Martinez: has not yet opened but has made progress on these conditions
ask to approve conditions for opening Fall of 2026; extension of dates is under discretion of Commissioner, including additional training for the board members
conditions will be overseen by DESE staff
Martinez: "won't let something open under my name that isn't ready to serve students"
conditions approved
..and you can see the backup here
Sullivan: technical, nothing controversial in the changes
received six comments
Strikethrough is here
Martinez: results are mixed
no student group across the Commonwealth that is above pre-pandemic levels
"we always meet children where they're at"
foundational goal: regardless of what people's opinions are of where we were in 2019
"here in our Commonwealth, I seem advantages, I see alignment, I haven't seen in other parts of the country"
At the end it's about us coming together
"I'm fine having critical friends...there are no shortcuts in this work"
"the data will speak for itself"
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| this sheep has nothing to do with it, but I thought we might need a sheep to get through this |
Hills re-elected vice chair
committees (I may not have caught all these):
teacher diversification:
literacy and science of reading:
budget:
evaluation:
innovation and best practices
Craven is talking to members about this so they can express their interest
I don't understand why the Board would have most of these subcommittees as these aren't things under Board purview
The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education meets today for its regular September meeting. This is the first meeting with the new commissioner, Pedro Martinez.
The agenda can be found online here. The livestream will come up over here. I'll update once they start.
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| you'd never know that this was below the Revere Beach Parkway, would you? |
And while we've been over this a few times, here's Politico on what this means for education. The two big PreK-12 hits are Head Start (in some cases) and federal funding in areas with non-taxed federal land. Again, remember, most of our federal grants are forward funded.
Politico also shared the official "here's what happens in a shutdown" document filed by Secretary McMahon. Page 1 has the number of employees expected to have to continue to work should the federal government shutdown at midnight tonight.
I recommend reading The New Yorker on what is becoming our federalized--as opposed to national--vaccine policy.
Given Kennedy’s pedigree of vaccine skepticism, one might have expected him to take a sledgehammer to the bedrock of public health: the injections that have protected us against numerous infectious diseases for generations. In reality, the impact of his policies has been more like that of a freeze-thaw cycle. Rocks have tiny fissures into which water can seep; when the temperature drops, the water expands into ice, exerting pressure and widening the cracks. The cycle repeats and, eventually, the rock begins to fall apart. For the nation’s public-health infrastructure, Kennedy’s tenure has been one freeze-thaw cycle after another. The cracks are getting bigger.
Our requirements that children be vaccinated to attend school has been an incredible public health success:
The C.D.C. estimates that routine childhood vaccination in the U.S. has saved more than a million lives, averted hundreds of millions of illnesses, and led to trillions of dollars in societal savings.
Something to remember? We aren't actually all that divided on this one:
According to a new KFF-Washington Post survey, more than eighty per cent of Americans say that public schools should require students to get immunized against diseases such as polio and measles.
Don't forget to get your fall flu and COVID shots!
And you can find the agenda for tomorrow's regular meeting of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education here.
The big thing on the agenda is the annual release of school and district accountability data, 'though this message on the DESE School and District Profile page:
...makes me think that we're probably getting some sort of a press event around noontime today.
Let me give you my annual reminder here that Massachusetts state accountability is based on MANY THINGS beyond the MCAS, and anyone who makes MCAS the sole report they make--I'm looking here at you, Boston Globe, but I see school districts do this, too!--is not only not telling the whole story; they're misrepresenting what the state actually uses in measuring districts.
If someone has told you that the only thing we're focusing on is MCAS, that isn't DESE telling you that.
This will of course be new DESE Commissioner Martinez's first meeting, so it should be interesting to see how he interacts with the Board and with the DESE staff. Too often, in recent years, the permanent commissioner has left DESE staff out there on their own when facing the Board, which has both, in my view, been lousy leadership and not fair.
