Here comes the MA voucher push

 Because OB3, Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" has a provision for vouchers by state in the language, you knew that others would join the Boston Globe's editorial board in pushing for them in Massachusetts. Thanks to Yawu Miller's coverage of a recent panel at the JFK Presidential Library*, we now know not only that this is happening, but who the players are and what their talking points are going to be:

“Covid relief money is gone, inflation is bad, buses are expensive, special education is expensive,” former Massachusetts Education Commissioner Jeff Riley told an audience of about 200 that filled an auditorium at the museum last Wednesday. “We have an opportunity for this new pot of money to help us with things like expanded learning time, high dosage tutoring, special education services. This seems like a time when people should get together.”

Yes, taking time away from his fulltime job of trying to get schools on the AI bandwagon, our former Commissioner is all in our vouchers, but we're going to frame it as public school assistance. Also involved: 

The National Parents Union is spearheading the local coalition which aims to pressure Gov. Maura Healey to adopt the tax credit program. So far, the group counts 124 organizations in support, including The Pioneer Institute, The Boston Foundation, the Lynch Foundation, 45 individual Catholic Schools, 18 Montessori Schools, 13 Jewish day schools, the umbrella organizations supporting those types of schools and dozens of YMCAs and Boys and Girls Clubs.

NPU will surprise no one, nor will the private schools, but the outside of school organizations no doubt have this sold to them as after school dollars that could be coming their way.

Miller does---as always--an excellent job of framing the issues with the push, very much including that they don't actually work. But he also notes that Governor Healey, whose decision this is, so far has been silent on this issue. That is very concerning. There will be an effort to frame this as a "ed reform" issue, and she has some close to her that are in on that.

Oh, and incidentally: the list of things that Riley includes largely are not things on which the vouchers could be used: 

Despite promises that the scholarships could cover special education services, among other school-related expenses, Fliter said that wouldn’t be true for public schools. The way qualified education expenses are defined by the federal government only includes things for which schools bill parents.

“Unfortunately, when you dig into the text of the statute and what the regulations are from the IRS and from others, it becomes very clear that a qualified education expense, as it’s referenced in the Internal Revenue Code and by the Coverdell Education Savings Account, does not include anything like special education expenses,” Fliter said.

Read Miller's coverage, and then keep an eye out on this one.  

*who maybe don't exercise a say over this, but one does question the venue choice

speaking of AI fails

 ...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.

You don't "dip your toe in the water" when a tsunami is coming

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.

the former MA Commissioner is pushing AI in schools

Former Massachusetts Commissioner Jeff Riley, now part of MIT's "Day of AI" staff, was in New Hampshire last week on this one:

They said AI can do things like help grade papers, sort lesson plans and communicate with parents.

Yes, let's definitely remove educators from giving feedback to students on their learning, planning the learning, and--I don't even need to rephrase this one!--communicating with families! Good plan!

Riley's push?

 "...I think we can try to hold back the tide. We can bury our heads in the sand, or we can try to surf the wave. And what we're asking people today is to try to surf the wave of AI and do it safely and productively."

This is of course the same old argument we've heard since forever that whatever-the-new-thing is default is good, and how dare you, those educated and trained in actually doing it, question it?

Question it. And don't fall for this line, either. 

On Southbridge

 The T&G  has a lengthy piece on Southbridge today; Southbridge is the district most recently put into receivership, a vote taken in 2016, meaning 'recent' here is quite relative. I think it's fair to say that the major hole in the section of the law on receivership--that there's no path OUT--is as true there as anywhere. Acting Commissioner Russell Johnston is quoted here, as he has been on Holyoke, talking about governance: 

"The extent of which a school committee is ready to resume its authority, its responsibilities for the governance it can provide for a district, that is a key thing we are looking for," Johnston said.

I think it is also fair to say that this wasn't how prior leadership framed the question.  

The Board of Ed meets Tuesday

 A short agenda, but some important stuff: 

To comment briefly, from the bottom up:

• I genuinely do not understand what is going on with the mission and vision things, because from what I can tell, they're using stuff from 2019, and then aligning things they're already doing with that. At least, that was what was going on at the last round of this I saw.
  (Some day, someone is going to shock me, by grounding this is the constitutional reason for public education for Massachusetts, but let's say that I'm not holding my breath!)
  
  
• I'm annoyed that they didn't share the virtual school information until well after they posted the agenda; no one had any more information, so good luck if you wished to speak. Reviewing the now posted backup, we can see that we're going for another round of "we're going to say yes with a lot of conditions" which a) is not a good plan for an educational institution, and b) should sound hauntingly familiar to any who followed DESE's last charter approval. 
  Also, I completely don't understand how the state that couldn't insist hard enough that no child should be learning via a screen, that won't allow districts the option of virtual school on snow days, wants to add another virtual school. 
  
