop on board.   
• I want to thank all of you for your efforts and partnership with us thus far and look forward to the work ahead. 

• Through our Connecting Activities program and WOW Initiative, more students are getting a glimpse of the excitement and opportunity STEM fields have to offer. Increasing exposure to real-world applications of math, science and technology for our students and giving them a picture of how those fields impact our ever-changing world is a critical part of getting them engaged.  
  
  
• Many of our Innovation Schools – over a dozen now - are orienting themselves around the STEM subjects and taking on this challenge of integrating hands-on and applied learning more fully into the classroom.  I have visited a number of schools across the state where students themselves are encouraged to be the scientists.  They aren’t just reading about experiments in a textbook, they are in labs and out in the field doing these experiments themselves. That is the type of “inspiration” it takes to peak their interest. 

• We as a Commonwealth and a nation are in a period of economic transformation, and the type of innovation and collaboration I saw at Marlborough STEM Early College High School is what it is going take for our education system to keep pace with our changing global marketplace.  Every piece of the system – early education, k-12, higher education, employers, workforce development organizations need to come together for this to work. 
  
  
• I think it’s worth reiterating something I said a bit earlier – we have twice the national average of STEM jobs here in Massachusetts. Many of those jobs, what we call middle-skill jobs, are going unfilled because employers cannot find qualified workers to fill them.  These are good-paying jobs that require more than a high school degree, but less than a four-year liberal arts degree, and they are waiting to be filled in communities all over this state. 
  
  
• Back in January, the Governor described this phenomenon as “skills gap” and put forward a plan give our community colleges additional resources and encourage stronger partnerships to meet that challenge. The Governor awarded community college campuses $4 million in grants a few weeks ago, with the promise of more to come, to help campuses expand their efforts to provide students with relevant workforce training and educational programs. This plan is about strengthening the connections between our secondary schools, public campuses, our employers, and our workforce so that everyone is pulling in the same direction to ensure each and every one of our students has the opportunity to succeed and no job here in Massachusetts is going unfilled.

The Power of Literacy

Secretary Paul Reville
Secretary, Executive Office of Education
View Secretary Reville's bio

November is Family Literacy Month here in Massachusetts.  It is one month we set aside out of the year to recognize the pivotal role that parents and family members play in the educational success of their children year round.  To kick off our activities this year, I visited the Intergenerational Family Literacy Program in Chelsea.  During my visit, I had the great pleasure of witnessing the life-changing impact that learning the English language has had on the adults enrolled in this exceptional program. I was deeply moved by the stories of transformation I heard throughout the morning.

The Intergenerational Literacy Program at the John Silber Early Learning Center in Chelsea is a partnership program between Boston University and Chelsea Public Schools.  The program offers English literacy classes to immigrant parents so that they can improve their own opportunities and more fully support their children’s education.  The 75 adult students and 80 children currently enrolled in the program hail from 24 different countries across the world and speak 13 different languages.  Adults at the Center attend language and literacy classes while their children attend educational programs elsewhere in the center.  Each class is staffed with a teacher and a team of three BU undergraduate students who serve as tutors.  In addition to these “core” literacy classes, the program offers supplemental instruction that includes computer literacy classes, distance learning classes (learning content online), conversation groups and transition to college courses.

My visit to the Center coincided with a unit on author study.  This lesson was intended to allow parents to build familiarity with the authors whose books their children routinely read in school.  The writer the group was studying happened to be Arnold Lobel, a personal favorite of mine, author of the popular Frog and Toad series.  Small groups of adults, facilitated by the teachers and tutors, practiced reading the book in English as if they were reading it to a child.  The group facilitators supervised closely, giving tips about when to start/stop sentences and asking questions in order to maximize understanding of the content.  It was exciting to see parents and family members becoming more than observers of their children’s education - they were becoming active participants in it. 

Yet, by far, the most moving part of the visit for me was when all of the classes came together for a discussion on the program and what it has meant for each of the families involved.  What emerged from the conversation were stories of great triumph and transformation. For these individuals, the capacity to speak English meant that they were able to be more effective parents and take part in the education of their children.  Far beyond that, it meant they could participate – participate much more fully in community, in friendships, and in workplace environments.  Parents were moved to tears as one after another they described how they could now understand what their doctors were saying when they visited for annual check-ups or how they no longer had to lower their heads at co-workers who were trying to make conversation because they couldn’t understand a word of what was being said to them.  This program helped restore their confidence and removed the isolation that came from not being able to speak the common language.  They talked about the sense of community within the program, the friends they had made and the accomplishments they had achieved at work.  Learning English had changed their lives. 