And speaking of leadership, the Board elects a Vice-Chair, and it will be interesting to see if they finally decide to start to move in the direction of the newer appointees.
It appears from the posted topics of the chair and the commissioner that we're going to get two rounds on the 'are we teaching 9/11' thing, with--yes!--the Commissioner making reference to the actual state standards (someone is doing their job!). Both the Secretary and the Commissioner are updating on the recent state graduation council release of their Vision of a Graduate. I presume that this goes now to DESE and the Board, as they're the ones who have actual power to do anything with it.
There is also a vote proposed on the "let's clean this up" regulation changes on regional schools (which, no, do not have a single thing to do with admission to regional vokes).
There are also proposed adjustments on the conditions on the certificate of the Felix Virtual School.
I plan to be there and liveblog, as per usual.
Of course there is Monday bad news on AI!
A confusing contradiction is unfolding in companies embracing generative AI tools: while workers are largely following mandates to embrace the technology, few are seeing it create real value. Consider, for instance, that the number of companies with fully AI-led processes nearly doubled last year, while AI use has likewise doubled at work since 2023. Yet a recent report from the MIT Media Lab found that 95% of organizations see no measurable return on their investment in these technologies. So much activity, so much enthusiasm, so little return.
The piece also gives us this rather cheering chart from the perspective of trust in people over the crap we're getting from AI:
...and I want to thank the Governor's office for putting out a press release in advance, rather than leaving us to scramble to figure out who the new person is at the next Board meeting.
Governor Healey has appointed former Gateway Regional1 superintendent Kristen Smidy to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. Before she was superintendent in Gateway, a position she just left at the end of this past school year, she was the principal of Hampshire Regional. She now works for NEASC.
Think: rural, regional, western Mass
She's also been leader and outsized voice for the needs of small rural districts.
She's a good egg, and this is a good pick! And I suspect she isn't going to be quiet, either!
She replaces Michael Moriarty (of Holyoke). Thus, while the Board is still wildly overbalanced in terms of inside 128 to outside 128 (with two from Worcester plus Smidy), at least we haven't actually lost ground on that!
...and while I cannot go to the release, some of you may wish to!
Worcester Regional Research Bureau and MassInc are coming out with a joint report entitled "Fixing the Foundation: Uneven Access to Modern Schools and a Blueprint for a More Equitable Future." It's being released in an event October 7 from 10 AM to 12 at the State House.
You can find all the information and a way to RSVP here.
I'll be sure and share the report once it is out!
(see, there are tech in schools things to talk about besides AI!)
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| have a little fall photo to break this up |
Earlier this month, I got the National Education Policy Center's update on Vermont's passing a law that barred schools from using social media to communicate with students. While the headlines talked about Vermont "falling in line" with other states on cell phones in schools bans, the law added something different:
Act 72 goes a step further than other state laws, and includes a provision barring schools from using social media platforms to communicate with students, and from otherwise requiring students to have social media accounts to engage in academic and extracurricular activities.
NEPC's newsletter outlined some reasons why this was done, and I want to call your attention to the first two:
...as the federal fiscal year ends October 1 (like me, you may be surprised to learn that is next Wednesday), and Congress is not showing signs it's moving towards a continuing resolution to keep it funded (never mind an actual budget).
As that can be anxiety-inducing to hear, let me suggest you review the post AASA (that's the superintendents) has up on a federal shutdown. The most important and reassuring part?
Most K-12 federal funding is “forward-funded”—funds are provided the following July for the upcoming school year—which means the majority of K-12 federal education funding is not immediately impacted by a government shutdown.
It's short; go give it a read.
Gin Dumcius leads his daily Massterlist email today with "In front of business leaders, Wu takes aim at Prop 2 1⁄2" in which he says this:
Proposition 2 ½ is considered a “bedrock” of budget cycles throughout Massachusetts cities and towns, due to the limit it places on how much property tax revenue they can collect, as one research group put it earlier this year.