  
• Commissioner's search: hey! Let's not make it a whole bunch of "education is only about business, and the last time we were near a school, we were students!" people like last time, please! 

Tuesday, 9 am. I'll be blogging from Everett

Friends, Bay Staters, educators, lend me your ears

With apologies for not having this complete for Friday’s date which made the rewrite work, to the Bard of Avon, and to all those who will quickly note that this doesn’t scan perfectly
Dedicated to anyone who spent 2020, 2021, and 2022 dreading Friday afternoons 

Written, as it says, “to speak what I do know” and on no one else’s behalf 

Friends, Bay Staters, educators, lend me your ears!
I come to commended Jeff Riley, not to critique him.
The fulsome praise of retirement lives on after men,
The injudicious interred with their careers.
So may it be with Riley. You have been told
Jeff Riley is the “radical center.”
If it were so, it was not apparent,
And bitterly have we answered for it.
Here, the data-driven Commonwealth, we’re told,
Jeff Riley is the “radical center” —
Yet even so, three receiverships stay,
‘Though research says nay to state enjoinment.
He was a harbinger of Friday news,
But the press says he was decisive,
And Riley is the “radical center.”
He hath brought many demands home to Boston;
Whose buses did he make to run on time?
When real life did intrude, Riley hath fumed.
Ambition should be made of measured stuff;
Yet the press says he was effective,
And Riley is the “radical center.”
You all did see that on Board of Ed;
We oft presented him evidence,
Which he did oft refuse; was this effective?
Yet the press says he was accomplished,
And, sure, Riley is the “radical center.”
I speak not to disprove what was said,
But I am here to speak what I do know.
You all did quiz him once, not without cause;
What cause withholds you then, and praise him yet?
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And some have lost their reason. Bear with me.
My heart is in the classrooms there with all,
And I must pause til it come back to me.

Four years ago today...

 This was what I posted on Facebook:

Worcester, for what it's worth, was only calling for the single day left in the week; we'd call two weeks over the weekend, part of the weekend when literally every single district in Massachusetts (I vividly remember downloading the full list and opening a spreadsheet to track them) called school off before Governor Baker did a damn thing about it.

Am I still angry about that? Yes. And his lack of leadership--and I have some words about the outgoing Commissioner, too, at some point--and meeting the needs of schools during the pandemic would only continue from there. 

More as I have time, but I didn't want the day to pass without noting it. 

Highlights from the Joint Committee on Ways and Means

 For those who might not want six and a half hours worth of liveblogging. Note the video of the hearing is here. Crossposted from MASC

Joint Committee on Ways and Means hearing on FY25: local and education aid

 

Greenfield Community College atrium

I was just asked why I sit where I do, and the answer is "next to the outlet when there is one!"

February Board of Ed: commissioner transition

 Riley calls out health standards as most important work, noting recent things that have happened across the country
recommends Johnston as acting "with all my heart"
Craven opens discussion on that recommendation

Moriarty praises literacy effort coming from Department rather than from Legislature

Gardiner thanks "on behalf of almost million students across the Commonwealth"

Hills "one set of images that's always going to stick in my mind" seeing "Jeff possessed with getting kids back into schools" in the fall of 2021
asked by his wife how the Commissioner was doing, Hills said "I don't know...he's just swearing a lot"

unanimous vote in favor of appointing Johnston acting

Johnston: "student-centered has been the theme of the day; we're going to keep that theme moving forward"

Motion to go into executive session due to "pending litigation"
which it is not
roll call is unanimous 

end of public session
Next meeting March 26

February Board of Ed: opening remarks by Board

 Chair Craven: "just want to take some time to go over the past six years" of Riley
hey, this is not when this is on the agenda! And I'm not going to take extensive notes on this part

Secretary Tutwiler: Massachusetts "long been celebrated for first in the nation outcomes"
"largely from the efforts of really talented educators"
lists lifetime award recipients: Kontos, Scott, Warwick
"I personally have learned so much from each of you"

Riley: AG, MASS, MIAA, free regional trainings for districts and athletic inititives on addressing hate in school sports
more to follow
FAFSA: "to the families struggling with FAFSA: it's not just you"
upcoming workshops
"as soon as the student data begins to flow--and there is a meeting tomorrow...--we'll get the data out to you as soon as possible"
notes it is worth it, especially in Massachusetts
"please don't give up"
Brockton: deficit
mayor appointed (?) acting superintendent
outside fiscal review
DESE last month requested safety and operations audit which it is funding
will support findings going forward

minutes approved

Big news from DESE this evening: Commissioner Riley is resigning

Commissioner Riley is ending his tenure with the Department, submitting his resigning effective March 15 of this year:

I am writing to let you know that after six years of service, I am stepping down from my position as Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education, effective March 15, 2024.