We know that parents and families are a student’s primary teacher and play an indispensible role in the development of children’s cognitive, social and emotional development. Programs like this one equip families with the skills they need to help children succeed in school and go beyond that to increase adults’ competitiveness in the job market so they can earn a living and support their family.  The return on investment here is huge, yet there are over 450 families still on the waiting list for this program alone because of a lack of resources for Adult Basic Education. 

I cannot emphasize enough the enormous difference that effective adult education programs can make in the lives of families.  I felt it in the emotion of the parent testimonies that day and saw tangible results of this program in doors now opened to adults and families through it.  There are currently an estimated 1.1 million adults in Massachusetts in need of Adult Basic Education Services and less than 5% of that population is having those needs met.  We can and should do better.  

Social Innovation Financing: Bringing R&D to Education

Jill Norton
Policy Consultant
Executive Office of Education

In the education sector, new and innovative programs are constantly being developed that have the potential to improve outcomes for students. Yet many of these programs struggle to secure the funding it would take to become fully operational or expand to reach more students because of the time needed for them to prove their effectiveness.  State governments with limited resources are understandably hesitant to spend money on new programs that may not succeed.  It’s a chicken or egg problem – innovative programs need to prove their effectiveness in order to secure funding, but without initial funding, they may not be able to fully operate their programs and achieve their desired outcomes. These challenges are especially true for programs focused on prevention that may save money over time.  For example, programs that build the literacy skills of preschool children may not be able to prove the ultimate success of their students – and subsequent cost-savings for the Commonwealth – until those preschoolers are in high school or college.

So in May 2011, Massachusetts became the first government entity in the United States to pursue something called social innovation financing. The idea behind social innovation financing is that taxpayer dollars should pay for demonstrated success rather than the promise of success.  At the same time, social innovation financing provides innovative service providers with the funding they need to fully support their programs. Social innovation financing allows the government to partner with private-sector organizations to expand promising programs and pay only after success is demonstrated. Since funded programs aren’t likely to produce savings for a few years, the state Legislature set aside $50 million for repayments to investors once the selected programs begin to show positive results. The first two investments are focused on 1) chronic homelessness – with the goal of improving the well-being of chronically homeless individuals while simultaneously reducing housing and Medicaid costs, and 2) juvenile justice – with the goal of reducing recidivism and improving education and employment outcomes for a significant segment of the youth who exit the juvenile corrections and probation systems.

In order to build upon and expand the Administration’s work in social innovation financing, we at the EOE are working with our budget team to explore a new round of social innovation financing proposals that would focus on overcoming critical challenges in education. We will be particularly interested in ideas for overcoming persistent education challenges through preventative interventions that will ensure that funding produces improved outcomes across the educational continuum – from birth to adulthood. Using social innovation financing to fund innovation in education holds the promise of ensuring that taxpayers’ substantial investments ultimately result in higher levels of education for students, a better prepared workforce and more productive and engaged citizens of the Commonwealth.

Stay tuned for more updates on our progress toward launching social innovation financing in education over the coming months.

Massachusetts’ Readiness Centers and the New Architecture for Greater Collaboration and Coordination

Saeyun Lee
Policy Director
Executive Office of Education

Governor Patrick first proposed the reestablishment of an Executive Office of Education (EOE) to increase alignment and create a comprehensive public education system in Massachusetts – one that would truly support children and students from birth all the way through postsecondary education.  In order to ensure that this coordination among all levels of education is taking place, the EOE has created a new architecture for promoting ongoing and effective collaboration and better coordination among the early education, K-12, and higher education sectors.

Our six Readiness Centers – the Berkshire Readiness Center, the Pioneer Valley Readiness Center, the Central Massachusetts Readiness Center, the Greater Boston Readiness Center, the Northeast Regional Readiness Center, and the Southeastern Massachusetts Readiness Center – are an important component of this new statewide architecture.  These Centers were established in October 2009, and they are managed by regional teams that include public and private institutions of higher education, K-12 school districts, early education and out-of-school-time programs, educational collaboratives, non-profit organizations, and business and community partners. 

The work of the Centers has evolved significantly over the past several years.  While they are still focused on enhancing educator effectiveness by providing and coordinating high-quality professional development for educators across the state, they have recently taken on new responsibilities including disseminating important information about effective models and best practices and convening educators to tackle key education priorities and also leverage resources and expertise.  With these new functions, the Readiness Centers are helping to create essential opportunities for cross-sector problem-solving about our core education issues.