But Boston Mayor Michelle Wu yesterday took a few digs at the law, which was implemented in 1982 after voter approval. The law limits cities and towns to raising no more than 2.5 percent of the assessed value of all taxable property taxes, plus new growth, but they can request an override from voters.
Boston, which has a larger commercial sector than most, has never put an override question on the ballot. But in the pandemic’s aftermath, more communities in other parts of the state are seeking property tax votes, after ballot overrides hit a 30-year low in 2018. Proponents of Prop 2 ½, as it’s often called, say it offers taxpayers predictability, and pleases voters sick of high property taxes.
In Boston's most recent budget, longtime vacant jobs were slashed, and salary savings arose out of delaying a police academy class, Wu said in a sit-down with Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce President Jim Rooney. “We are going to continue keeping that belt cinched as tight as we possibly can,” she said. “Prop 2 ½ is the tightest belt of all.”
"Of the 43 years that that law has been in place, inflation has been, on average, 25% higher every year, above two and a half percent growth,” as health care costs have quickly risen, she added.
When MASSterList later asked whether she believed the state should take a look at Prop 2 ½, and whether it no longer works, Wu said, “Yes.” Asked to elaborate, Wu said it’s part of a larger conversation. “Prop 2 ½ was put in place through significant pressure and advocacy from the business community against municipal governments’ advocacy several decades ago,” she said.
Adam Chapdelaine, the executive director of the Mass. Municipal Association, echoed some of Wu’s comments. “Frankly, the mayor’s comments lined up with some research we’ve been doing recently,” he said. (Stay tuned for more on that, he added.)
“I think Prop 2 ½ is in some ways an ingenious law in that it shifted budgets from being expense-driven to being revenue-driven,” he said, before adding, “I wouldn’t put the thumb up or down. I would say, ‘Look at how it’s working and let’s have a conversation on whether it can work in a different way.’”
In Boston, the city budget, which heavily relies on property taxes, remains “very stable,” Wu said, but the conversation about revenue diversification, in order to maintain the expected level of city services, is needed. Diversification measures have been repeatedly blocked at the State House, but “whether or not anyone wants to have the conversation, we are going to have to have it, because this is a strain on municipal budgets all around the Commonwealth, especially now,” she said.
That Prop 2 1/2 puts communities into a hamster wheel where they cannot keep up with inflationary costs is becoming more and more of a common conversation. I have heard it across the state these past two budget seasons. Wu, of course, commands a much larger platform, so this voice will matter as this continues, I suspect, to snowball.
It's past time to fess up, all. This emperor has no clothes. If you don't have someone like Andrew Lipsett of Woburn saying this in public:
Urging his colleagues to develop policies now to discourage the integration of such technology into classroom environments, the outgoing School Committee member, who is not seeking re-election in November, volunteered to jump-start that process by meeting with central office administrators to review how AI might be integrated into the curriculum.
“I tend to be a technology-positive person. I’m an early adopter of a lot things. But AI to me is a very dangerous road [to travel down] when it comes to education and I’m concerned about [sending] a message that there is a way for students to use it safely,” said the School Committee member, who is employed as a high school history teacher in Billerica.
“What I tend to see in my classroom is that AI has been used as a short-cut, a method of cheating,” he continued. “AI is something that may be useful for people who have advanced training, who are very comfortable writing, and who have done a lot of work in this area before. [But for school use], I think we’re opening pandora’s box and it’s very concerning for me as an educator to watch.”
...then go be that person yourself.
Why? Let's look at the most recent headlines:
You'll remember that last week, I told you not to panic on the budget just yet. New America this week released an analysis of both the Trump proposed budget and the House Appropriation proposed budget; you might remember that the Senate doesn't cut. Specifically, it looks at it by Congressional district.
As it happens, the House proposal is actually worse than Trump's proposal: the President's proposal would cut an estimated $35.34 million per district, where the House proposal would cut $41.2 million from schools in each congressional district, on average.
