Board of Ed in sum

Crossposted from MASC 
The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education met on Tuesday, November 28. The agenda is posted here. 
The meeting opened with updates from Acting Commissioner Wulfson, who spoke of the recently signed LOOK bill on bilingual education. He commented that it was "designed to provide additional flexibility for English language learners," and he told the Board that they would receive a complete update at their December meeting. He also spoke of the results of the first school climate survey, which students took after completing the MCAS this past year. He said it was a "first attempt to quantify some qualitative measures." He noted that the influx of students coming from Puerto Rico not only has continues, but appears to have picked up, with the state having passed 1400 new students last week; the state continues to monitor that and is discussing what is to be done with and for districts both this year and next. Finally, he warmly praised East Boston's McKay School, which he recently visited and was among the schools positively profiled in a recent Boston Globe article.
Secretary Peyser gave a brief update on the administration's interagency opioid work.
Public comments included opposition to wireless internet access and testimony from the head of the two virtual schools in support of the proposed tuition increase (see below).

Novick Reports: Massachusetts plans for ESSA

cross-posted from the MASC site, as I thought having it here might be useful 
Also, read this EdWeek report on how states in general are responding
The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education intends to submit their plan for implementation of ESSA to the Board at their March meeting, with submission to the federal government at their earliest due date in April. This would allow for a response by the U.S. DoE prior to the beginning of the next school year, such that districts would know the direction intended in implementation.
The plan thus far was the topic of the Board's special Monday night meeting, with some continued discussion on Tuesday morning. The presentation to the Board can be found here. A two page highlights of the plan can be found here. An executive summary is here.

Surveys (Accountability)

Third consecutive year of administering surveys
Parent and student surveys are nearly the same as last year
Teacher survey is based on state survey...only received info for schools that have more than 50% response rate (which wasn't that wide)
What would you like to be asked? What do you have no other way of getting to administration?
Good questions to teachers: needs better PR. This isn't another piece of paperwork from admin; this is how you get your opinion to people who need to hear it!
Parents: are they listened to at school? is their voice welcomed? school leadership
Students: how relevant is your homework? How much time is spent on tests/on getting ready for tests?  How much time do you spend outside at school/what are you allowed to do outside of school?

Perda: challenge in getting responses back from parents, in particular. Need to hear from all parents not  just those pleased with system
Biancheria asks that question be dropped rather than just added (if one goes in, one goes out); concerned about length of survey
Last year's survey results were reported out via Governance in February