June Board of Ed: Kaleidoscope Collective

 and there's an intro here

Komal Bhasin
Michelle Ryan
Sam Ribnick (innovative assessment)

deep engagement with standard in school

now there's an alarm going off? I think? or a siren?

"but what about MCAS?"
state eco system that supports deeper learning
state assessment that embodies deeper learning
relevant, real-world, interactive
mastery, identity, creativity
building knowledge, producing authentic work, developing 21st century skills
tasks with a deep sense of relevance and purpose can foster deep engagement
interactive and foster development of interpersonal skills are important in developing global citizens
"take a deep look at representation in the classroom"
relevance of grade level standard
problems to solve in groups
task adjustment protocol; equity pause: places where tasks may need scaffolds)
focus on facilitation
teach and then reflect on student work

innovative science assessment: was a 9th grade teacher with the MCAS science assessment at the end of the year
"we got to March" and added time and resources to ensure that students would pass
what does the assessment look like at the end of the year?
"building on so much of what we know works well about the MCAS" but making big changes in three areas:
simulations allow students interact with real science work
storyline in a purposeful context that is culturally responsive
diverse characters doing science 
and there's a chart here with a timeline that I don't know that I can represent quickly in words
2023-24 is prepping for statewide use, though; pilot this year was proof of concept
settings students can change as they conduct word
all characters but particularly adults in positions of expertise and positions of power are diverse
storyline told through what looks like a graphic novel format
now there's a video with little swimming fish that simulating a science experiment
Peyser asks about open response questions: draw on science process in the context of that meaningful storyline
teachers on assessment design committee; teachers helped shape these tasks
goal is to listen to those who are most impacted by this: students on how testing impacts their instructional environment and teachers so not just having opinion but listening 
supporting tryouts in classrooms even before pilot
student comments in the survey: interactive, hands-on, simulations, didn't seem as stressful; felt they could show their knowledge
was some concern over open response
teacher: "you can't memorize your way through this one"
will allow to move away from MCAS prep; "students can do so much more"

bimonthly convenings of Kaleidoscope: intro a strategy, study implementation and impact, engage stakeholders, iterate on strategy introduced
found effective and useful
"to produce and calibrate a suite of tools" including "the deeper learning continuum"
teachers "as savvy consumers" of materials
embed in equity: DEI can't live in a separate PD session, but needs to be embedded
educators "want a pathway not a blueprint"
"initiative coherence is more important than 'initiative collective'"

Kaleidoscope: continued evaluation, future cohorts, scalability; larger pilot and new innovative tasks and moving forward on innovative assessment; webinar July 12 at noon bit.ly/innovativescience21
plan for innovative science assessment is 2025

Hills: size of districts? other tests becoming innovative?
Bhasin: school conditions rather and district: small and medium
Ribnick: not yet piloting on high schools
Riley: introductory overview; they'll come back with findings

West: I didn't understand his first comment; something about introducing variation in student
less ineffective test prep if we transitioned to this type of assessment
why do you think that? would there be fewer standards covered?
really? 
Ribnick: tasks that have a series of related questions related to same scenario
I missed part of his answer
Peyser: balance in number of standards
cost of these sorts of assessments when you come back

Lombos: other states implementing?
Bhasin: not a lot of collaboration with other states at this point

More coming on this 

November Board of Ed: Kaleidoscope collective

Komal Bhasin and Tera Carr presenting on Kaleidoscope Collective
Bhasin tells a story of her own experience in third grade in not understanding what skipping was and her teacher teaching her how to skip
"my teacher gave me a school assignment and I was so motivated to complete it...to try to acquire mastery"
"what if kids in the Commonwealth were that excited not just about PE but about math?"
thus the reason for the Kaleidoscope
1 1/2 year fellowship for schools and districts
"looking to find where it is working in diverse setting"
"work with them to leverage the power of the department" to overcome obstacles
professional development days "to create deeper learning experiences for all students"
"this is fundamentally a ground-up approach"
by definition it is not, as it is a DESE program
"to study what is working in the field and make that part of our model"
standards taught in a way that "build 21st century skills" in aligned curriculum
authentic experiences
"we need to pair clarity about what a task is" with trainings
"capture best practices"
"what's the magic happening in room 202 and how do we capture it"
"as an agency, we'll work with passion and precision"
build tools and build trainings so teachers have access to this
"to create equitable outcomes for all learners"
"we're thinking long term about a light touch involvement" on those outside the Collective "and a social media strategy"
making recommendation to the Commissioner about which districts next week
districts in January
convenenings in March
"taking deeper learning from a buzzword to reality"

West: do you have a sense of what flexibilities districts will want?
Bhasin: time, scheduling
around assessment
Hills: say something about the range of districts
Bhasin: rural and suburban, higher and lower performing end
have far more applications than we can take
Rouhanifard: how do you think about the small fraction of districts that are already using quality curriculum?
and what about resources?
Carr: sometimes quality is the "extra" activities
or too sparse or too far between or "not aligned to power standards"
Bhasin: how do we train teachers to use them well?
"how do schools get to the place where we can implement this and how do we scale to get other schools there quickly?"
Fernández: your story got me thinking of the number of students we have across the Commonwealth
"that are you" role of diverse teaching and how that comes to this?
Bhasin: having a diverse teaching corps is crucial
"want to spotlight and highlight the work of our rockstar educators and we know that includes many teachers of color"

The Board of Ed meets next Tuesday

And the agenda is already up, so why not post about it?
After the usual round of comments, the Commissioner is presenting on the Kaleidoscope Collective. The deadline for applications is Friday; the memo says 77 have been received so far. DESE has brought on two staffers for this program, per the memo:

• Komal Bhasin joined the Department on November 4 as the senior associate commissioner leading Kaleidoscope. Komal was principal of UP Academy Leonard Middle School, part of the Lawrence Public Schools, for six years and prior to that was principal of Excel Academy in East Boston. Her previous experience also includes serving as an assistant principal in a district turnaround setting in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Before entering school leadership, she was a science teacher and an English teacher in Laplace, Louisiana.

• Tera Carr joined the Department on October 15 as the associate commissioner for the Kaleidoscope Collective for Learning. Tera recently served students as the director of teacher development and pathways for the Tulsa, Oklahoma Public Schools. Prior to that, she was principal of Hamilton Elementary School in Tulsa, and she has also been an assistant principal, a high school math teacher, a special education teacher, a pre-K teacher, and, in Harbin, China, an English language teacher for first-year students.

The Board's Budget subcommittee will be presenting their proposal.

There is also Phase I of what is intended as a two part revision to the vocational schools regulations. The memo explains the proposed changes, which are designed to allow for additions (a bit more) and expand access (in some specific areas), strengthen the regs on program quality, and make some shifts on educator licensure.
Phase II--they're holding off for a reason--looks at access, via this section of the regs.

The proposal is to send the Phase I section out for public comment.

There is also an update on grants.

And...that's it? Next Tuesday in Malden