Since their inception, the Readiness Centers have contributed to significantly to our efforts to ensure that every student in the Commonwealth has the tools and supports they need to reach their full potential.  For example, by supporting the implementation of elements of our K-12 Race to the Top (RTTT) plan, including our transition to new Curriculum Frameworks in English Language Arts and Math and the implementation of new tools for our English language learners, the Centers have proven to be critical partners in advancing our education goals for the Commonwealth.

Over the next few years, the Centers will continue to support the K-12 RTTT plan as well as the implementation of our Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge plan.  In addition, the Centers will support the EOE educator preparation initiative that my colleague, Jill Norton, described in her recent post.

It is a continual privilege to work with the Executive Directors of the Readiness Centers, and on behalf of Secretary Reville, I would like to thank our public colleges and universities in particular for serving as the lead conveners in each region.  I am always impressed by everyone’s unequivocal commitment to working together to achieve our common goals, and along with my colleagues at the Departments of Early Education and Care, Elementary and Secondary Education, and Higher Education, I look forward to doing amazing work during the 2012 – 2013 academic year and beyond.

For additional information about the Readiness Centers initiative, please do not hesitate to contact me at saeyun.lee@state.ma.us or 617.979.8351.  The primary contacts for the Readiness Centers are as follows:

Berkshire Readiness Center
Douglas McNally, Executive Director
D.mcnally@mcla.edu

Pioneer Valley Readiness Center
Andrew Churchill, Executive Director
achurchill@educ.umass.edu

Central Massachusetts Readiness Center
Nadya Higgins, Interim Contact
higginsn@mespa.org

Greater Boston Readiness Center
Kevin Thurston, Executive Director
kthurston1@framingham.edu

Northeast Regional Readiness Center
Christine Shaw, Executive Director
cshaw@salemstate.edu

Southeastern Massachusetts Readiness Center
Anna Bradfield, Co-Director
ABRADFIELD@bridgew.edu
Stacey Kaminski, Co-Director
SKaminski@scecoll.org

Change from Within

Abby R. Weiss 
Child & Youth Readiness Cabinet Manager
Executive Office of Education

One of the things I enjoy most about our work as part of the Child & Youth Readiness Cabinet is that we are in the unique position to identify and, where possible, adjust state policies that simply aren’t working for children and families.  One such opportunity has presented itself based on our work with the Springfield Public Schools (SPS).

Increasing student attendance is a high priority for SPS. They have a robust system for tracking and following up with students and their families after every absence. Due to this vigilance, SPS increased attendance rates by more than two percentage points in four years (from 89.5% in 2008 to 91.8% in 2012). But, by their own admission, they still have a distance to go to reach their goal of 95% attendance by 2017.

SPS has identified the Department of Transitional Assistance’s (DTA) Learnfare program as an opportunity for bolstering their significant progress in this area. Unfortunately, the programs’ requirements do not align with the district’s attendance policies.

Learnfare is a requirement for certain families on Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children (TAFDC) – that is, cash assistance for families that meet certain income eligibility requirements – to send their children (ages 6 through 13) to school.  In order to comply with Learnfare rules, children must not have more than eight unexcused absences per academic quarter. If a student exceeds this number of absences, a sanction process is triggered, and families may lose a portion of their cash benefit until the issue is resolved.

So, what’s the problem?

The problem is that eight absences per quarter totals more than six missed weeks of school per year. That is a lot of missed school.  Even though this program affects a very small number of families, school districts need every tool available to them to increase their attendance rates.

So we at the Cabinet brought the issue directly to the Commissioner of DTA, Dan Curley. He and his team – with Yasmin Otero, the DTA Liaison to the Readiness Cabinet spearheading the effort – developed a creative response, the Learnfare Intervention Model Pilot, that they are going to roll out in January.

This pilot will begin in the communities where the Cabinet is already engaged. These school districts will be asked to report to DTA as soon as a child on TAFDC has accrued four unexcused absences in a quarter. A DTA case manager will then reach out to the child’s family to help them identify and resolve any impediments to school attendance and will connect  that family to appropriate agencies (both state and community-based) for the specific services they may need.

Among the many benefits of this pilot program, it allows us to place our time and resources on supporting students and their families and not, fundamentally, on a punitive strategy for increasing student attendance. Our goal is to ensure that our children and families have access to the services and supports they need so that children can come to school healthy and ready to learn. This pilot is an important step in that direction.

Upcoming Innovation School Events

Bridget Rodriguez
Direct or of Planning and Collaboration,
Executive Office of Education

As our Innovation Schools initiative continues to grow, we are pleased to announce a calendar of fall and winter events, below, that will help connect those already working in Innovation Schools across the state and provide technical support to those planning Innovation Schools.  