Now, what gets cut changes, too. For the Trump proposal:
This figure is fairly similar between Republican- and Democrat-represented congressional districts. But there is a difference in the specific funding streams most impacted: Democrat-represented districts stand to lose the most in Title I funding for students in poverty and Title III funding for English learners, while Republican-represented districts would lose far more in Title V funding for rural schools. Both would see a major cut in funding for teacher professional development and after-school programs.
And for the House:
Without even hiding behind the smokescreen of “consolidating” funds into block grants, the House proposal would eliminate funding for a number of programs, including Title II funding for educator development and Title III funding for English Learners. It would reduce Title I funding for students in poverty by an astonishing and unprecedented $4.7 billion, slashing a program that is vital for students in every state.
Because the House's cut is worse, I'm including below that estimation for the Massachusetts Congressional districts; if you follow the link above, you can page through all of them to find yours if it isn't here, as well as see the projected Trump budget impacts.
...please be sure and review the results of the recent "Online Experiences and Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young People" from The Trevor Project. Opening line:
Most LGBTQ+ young people agreed that they go online to connect with people because it is difficult finding others to relate to and connect with in their daily lives.
In the aftermath of the murder of Charlie Kirk last week--and no, you won't be getting a hot take from me on that--I've seen frequently circulating an appeal to "shared values." This has particularly come in reference to what educators should or have posted online.
Sometimes these "shared values" have been listed, either in what is released or as part of larger mission or vision statements.
We don't, in Massachusetts, actually get to pick and choose our foundational shared values, though, because the very creation of public education in Massachusetts in the state constitution also creates the values:
to countenance and inculcate the principles of humanity and general benevolence, public and private charity, industry and frugality, honesty and punctuality in their dealings; sincerity, good humor, and all social affections, and generous sentiments among the people
Does that sound like what you've been hearing?
The real kicker, though, is the opening of the passage, the reason it's in the state constitution at all:
We have public education at all for preservation of our rights and liberties. That is the whole reason right there.
It would behoove us to examine if the "shared values" being appealed to or referenced are in fact the values we are required to share in public education in Massachusetts.
If you've been among those who've fought, these past years, for state funding reform for schools, you may have been concerned by headlines last week like these:
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| "How efforts to fund schools more equitably actually worsened racial inequality" in EdWeek |
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| "Finance reforms to combat racial inequities often made them worse, study finds" in The 74 |
Hey, I, too, am concerned!
THERE IS ALWAYS BAD NEWS ON AI IN EDUCATION!
Okay, but first some good news: students are pushing back.
“We were interested in finding out whether we can actually trust the models when we try to simulate any specific types of students. What we are showing is that the answer is in many cases, no,” said Ekaterina Kochmar, co-author of the study and an assistant professor of natural-language processing at the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence in the United Arab Emirates, the first university dedicated entirely to AI research.NO! Somewhat darkly amusingly, it's because of how they work:
The LLMs that underlie AI tools do not think but generate the most likely next word in a given context based on massive pools of training data, which might include real test items, state standards, and transcripts of lessons. By and large, Kochmar said, the models are trained to favor correct answers.
“In any context, for any task, [LLMs] are actually much more strongly primed to answer it correctly,” Kochmar said. “That’s why it’s very difficult to force them to answer anything incorrectly. And we’re asking them to not only answer incorrectly but fall in a particular pattern—and then it becomes even harder.”
You may have missed it in--gestures to universe--but we had a bit of a thing last week with headlines saying that Governor Healey was ORDERING Massachusetts schools to teach about 9/11, which seems to have been in response to this Boston Globe article about families of those who died during the 9/11 organizing for it to be mandatory, which includes these sentences:
There are 14 states where teaching students about what happened on and after 9/11 is required. But Massachusetts, where the two planes that crashed into the World Trade Center took off, where so many families were affected by the wars that followed, is not one of them.