The full letter, as shared by MASS, is here. He says it is due to needing to care for elderly parents, as well as the Department needing someone who can devote the next five years to service.
I will reserve comment. 

So what happens now? 
For this, we look to MGL Ch. 15, sec. 1F:

Whenever a vacancy occurs in the position of commissioner, the board shall by a two-thirds vote of all its members submit to the secretary, for the secretary's approval, a recommended candidate to fill that vacancy. The secretary may appoint the recommended candidate as commissioner. If the secretary declines to appoint the candidate, the board shall submit a new candidate for consideration. The secretary may appoint the commissioner only from candidates submitted to the secretary by the board.

Riley is recommending Russell Johnston as the interim (like a superintendent, we have to have a Commissioner); that very much does not preclude further action. I would suspect, as last time, that they would do a full national search, with a confidential round of interviews with a search committee. But that is only my hunch. 

The rest of that section, incidentally, reads as follows:

The board may in its discretion by majority vote of all its members remove the commissioner. The commissioner shall be the secretary to the board, its chief executive officer and the chief state school officer for elementary and secondary education. The commissioner shall receive a salary to be determined by the board.

The board may delegate its authority or any portion thereof to the commissioner whenever in its judgment such delegation may be necessary or desirable. The commissioner shall exercise such delegated powers and duties with the full authority of the board.

As Riley noted at his last meeting was then approaching his six year anniversary; he was appointed in January of 2018 after Commissioner Chester died the prior June, with Jeff Wulfson serving as interim (after being appointed at genuinely the weirdest and saddest Board meeting ever).

Also, I had some thoughts about how I'd do if if I were in charge (which I very much am not) the last time we did this. I may give some more thought to that now, in, as always, my personal capacity.

Images of full letter:

More as there is anything! 

Three things to pay attention to from last week's Board of Ed

In the days since Tuesday's Board of Ed, I've been reflecting on a few places where the meeting raised some flags with me.

The Board of Ed meets in January: accountability

 and the backup is here

The Board of Ed meets Tuesday

 You can find the agenda here. The Board is meeting at the Department's new location in Everett. 

The meeting is opening with introductions of (and possibly presentations by?) the Teacher of the Year and the Milken Award winners. 

There is then a presentation (I guess?) on school safety

Then, yes, Commissioner Riley is pushing ahead with his insistence that the Board change the state accountability system to increase the weight of chronic absenteeism. You can find his memo on it here. In it, he says:

At the January meeting of the Board, I will discuss changing the system to include three years of data in the 2024 accountability results, with more recent years weighing more: 15 percent for 2022 data, 25 percent for 2023 data, and 60 percent for 2024 data. 

The big change, though, has been whisked away to the summary of the accountability system, In it, the proposal is to increase the weight of chronic absenteeism from 10% to 25% for elementary and from 5% to 20% for high school.

I just want to note that not putting the proposed change in weight in the memo is terrible. It looks like an attempt to slide this by. 

The Commissioner no doubt will tout their "support" for school districts, which has been $10,000 per district...which isn't enough to do much with. And then there are of course Secretary Tutwiler's ads.

Note that a change of this type at this point, 55% or so through the year, counts for more than double, essentially; less than half the year remains. This is simply irresponsible. 

And that's, of course, setting aside that there has been no attempt by the Department to find out let alone work on the reasons why students aren't attending school. 

Assuming we get through that, there will also be a budget update, the day before Governor Healey proposes her budget. 

I'll be blogging. 

As ongoingly true, and as it says on the blog itself, the above is my own opinion. Me. Personally.

Interesting little note on the Commissioner's push to increase chronic absenteeism in the accountability system

 ...in this WBUR piece on Secretary Tutwiler coming soon to a television near you:

Tutwiler has long argued that absenteeism is often driven by the “unmet needs” of students and their families, including stable housing. And indeed, among the 59 Massachusetts schools and districts where 30% or more of students were chronically absent last year, all but seven enroll majority low-income students.

Tutwiler acknowledged that some student needs are inevitably “beyond the scope” of educators and school administrators.

But he said that he’s “unwilling to give up,” and hopes to pursue a partnership with community-based organizations that can help families find housing, food or employment. “I feel pretty optimistic,” he added.

MCAS scores and other indicators show that the state is still midway through a fragile academic comeback that depends in part on a return to regular attendance, Tutwiler said.

He stopped short of endorsing Riley’s proposal to fold chronic absenteeism into the state’s school-accountability framework, saying only that he will remain engaged in the process for approving that change.

Hm. 

