The Board of Ed meets Tuesday at 9

 ...and it's a bit of a regulation revision-fest. Much of that is pandemic-related. The agenda is here.

There is the usual update from the Commissioner after public comment and opening remarks from the Chair, the Secretary, and possibly the Commissioner himself.

The big item on the agenda--and what is already getting press--is the long-awaited update to the vocational school regulations. You can read the strike-through version of the regulations here; the summarized public comment and response to them is here. 
If you're interested in this, I recommend reading the link (in "long-awaited update") above, as it spells out first the changes that already had been proposed in April, as well as the changes made as a result of public comment, which largely clarify language (I'd say) rather than substantively change the proposal. Effectively, what the Department is working to have is regional vocational schools that are reflections of their sending districts and that have admissions processes that at least aim not to drop students in ways that are inequitable. (As a Worcester side note, Superintendent Binienda noted last night that she'd heard from the Assistant Commissioner about these changes; while Tech is not subject to these regs, as it is a district-run vocational, it would be...wise for us to take notice. Turns out I was utterly wrong on that last; they do apply, and moreover, the Committee will have to attest that whatever local changes are made will not/no longer have this disparate impact; aka, you gotta make changes that mean you end up with a student body that looks like your whole student body.)
Note that those are up for vote.

There is an update (postponed from previous) on the Kaleidoscope Collective (remember that?).

There is also an update on innovative science assessments (which I have to confess that I didn't realize was a thing they were working on?):

In early 2020, we applied and received approval from the U.S. Department of Education for Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority (IADA), with a proposal to create a new assessment for Science and Technology/Engineering (STE). The innovative assessment will feature more in-depth, computer-based performance tasks in which students engage actively with simulations of authentic scientific phenomena by applying science knowledge and practices. Our initial work is focused on the tests for grades 5 and 8, and we plan to evaluate similar approaches for high school science tests in future years.

There is a change in the accountability and charter school regulations also up for vote. These are the two that were sent out for public comment in April; you might remember this is more clean-up on this being a weird year and the state not using the MCAS things this year: the first is the Department not creating accountability statuses this year; the second is the state using the current lowest 10% list, rather than re-calculating it with pandemic MCAS scores.

There is also a change proposed and going out for public comment (assuming they vote for that) on the competency determination. You might remember that they set an interim standard for passing for high school when we switched tests; that interim standard ends with the class of 2023 (rising juniors). Noting the gaps in testing that have happened recently, this would extend that interim standard for another two years. 
Noe that this is being sent out for public comment. 

There is a budget update (no backup).

There's also the evaluation of the Commissioner (and no, that doesn't have backup as yet, so we'll all just wait to see what they say).

There's the annual delegation of authority to the Commissioner, as the Board doesn't meet over the summer.

There are some information items, but those are the action items. 
Tuesday at 9 am!