A whole generation of Massachusetts kids has grown up without the 9/11 story being a required part of their education.
The thing is? That's false.
What Massachusetts public school students are required to learn in history and social studies is included in the History and Social Science Frameworks, last updated in 2018. That link is to all 217 pages of it. And right there in the History II section on page 138 under Topic 5: The United States and globalization is this:
Evaluate the effectiveness of the federal government’s response to international terrorism in the 21st century, including the 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., the Homeland Security Act, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars.
...which is explicitly, yes, teaching about 9/11.
Here's the statement Healey's office actually issued:
“All students should be taught about 9/11 and its aftermath, which is a tragic and important piece of both our state and our nation's history. I've directed the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to work together to ensure that it is fully incorporated into school curriculum frameworks. I’m grateful to the families of 9/11 victims who have advocated for this and are making sure that we never forget this horrific tragedy, the incredible displays of heroism on that day, or the thousands of lives that were lost.”
So it would appear that this direction--which, I'll add, is overstepping, because the only person the Governor has the actual legal authority to "direct" there is actually the Secretary of Education, who has a single seat on the Board--is going to make for a pretty brief conversation.
I suspect the misunderstanding is that many states like to make BIG BOLD MOVES by REQUIRING BY LAW that particular things be taught, which is a lousy and piecemeal way of creating a public education system. Massachusetts has the radical notion that the first place the conversation about what students need to learn should be had is with educators, with that process then going to a public body that exists purely for educational purposes.
We should refuse to be sucked into this worse processes for the purposes of making headlines.
And the next time someone writes about what does and doesn't get taught in Massachusetts schools, it might be nice if they looked in the actual place we keep that.
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| Isn't this a nice sunset? |
You may have caught last week that the House Appropriation Committee moved a 26% cut to Title I. Please continue to keep in mind a few things on this:
Minnesota Public Radio did a nice piece on each of the two children who died in the Annunciation School shooting in Minneapolis. You will find their piece on Fletcher Merkel, who was eight, here, and on Harper Moyski, who was ten, here.
May we work for the world they deserved.
...special mention this week to "roughly 1,400 essays" not receiving the correct scores from AI on MCAS this summer and apparently only being discovered when a teacher was reviewing the scores and essays once they came back to the district.
While NBC 10 appears to be the only place reporting this, it doesn't feel as if anyone worked particularly hard to find critique; this isn't a "learning curve." This is "what on earth are we doing here; let's stop!"
Some of us remember who was in charge when we made this change and what he's doing now.
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| Yes, I made this myself in Canva |
I had missed the initial publication of the latest coverage from Worcester Business Journal (thank goodness we have them) on Worcester's boondoggle, Polar Park. If you have been following this at all, you will not be surprised to learn that, no, it is not paying for itself:
“In many communities across the country, children are facing the terror of wondering if their parents will be there when they come home or be apprehended at school drop-offs,” she said.
While the article goes on to talk about school districts setting up protocols and offer support for families, the real answer, of course, lies elsewhere.
Among the responses is the walking school buses being set up in Washington, D.C. so that children may safely be escorted to school without their parents being endangered by taking them there. The Washington Post (that's a gift link) has a look at that today.
...in this corner of Northwest Washington — home to families from El Salvador, Venezuela and Ethiopia — the news of arrest after arrest only seemed to create anxiety about heading outside. So families and their neighbors are working to create envelopes of safety.
...is what the Trump administration has done to the Department of Education. From NPR:
The official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that the cuts to the U.S. Education Department left only two senior staffers assigned to NAEP and said that NCES relied on additional support from colleagues in other departments to get the new release out.
NCES confirmed that, in order to meet congressional testing mandates in 2026 and 2028, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon has approved a waiver to add at least eight staff positions before the end of the year.
