May Board of Ed: Educational Vision

 Johnston: what outcomes are envisioned as a result?

"Our vision is that as a result of their public education in Massachusetts, students will attain academic knowledge and skills, understand and value self and others, and engage with the world"

core functions:
setting expectations
promoting and measuring quality and compliance
supporting implementation and catalyzing innovation
communication and partnering with stakeholders

aligning with project plans with educational vision and strategic plan

they're updating today on:

• communication and literacy skills MTEL
• updates to district standards and indicators
• update on MCAS contract

On the Communication and Literacy Skills
the MTEL is statutorily required; are predictive of effectiveness per a 2020 story
positively and statistically significant indicators of effectiveness regardless of race and ethnicity
however also gaps ethnically and racially in who passes
centering both equity and access
goal is to develop a new framework representative of culturally and linguistically sustaining communication and literacy skills needed for a development of a new MTEL
Craven says she doesn't see what the problem with the current MTEL is
due for update
Hills: MTEL missing teachers who otherwise are very good teachers
Abbott: one of the motivations with updating all of our MTELs
equitably and fairly assessing all of our teachers on skills we want

does not include pedagogical skills

• communicating with learners
• communicating with families and caregivers
• communicating with colleagues and external stakeholders
• literacy
  

to Moriarty's question: there is no current assessment of audience: just writing and reading
Moriarty is trying to argue that literacy pedagogy somehow needs to be included here, which is not what this test is for 
have shared reflections on drafts with (particularly) principal and teacher advisories, educational personnel advisory, and others
plan is to improve balance between communication and literacy skills; aligned to updated evidence-based communications and literacy skills; grounded in culturally and linguistically sustaining communications and literacy skills

Plan is public comment next month through September, with development on new MTEL starting early next year

Moriarty: does this require a Board vote and will framework come back
Johnston: no vote; could come back if Board is interested

note coming from DESE staff that decisions have been made based on research 

Fisher: "I took the MTEL in the stone age. It was literacy-focused and written communication."
think about the research on communicating with students, with families, and how that impacts student achievement
accessibility to the test for a diverse group of future teachers, really about training teachers to be able to reach all learners
creating that pipeline of people who know how to engage how to be the best teachers they can be

Hills: is the goal to tighten relationship between MTEL and effectiveness in the classroom?
no, this is a terrible idea
ongoing study in understanding
cut scores from educators engaging with the test; determination made based on report to Commissioner
"We are pass-rate agnostic"
Hills: are we at risk of only a tiny number of new teachers taking test due to district finances?
Johnston: have to watch teacher workforce
"I don't anticipate that this will be the full story"

District standards and indicators: for all district reviews
full changes document is here
Gonzales: background on the district standards and indicators
highlight key changes (that links to the summary document)
summarize anticipated next steps
gather feedback
this is the district's definition of a well-organized district
framework for reports that are created and shared with districts
last updated in 2018; six standards, as in state regulation, remain unchanged

6 standards, each of which has three or four indicators for a total of 21 indicators, each indicator has a "look for" which are specific practices for each indicator
revisions are at the indicator and look for level
through this there is a document review, focus groups and interviews with many stakeholders, classroom observations, all of which are used to create the final report

Havdala: revision is to reflect most recent and highest-quality research around best practices; an explicit equity lens; a cohesive vision for effective district systems that is aligned to the DESE educational vision
worked to address how equity is mentioned
inconsistent level of details in each standard and indicators
connected to impact on students
outdated language that aligns with educational vision and DESE guidance
missing pieces
Craven asked why this can't be how the Department finds out what literacy curriculum is being used
continuing the notion of "high quality materials"

Curtin: notes that the Commissioner can request information
Johnston adds that he has the authority to ask, not to require

on the MCAS Contract

current contract expires June 2024; procurement started June 2022
stakeholder engagement including a survey that got nearly 10,000 responses (did I hear that right?)
RFR of 120 pages in June 2023
three bids back, which were reviewed with district teams (Lynn, Newton, Springfield)
included demonstrations
"they put in an incredible amount of work to let us get through here"
equal representation between DESE and district
bids were between 500 and 1000 pages
decision was unanimous for Cognia; negotiations opened in the winter
contract signed in May for a three year contract with option to renew in FY28 and FY29
total five year costs $179.6M; annual costs in line with recent years but with new components

continuing long-standing practice of strong educator participation (more than 250 annually are in annual review of test questions)
continuing rollout of 8th grade civics test (2024-25)
science in grades 5 and 8 (operational in 2025-26)
revisions in ELA test to decrease testing time; reduction of number of essays; stand alone items to test language standards
translation of Spanish in grades 3-8 in math, science, and civics, in addition to math and science in high school (currently offered)
increase use of automated scoring; portal for families and caregivers to access results directly and receive other resources and information
West: AI? adaptive?
Curtin: involve educators on item development, "keeping our educator-centric development happening"
"did not include adaptive component here"
gives a touchpoint at the end of the year which looks in a summative way on how students are doing
students take adaptive tests all the time in schools
purpose of a summative instruction is "not to inform instruction the next day" 
there are plenty of other assessments district give that do that
there are adaptive options out there being used by districts "and we welcome them being used" but not what is useful for the state

Stewart asks for an update on mental health work