The agenda is online here; the video is here.
You can also read WBUR's Max Larkin's Twitter thread here and State House News Service's Katie Lannan on the MCAS here.
You can also read WBUR's Max Larkin's Twitter thread here and State House News Service's Katie Lannan on the MCAS here.
Craven: values are to be as transparent as possible with the members of the public as we move forward, through this remote learning, working to improve the lives of the almost million children whose lives have been displaced
appreciate the work of all at the Department and stakeholders working diligently towards this summer and fall with keeping kids safe
Two subcommittee reports: Teacher Diversity, chaired by Fernández; Commissioner's performance, chaired by Morton
Fernández: exciting to hear about the progress that has been made
focus on a scholarship program that would remove some of the financial barriers to potential teachers of color to enter the teaching workforce
Morton: reviewed and updated performance criteria for this year; mapped out next steps; solicited and received self-evaluation; getting input from those who work for him, external stakeholders
will be reviewing all evaluation to date
plan for reporting out at meeting on June 20
Public comment:
on behalf of Carol Lock (spelling may well be wrong)
worked in STEM and technology
speaking to equity: based on what is needed for each child, continuously
in September there will be a wider range of where children are at
"there is no time better than today" to reimagine education
remote guidance attempts to salvage the status quo; "The status quo wasn't working; why would you want to recreate it?"
do away with age-based classroom: individual "achievement profiles" with measured growth measures for a competency-based system
Joseph Shane: has taught for years, worked with gifted underachievers
speaking to adaptive assessment; having results from last year is too late
comprehensive, transferable from student to student
William Cusher Canalario: cloud architect
have a child with a chronic medical disability; may be impossible for such children to attend school in the fall
children who is gifted best served by flexible educational system
competency based system: advance at the way that works best for them
statewide assessment pegged to statewide "state and industry curated learning grids"
effective growth for all children
Maggie Penny (?): education can either put up barriers or eliminate them
educational equity issues for many
was left out of advanced, gifted coursework
an individualized models: let us make education work for every student
Laurie Boxton (?): "one year has passed since the gifted report; we have yet to see any improvements"
"gifted education should be available for all students"
"focus on test scores rather than actual achievement...teaching kids to be successful in their own right"
"begin to discuss gifted learning for all students"
Boston Public School teacher was asked in the middle of the pandemic to give an assessment
literally still have students who do not have laptops
have students who due to internet connections have not been able to get the work
surely a red flag to be doing this now
"what do we most value in education? and what exactly do we hope standardized testing evaluates?"
parent of students in Boston: did you sign the MOU before the pandemic? This isn't how to help BPS students. Invite parents, students, to the table to have a voice "because our voice counts"
parent of first grader, worried about daughter's learning, because the school has many needs
daughter has been "lucky that she has had marvelous teachers"
what can she say when her daughter asks why don't we have rhythmic gymnastics or better music programs?
fighting for better funding for programs
fighting for better funding for programs
"we want more funds for the Blackstone, not state intervention"
not fair for teachers or students to have so many children in the classroom
"where is the Student Opportunity Act that they signed?"
"our children are the future of tomorrow in this country"
Craven: great to hear as much testimony by folks to usually can't travel to Malden to testify
Riley: his written briefing can be found here
have continued to share information including on the competency determination
did a remote learning survey to district leadership
plans from all districts, approved special ed schools, and collaboratives
will be reviewing over next few months to continue to improve remote learning structure to refine and improve the process
question if students being off-track was associated with a delayed union agreement; unclear at this point
set updated letter to families on May 8
CARES Act RFP for districts to receive funding
Deadline of June 15/July 1 (for FY20/FY21 respectively)
"money tracks closely along Title I lines" but every district will receive something
high school assessments: competency determination modified for high school seniors and those on track to graduate in spring or summer 2020
in some cases, students were allowed to take AP exams at a school site if they didn't have other options
post-secondary plans, college and career plan focus
special education: meeting weekly with special ed directors
presentations are on the website
continuing to adjust deadlines in light of the date of emergency
SOA plans now due June 19 but "could be moved further back" if the budget picture clears up
deadline for parents and superintendents admission to vocational deadlines outside of residency
bilingual endorsement
expect that more is to come on that
Return to school working group: nearly 40 people, variety of stakeholders in education
"And I want to be clear: we are working to have schools up and running in the fall, with appropriate safety protocols"
"We hope to have some summer programming as well"
waiting for timelines and phases from administration
summer guidance next week; fall guidance by mid-June
Hills: on school openings "all of a sudden, DESE gets mentioned all the time"
"we've managed in this state to keep a lot of the ideological stuff" out of the decisions
Stewart: asks for an update on gifted and talented programming in the near term
need for common language, common understanding
Riley: adaptive testing has been on my mind for awhile
Takeru Nagayoshi, Teacher of the Year, English teacher in New Bedford
speaking to teacher perspective on remote learning
teach AP Literature with juniors and seniors: teaches about 90 or so
hour long classes, office hours, check in and communication days
not all teachers doing direct instruction: some posting online work, some check-in
some about tech literature, some about expectations and skills
juggling personal, private home life and work
daily attendance: 65-85%
students making at least one: 90%
have had about three students to get in touch with
1/3 EL, high poverty, struggled with absenteeism even before closure
coming to online learning is difficult
had difficulty in getting students at all
not only demographic phenomenon, but national as well
many students are working, working longer hours
students who are taking care of younger siblings
in some cases, students sleeping in
all disproportionally affect low income communities disproportionally
support internet access, but also tech literacy
students, but also parents and teachers
support needed by DESE, especially for schools like mine
parental university on parents can support remote learning
"we're all first year teachers; we're all out of our element"
participation piece and engagement: how to get students to learning space and then make it engaging
training, intent, support
parental and family buy-in
also concern around safety at home; navigating privacy issues
teaching English learners and students on IEPs; difficult to access
some students benefit from self-guided schedule and autonomy
"how do we retain what's working right now in the remote learning environment?"