Because of cuts to the Department:
This spring, the NAGB slashed about a dozen planned assessments — for fourth-grade science, 12th-grade U.S. history and writing across fourth-, eighth- and 12th-graders — that were scheduled to be administered over the next seven years.
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| Image from Canva |
Hey, as I mentioned: kids who are sick should stay home.
BUT there are things we call can do to make the chances of any of us getting sick less. We can keep each other healthier!
Luckily, here in Massachusetts, we've had a full court press to ensure we have access to vaccines for this winter. Flu shots and COVID shots (both of which run on something of a school calendar) are now available, so please go get yours!
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| Statue of St. George slaying a dragon. Sainte-Georges, Quebec, Canada |
Allow me to quote a footnote to my post of August 6 of this year:
1The Globe of course has already run a "this raises questions" piece on the national push for vouchers. I don't think it is out of the realm for us to see them run an editorial sometime soon endorsing them, possibly repeating the old "anti-Catholic" canard. Don't be fooled; vouchers are a major failure.
While they didn't attempt the "anti-Catholic" canard, they did of course blame the teachers' unions for opposition in today's editorial.
All the silly rhetorical attempts of not thinking ideas are bad just because they are Republican and flourishes around creativity won't dodge the vouchers are unpopular across party lines because they stink: they stink for students, they stink for districts, and they stink for state budgets.
Send this one straight to the recycling, all. It doesn't warrant better.
A big thank you to Sam Drysdale of State House News Service for giving us a good look at the danger the potential federal funding cuts count have to how we calculate--and then what we get--in state education aid under Chapter 70.
To figure that out, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) uses “direct certification,” matching students to benefit programs such as MassHealth (the state’s Medicaid program), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children (TAFDC). If a child shows up in one of those databases, the state counts them as low-income, meaning their household income is below 185% of the federal poverty line, the standard set under the Student Opportunity Act.
This system saves schools from the expensive and time-consuming work of verifying every family’s income. But it also creates a risk: if families lose eligibility for benefits because of federal policy changes, their children can disappear from the state’s low-income count — even if their actual household income hasn’t budged.
As Senator Lewis notes, the state can change this, but they'd have to actively DO that to avoid this for FY27.
Let your legislators know now!
First, while we should be attentive to the "House GOP eyes 27% cut to Title I" headline, what do we know about how the federal budget process works? There are many steps! And don't forget where the Senate (also with a GOP majority) went on this one:
In July, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a bipartisan bill that would fund the Education Department at $79 billion in FY 26, a slight increase to current spending.
Money has impact on real people.
Keep telling your stories to those who make decisions. It makes a difference.
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| image from CNN |
I've had a bunch of "wow, AI is ongoingly awful" pieces to share, but I now must lead with this weekend "That Metaphor Is a Freudian Slip" example in a piece that is headlined "AI's tidal wave":
For 165 public school teachers and staffers at the annual school district convocation this week, former state Education Commissioner Jeff Riley offered a strong message about the incoming tidal wave of artificial intelligence.
“I believe we have a choice: We can hold back this tide; we can bury our heads in the sand, or try to surf this wave,” he told the educators gathered Tuesday under a huge tent at The Mount, Edith Wharton’s home.
“You don’t need to know how to surf right now,” he said, “but I’m asking you to dip your toe in the water and just begin.
Here's the advice from actual experts of what to do when a tidal wave is coming:
Evacuate: DO NOT wait! Leave as soon as you see any natural signs of a tsunami or receive an official tsunami warning.
Let's listen to the experts on this tsunami, and not the person who, I was remembering over the weekend, was our erstwhile leadership on K-12 during the pandemic. You may remember how that went.
Students Demand Action is calling a national school walkout over gun violence in schools for Friday, September 5 at noon local time. This is specifically in response to the Annunciation school shooting in Minneapolis.
There is a prep call for student planners tomorrow (see the second link).
We have spoken of civic involvement:
"this is it: this is as real as it gets. If this is not a teachable moment, I don't know what is."