Innovation Schools Planning Grants

We are pleased to be able to announce that planning grants will again be available to Innovation School planners.  Planning grants will be awarded up to $10,000 per proposed Innovation School.  Schools must be slated to be established in a RTTT participating district.  The grant application prioritizes teacher initiated plans, as well as STEM themed plans, schools proposed in level 3 and 4 districts, and plans that creatively expand the school day and year using existing resources.   Planning grant applications will be due December 20, 2012.  The complete Innovation School planning grant RFP will soon be posted at http://www.doe.mass.edu/grants/grants.html . 

Webinar - Innovation School Approval Process & Planning Grant Application Process

Innovation Schools Approval Process Overview & Planning Grant Information Webinar will be held on Thursday, October 18^th from 4-5pm. 

This webinar will focus on the Innovation School approval process and the planning grant requirements.  Those intending to apply for Innovation School Planning Grants are strongly encouraged to participate.

Working Sessions – Technical Assistance for Innovation School Planners

Innovation School planners may sign up for a 90 minute consultation with EOE, ESE and independent consultants.  Sessions are planned for

• Thursday, November 8^th - DESE, 75 Pleasant Street in Malden, and
• Tuesday, November 13^th - location TBD

Innovation School Site Visits & Information Sessions

Innovation School educators and those interested in learning about the Innovation Schools model are invited to two upcoming school site visits.  Site visits will include a tour of the school and breakout sessions to debrief the visit with school faculty.  Concurrent breakout sessions will be offered for those working in Innovation Schools. 

• Paul Revere Innovation School in Revere: The Paul Revere Innovation School is the first Innovation School in Massachusetts and uses creative scheduling to allow for common planning time and expanded professional development as well as to extend the day for students by two hours. This site visit will take place on Tuesday, October 23^rd from 1-4pm.
  
  
• Springfield Renaissance Innovation Middle/High School in Springfield: Springfield Renaissance is a middle and high school that uses an advisory system, high-stakes authentic performance assessments, explicit attention to character education, and distributed leadership.  For the past three years, the school has had 100% of its students accepted to college. This site visit will take place on Thursday, November 1^st from 1-4pm.

Please RSVP to me at bridget.rodriguez@state.ma.us for the webinar, working sessions (include preferred time) and site visits (include your name, affiliation, role, email address, and whether you are affiliated with an established Innovation School or are a prospective Innovation School planner). 

We hope to see many of you at these events!

 

Giving Students the Supports They Need to Stay in School

Marissa Cole
Deputy Chief of Staff
Executive Office of Education

Governor Patrick has made closing the achievement gap a top priority of his Administration.  Realizing that one of the most troubling achievement gaps is the one that exists between students who are in school and those who drop out of school, we have made identifying students who are at-risk of dropping out and giving them the supports they need to persist through school a key component of our education reform strategy.

Three years ago, the Massachusetts Graduation and Dropout Prevention and Recovery Commission, chaired by Secretary Reville, released a report called “Making the Connection.” This report offered a set of recommendations that has served as the foundation of our dropout prevention and recovery efforts and activities since that time.

Some of the Commission’s recommendations include:

• Increasing the number of alternative options available to help get students back on track to graduation;
• Building out an early indicator system to identify students at risk of dropping out;
• Amending state law regarding school exclusion, updating the dropout notification law, and closing loopholes that allow students under the age of 16 to leave school; and
• Securing resources to support the state and local efforts to lower the dropout rate and raise graduation rates.

Since the release of the report, there have been a number of exciting developments to further these goals and recommendations. With the help of federal, state and local partners we have secured federal funding to support our efforts to lower dropout rates; made a concerted effort to encourage sharing of information and best practices to help schools and districts target problematic dropout rates; and just this summer, saw legislation pass that that changes school discipline policies and removes archaic provisions from the law that allowed students to leave school prior to age 16.

Some of the specific initiatives underway to help identify students at risk of dropping out and provide them with the supports they need to stay in school include the development of new Innovation Schools. These schools, created by the Achievement Gap Act of 2010, give educators some additional autonomies and tools to meet the specific needs of their students and help them achieve success.  Innovation Schools are being designed around an array of student needs. Some are specifically being designed to meet the needs of off-track or at-risk youth, like the Pathways Innovation School, a partnership between the Mahar Regional School District and Mount Wachusett Community College; and the Leominster Public Schools’ new school for 14-22 year olds offering both academic and therapeutic services to its students. 

