April 2021 Board of Education on pandemic adjustments

 ...which is going to include competency determination and several other things

Curtin: four pieces up for vote: two for action; two for public comment
competency determination of class of 2022: this year's juniors
Spring administration of MCAS last year; no fall retest; didn't have chance in January
have had no opportunities to take test to date
recommending that competency determination be modified for this year's juniors
science competency determination already modified; English and math 'still out there'
without this modification would never have enough opportunities to take the test before graduation
have opportunity to take test this spring or next fall for scholarship opportunities
demonstrated by passing class in relevant subject

West: inclined to support
parallel to last vote due to extraordinary circumstances
treating students more equitably; how else can more be done
districts to encourage students to "learn where they stand" relative to standards we have laid out for them
worried that general opportunity to take the assessment may not translate into a general opportunity students may not be aware of
Curtin: can take back question of districts to offer not only for scholarships but for diagnostic reasons
Stapel: can work on sample letter home
West: "Framing in a positive way"

Hills: very tailored approach
"I don't see any room to move there"
will not approve any limits or any end of MCAS "not in this universe, not in any universe"

Lombos: "I'm on the other end of this"
"I'm in this job because I believe in change."
"I think that MCAS is something I'd like to discuss at the Board level"
anti-racist training...if we switch our thinking to think about MCAS and alternative assessment through a lens of equity, it's much more nuanced than that
"embracing 'and'"
"there's ways to have this discussion, not just dig in"

West: reconvene and jump start process of consideration of competency

Rouhanifard: right solutions given the circumstances
what are new and innovative assessments
think there isn't as much distance between positions as portrayed
were it not for the pandemic, would be talking more about what the Commissioner is working on

Coughlin: this is exactly the type of thing that shows students there are people caring about them
there are very genuine concerns about MCAS that need to be discussed.

Fernández: a lot of change has happened in the past year
tremendous amount of funding coming from federal government
hope we'll be continuously thinking that we're in this "now or never moment"
looking at how we educate our students, higher level where we are interrogating and thinking about what this moment allows us to think and do differently

Vote on CD change for class of 2022 passes

certificate of attainment for class of 2021
Curtin: three times for taking a test is still an issue because we haven't offered it
Would amend to one attempt only
can be made via Board vote as it is a policy, not a regulation
if students have transferred in and have had NO chances to take it, that still qualifies
and passes

solicit public comment on regs on accountability
refrain from accountability issuance for 2020-21 year
classification of all schools and districts each fall; allows to refrain from running that
U.S. DoE waiver for federal accountability received April 6
West: "not changing any schools rating or designation or not having any?"
Curtin: for the purposes of offering assistance and offering federal dollars, "we actually have to maintain the list" 
"we actually will maintain the list"
Moriarty: can hear a lot of calls around nature of MCAS, "I think accountability is another" discussion that needs to be had
"it's accountability for places like Lawrence and Holyoke that are level 5" (they aren't; there's no Level 5)
"haven't been able to take action...and we know they can't change themselves because they never do"

Hills: think language isn't as clear; understand intent
are you certain that two sentences are in conflict?
Curtin: thought they weren't; we will be sure they aren't

Peyser: but reports will come out publicly
Curtin: will report out pieces publicly
would not be "packaged together in the algorithm that spits out some sort of label"

passes, thus out for public comment

charter school 10%
Curtin: creation of list of charter school applications lags a bit
the 2020 administration was cancelled "and need to technically solve for that problem"
two years of data need to be included; regulation does not contemplate there being no data
allow for use of two most recent years for which test scores were released
practical impact is to freeze most recent list (2018 and 2019 data); already been used, already public

passes, thus out for public comment

educator licensure
extension of two shifts: teaching outside of area (50% rather than 20%)
3% increase seen statewide
plus using a long-term sub for a full year
Curtin: only 10% of teachers who were teaching out of field
went from 10 to 13%

Passes, thus out for public comment