October Board of Ed: advancing student learning (the "vision" section)

 and Johnston opens with what was clearly "class you're still talking" voice

This is the "educational vision" section

special committee on pandemic recovery coming back with recommendations in January
Literacy Launch district participation and targets also in January
planning for professional development

curriculum data dashboard which is the Department's version of what they call "high quality instructional materials"
which is done through CURATE; it only happens in digital literacy, math, ELA in K-12; science is 6-12, working on K-5; and there is nothing on history...9-12 coming soon
revising rubrics in line with priorities on multilingual learners, culturally sustaining practices, and inclusive practices
archiving older reports 
will no longer have a single rating, as they find that oversimplifies
started with curriculum 'heat maps' in 2018; then curriculum profiles in 2022; now a dashboard which is more user friendly
now have 94% of traditional districts, including the 100 largest districts
and that's here 
oh, wow, is that a silly thing! there's no way that shows what's actually happening in classrooms (and I sure hope it doesn't!)
West: "now that we have fairly comprehensive" information, we could also show rates of learning growth
Moriarty: but we don't know when they adopted
Johnston: I think that was is evolving is moving this from an expectation to a requirement
Moriarty: "I think that this is signaling to the publishing industry" and that's across the whole country
oh, dude, if you think that we come anywhere close to competing with Texas on that...also, what a weak sentiment on what we teach

update on review process on teaching review through Literacy Launch
goal was by this year all early childhood, elementary, and moderate disability teacher candidates would be prepared through coursework and feedback and practice in early literacy
formative feedback reviews
professional learning communities for ed prep faculty
early literacy regional consortia grant programs

Moriarty thank for report, asks how deep you're going
response is program approval criteria are pretty detailed

on the registered teacher apprenticeship program (which appears to be being abbreviated as R-TAP)
"it's been years in the making"
"earn and learn" work in a full time instructional role under the guidance of a teacher in the classroom
improve teacher diversity, educator pipeline
most persistent shortages in central and western Mass
all apprentices will still need to complete all licensure requirements
funded by DESE grant; federal grant; EOLWD grant; scholarship; WIOA workforce
commonly covered: tuition and fees, wraparound supports, licensure fees; childcare and transportation
possibility of pre-apprenticeships; community college pathways; possible principal apprenticeship 
ensure that teachers with which they are apprenticed are effective teachers

Johnston: the Board asked me to bring back ideas on addressing pandemic learning loss
framing as advancing student learning
"not about the need; about the opportunity"
how DESE is looking at all areas including the budget
"not going to wait and rely on money to come"
"how can we understand these trends and what do we see as the need to address"
focusing on the role of the educator
analysis of gap analysis; look to measure progress quarterly
and Johnston is talking about something that is not on a slide; what the slide says is:
proposal to return to pre-pandemic levels or higher on students meeting or exceeding expectations on the MCAS
state return to pre-pandemic or lower of percentage of students who are chronically absent
what he is saying is:  600 teacher leaders in buildings to improve adult practices; imbedded professional development (which sounds like instructional coaches, which a lot of districts already have?)
"the school is the locus of change"
okay, now they're together
one year of high dosage tutoring of up to 13,000 students in grade 1 resulting in decrease of students below benchmark in early literacy
provide one year of high dosage tutoring for up to 10,000 students in grade 4-5 in math resulting in decrease of students not meeting expectations in 2026 MCAS
provide one week "additional intensive instruction" to up to 20,000 students in grades 3-12 resulting in an increase of percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations in MCAS
"facilitate" up to 100 new adoptions of "high quality instructional materials" 
"really think about the high school itself"
that high school is relevant, it's real world, and they can see a pathway
"how to we make sure we are embracing them well on the pathway to success"
goal of 85,000 students in career pathways
"starting in sixth grade, students need to see that aptitudes" 
(this is also both developmentally inappropriately and just...not doing our job)
grants of up to 150-200 districts for MyCAP planning and FAFSA completion
grants around dropout prevention in up to 50 districts
"opportunities" for up to 4000 additional students in CTE, early college, and/or innovation career pathways

Hills thinks this is "really terrific" not in the weeds
suggests something about what you are able to do this year and where you think you'll be at the end of the year for a baseline
understanding not just what you could do with funding, but with gradual increments of funding
suggests with "X number of tutors the MCAS could go up by X percent"
did no one read the thing about scaling of tutoring not working
Johnston says they have talked about pinpoint
Stewart: thinking about K-2: why grade 1?
thinks 20,0000 is a tiny number
Johnston: currently 8000, but have over 900,000 students in the state
Moriarty: you've got my buy-in; I'm interested in the buy-in in the field
"when you scale there tends to be a diminution of effectiveness" on tutoring (he didn't read about it; he heard a podcast)

Next meeting IN HOLYOKE!