In 2010, we also announced Massachusetts’ selection as one of two states to receive a $15M High School Graduation Initiative Grant, (MassGrad for short) from the Obama Administration.  All 133 high schools in MA with a dropout rate equivalent to or higher than the state average were eligible to apply for MassGrad grants.  Grants were awarded in Spring 2011 and work in our schools and districts is underway to provide alternative pathways, additional supports and programs, like Gateway to College, in more regions of the state. In addition, all 133 high schools have been invited to participate in a MassGrad Dropout Prevention and Recovery Work Group that will offer trainings and other coordinating opportunities. If you work in a district and are interested in receiving the MassGrad e-newsletter (“MassGrad Minute”) and updates on the Work Group’s upcoming events, feel free to email Joeatta at jsmith-nwachuku@doe.mass.edu.

Another important development in this work was just announced a few weeks ago when our colleagues at the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) released the Early Warning Indicator System (EWIS). This data-driven system is designed to identify students from first grade though twelfth grade that are potentially "off-track" for grade-level or developmental age, including those students at-risk of dropping out of high school, so that additional supports can be deployed to those students to help them persist through school.  Districts can access student-level risk information via the College and Career Readiness Dropbox in the ESE Security Portal. In addition, ESE is offering introductory webinars on the EWIS during the month of October. Please click here to register.

Over the next few months, I will keep you updated on this work and ways you can engage to join us in these efforts.  Feel free to contact me at Marissa.Cole@massmail.state.ma.us with any questions about our ongoing efforts in this arena.

Success in the Classroom Starts with a Well-Prepared Teacher

Jill Norton
Policy Consultant
Executive Office of Education

As another school year begins, we have an opportunity to reflect on the importance of good teachers. Research supports what parents and students have long known: the vast majority of a school’s total impact on student achievement is the result of teacher effectiveness. The Patrick-Murray Administration, in response to this evidence, has established the Educator Preparation Advisory Group (EPAG), a group of education, business and advocacy organization leaders tasked with developing a 21^st century educator preparation system in Massachusetts that is more aligned and coherent to support teachers and better meet the needs of all students.

Why focus on educator preparation?

As a parent of a child who is just beginning his educational career, there’s nothing more important to me than the quality of my son’s teacher. While my son (like most 3 year olds) loves learning, it’s his teachers who will determine whether he loves school - or not. So it is essential to ensure teachers are well prepared before they enter the classroom and supported once they get there.  In Massachusetts, well over 2,000 K-12 teaching positions are open each year. High turnover among new teachers and the steep increase in retirement rates are exacerbating the challenge and urgency to recruit, prepare and retain a sufficient number of teachers. While the exact number of vacant teaching positions in the Commonwealth is difficult to predict, there is general consensus that the number of qualified teachers does not match the number of children to be taught.

The challenge to fill vacancies is made even more difficult because today’s teachers are required to have higher levels of preparation in their content areas and are being held to higher standards than ever before – they must ensure all students achieve at high levels. Teacher preparation programs’ coursework and field experience requirements must then be aligned to these new realities. Some new Massachusetts teachers have reported that their coursework focused too much on content and not enough on how to teach that content to real students in real classrooms. New teachers have also reported wanting more coursework in topics such as diversity and addressing the needs of all students with a wide range of needs in the same classroom setting. Teachers also need additional support in the classroom. In a 2007 survey, new Massachusetts educators reported that they felt left “out there” in their first three years of teaching - their energy and focus torn between classroom preparation work and the demands of advancing their license to the professional level. 

What will the Educator Preparation Advisory Group’s focus on?

EPAG members will examine these challenges, research best practices from other leading states and develop recommendations for a more robust and aligned preparation system in the Commonwealth.  Members will focus their initial work on building a stronger statewide induction system that will better integrate educator preparation with the first three years of service; improving the content and quality of courses in educator preparation programs to better align these programs with local, regional, and statewide priorities; creating more robust classroom- and school-based learning opportunities for aspiring educators; and improving pathways to certification and licensure.

The EPAG will also consider things like the specific challenges facing educators in urban areas and other higher-need communities; enrollment, admission, and retention policies at preparation programs; principal preparation and its relationship to teacher preparation; and collaboration with other sectors to increase awareness about and support for all educators and the teaching profession.

Educators at every level of the public education system are central to the Administration’s ongoing efforts to close those achievement and attainment gaps. In order to ensure that they are well prepared to meet the needs of a diverse student population, successfully implement the Commonwealth’s reform strategies, and embrace new professional opportunities, Massachusetts must develop a new and improved educator preparation system.

The EPAG is expected to present its final recommendations to Secretary Reville in Spring 2013, so check back for updates on the EPAG's work and recommendations.