Wednesday, March 16, 2016

DESE reorganization?

Not actually on the Board of Ed's agenda for next week, but sent out as "informational" to them is the report of Parthenon, which (you may remember) did an organizational assessment of DESE. I've posted it here. If you're anyone who has dealings with DESE, it's worth skimming.
A few points of note:
  • there's a point about streamlining who reports to the Commissioner and having one person "take a stronger integration role" in reporting to him 
  • there's a call for "more clarity in the state's role in improving instructional practice." Specificially,the report calls for DESE to "(d)efine the role of the agency as one that sets standards, and then acts as a clearinghouse for the resources and supports already available to support the field in meeting those standards," to "(i)dentify instructional leadership at the district and school levels and find ways to engage with that leadership on an ongoing basis around common issues of practice," along with better coordinating cross-departmental work.
  • there's a bit about "a greater degree of central coordination" in communication with a recommendation that one person who directly reports to the Commissioner be designated as his "external proxy."
  • there's a discussion of streamlining and aligning compliance functions, with a mention of the push towards socio-emotional measures.
  • finally, there's a bit about the various school models in Massachusetts, with this concern:"Yet in many areas of MA, there is a need for high-quality options and a rethinking of existing models."
Hm. If it comes up during Tuesday's meeting, I'll blog about it. 

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