balance of concern with equity and accountability: around grades and such
leaning on equity: can open up some students slacking or not engaging
"if everything is pass and fail, I have no incentive to put in my all"
outside of the physical structure of the school which gave them a framework difficult for some students to find some motivation
tension between those aspects: punative to flexible
make sure guidelines and protocol and consider needs
Moriarty: difficult to wrap our heads around what teachers are going through
collaboration among parents: engaging with parents?
Nagayoshi: adults make the assumptions that students are digital natives; "they're not; they're cell phone natives."
especially true of parents who are immigrants
don't make assumptions of where people know where things are; need for two way communication with families
not just connecting, but really learning about circumstances
Determination of competency: MCAS
backup is online here
Riley: early stage, needed waiver from federal government
Riley: early stage, needed waiver from federal government
seniors and how it impact graduation
have to look at science and how impacted classes of 2021, 2022, 2023
is based on an end-of-course model; test taken after science course is taken in 9th or 10th grade
patterns don't make it easy to do so next year
94% of next year's graduating class has already passed the science test
for these students, plus current freshmen and sophomores, passage of the relevant course (much like was done with seniors) will count for their competency determination
"While this may seem like an extraordinary step to take, these are extraordinary times, and we must, in my opinion, make decisions accordingly"
will be working on the process and communicating that on a later date
will qualify for scholarships requiring passage, still, through this process
Hoping to give math and ELA exam to sophomores who missed the exam this spring next school year, but that is dependent on how next year works
"clearly the situation with the pandemic is likely to change over time as needed"
West: zero in on "extraordinary"
makes sense in light of extraordinary circumstances we are experiencing right now
not a shift in the theory of action that student coursework being audited
Riley: not a change in overall action
work coming out of Brown showing track with better life outcomes with MCAS passage
Rouhanifard: understand proposal, voting to approve it, "more of a vote of acquiescence rather than approval"
problem hiding in plain sight of overvaluing ELA and math
biology chosen by most "a little bit of an easier" science
now is not the time, but I wanted to put that out there
item passes
Budget update:
CFO Bell: Commissioner recognized the CARES Act funding, federal grant funding
grant available, districts participating in webinar, some looking to use in each year
most looking to access come July 1, given uncertainty
many webinars with districts across finance sectors, trying to give best advice on how to structure a budget for next year
"we don't have any magic answers"
"very difficult to finalize a local budget without a sense of...what level of state commitment"
SOA: we know what the Governor put forward "but that was pre-public health emergency"
know the Legislature is trying to assess and put forward a budget for FY21
considering coming to some agreement on what local aid will look like
"nothing new to report"
"we'd generally be...talking about what the Senate produced for a budget heading into the conference committee"
don't know what the state budget will look like for the Department, either
Stewart: would like to know what conversations are happening
Riley: Governor put out his budget pre-coronavirus
both House and Senate said they had to go back to the drawing board
Beacon Hill still trying to figure out how much tax revenue is coming in
Peyser: leadership is looking at the same data we are, but it's still in the early stages
"taking it one day at a time"
Bell: looking like the state is going to roll into FY21 on a one twelfth budgetary basis
Morton: is there a role of advocacy for us on the Board? Speaking to legislators or Governor to speak to importance of education?
Peyser: "always of value for constituency and stakeholders to make their voices heard"
now a little hard to make that case with so little known
think K-12 education is at the top of everyone's priority list
Hills: given all the uncertainty, "it's probably beyond crazy for individual districts to think there's going to be an increase" over next year
"a near miracle if it stays flat"
"likely that large budget accounts are likely to go down"
Is that a realistic view?
Is that a realistic view?
Bell: "I don't know...I don't want to get myself out of the authorities the Legislature has
"One thing we know is that Chapter 70 will increase...there will be an amount of funding to cover the constitutional aid value"
"One thing we know is that Chapter 70 will increase...there will be an amount of funding to cover the constitutional aid value"
Is the Governor's number sustainable? I don't know.
Legislature did pass SOA unanimously, Governor signed it
"the commitment's there; it's the reality"
Stewart: I worry...COVID has placed a spotlight on inequities as it relates to education
districts that will be able to fundraise to cover their needs, where as others will struggle just to make it through the day
need to work together to advocate for their critical needs at this time
Moriarty: the timing next year is going to be off in a pretty big way
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