Meanwhile, we're seeing spikes in COVID, flu, and RSV, and vaccination rates are not nearly what they need to be.

Hey, can we talk about how weird the Board of Ed in December was?

a white tee shirt says "A lot going on at the moment"
(as seen on Taylor Swift)
This is actually one I bought as a gift more than once.
I hope that doesn't violate an anything?

I feel like this kind of got caught up in the December crush, but can we note for a minute how WEIRD the December Board of Ed "is there an agenda/yes, there is/it only has two things/oh wait no meeting after all" thing was?

"It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”

 gb 3-257 O’Connell Novick (November 28, 2023) 

To submit testimony in opposition to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s proposed increase in weight in the state accountability system for chronic absenteeism at the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education’s December meeting.
from the December 7, 2023 Worcester School Committee agenda

I suspect that you might need to be deep underground, beyond the reach of cell service, in order to have missed that there is some concern on children's school attendance. Just in the past two weeks, you could read about it in The New York Times, The Hill, USA Today, plus about every corner of the country. 

If you've been following Board of Ed meetings here in Massachusetts, you may have noticed that this has been a frequent topic of Commissioner Riley at meetings; he spoke about it in October, and then again last month. He has declared, absent any research or even discussion, that the uptick in students being absent is a result of their falling out of the habit of going to school. When asked if he's discussed this with families (which Member Mary Ann Stewart has done at both meetings), his response has been that he's talked to--not with, let alone listened to--them. 

He has decided, not only that this is a focus of this year, but that it is such a focus that the state accountability system needs to be reworked, so that districts can be (my quotes) "held accountable" for student absence. 

Now, let me first be clear: yes, we have more kids not attending school than we did before the pandemic. The presentation at the October meeting made that very clear.

But what Massachusetts as a state does not know is why. We haven't asked. We haven't delved into the various and many reasons why kids might be missing more school than they were. What the Commissioner--and make no mistake that it IS the Commissioner--has done has simply asserted, in his ongoing conviction that school buildings being open is both an unequivocal and irreplaceable good, and that closing school buildings was nothing but harmful, that having buildings closed meant that kids "fell out of the habit."

In marked contrast, and just for example, last month The 74 suggested six reasons for children being increasingly absent: 

1. worsening mental health
2. death of caregivers
3. teacher absence
4. remote assignments
5. higher minimum wage
6. better record keeping

To those--none of which has been mentioned by the Commissioner, note--I'd add offhand that the pandemic did give some of us an increased appreciation for not spreading illness when we have it. I know I, both for myself and my children, am more apt to stay/keep home when ill, both for my own health and for the health of others.

This is a good thing. 

Many of us as parents also know--and maybe we learned that from those remote learning days--how much is and is not missed, in actuality, when our child misses school. Considering that balance on a day when a child is iffy is, I would assert as both a parent and as an educator, part of the balance of making decisions as a caregiver. 

 The Commissioner's solution to this has been twofold: he has given, he's said, about $4M in grants statewide. $4M in a state in which the total for K-12 spending is somewhere in excess of $20B a year. 

He's also going to put the Secretary of Education on billboards to emphasize to parents that it's important that their children attend school. 

Now, I'm more than happy to see Secretary Tutwiler's general enjoyment of his job in more places. But the implicit condensation in billboards telling parents that school is important is a demonstration of just how little the Commissioner is connecting with anyone on this. 
He's certain he knows what the issue is, despite no information.

Doing the actual real work of getting kids back to school more is hard, time consuming, and, yes, quite probably expensive work. It's about relationships, and health, and better support for families and students (and staff, come to that). It's about finding out why each student isn't coming to school, and what it would take to get them there.

That isn't what the Commissioner is doing here. There's no time, no relationships, very little money, and zero interest in the actual why's here. 

The Commissioner now going to jump straight to punish--and that's all this is going to be is a punishment--districts who don't pull those rates up, with very little state support to do so.  

Thus my item on Thursday's Worcester School Committee agenda. The only way we have of stopping this is for many--MORE THAN WORCESTER, please!--push back from the district level on this one. 

The next meeting of the Board is on December 19. 

 _______________________________

The post title is attributed to Mark Twain, but there is no evidence that he said it.

November Board of Ed: measures of progress and goals

 memo on this is here but I am just going to plunk them all here: 

1.     By 2026, the state will return to pre-pandemic levels (or higher) of the percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations on the MCAS:

a.      Increase grades 3-8 ELA by 10 percentage points to 52 percent of students meeting or exceeding expectations

b.     Increase grade 10 ELA by 5 percentage points to 63 percent of students meeting or exceeding expectations

c.      Increase grades 3-8 Math by 8 percentage points to 49 percent of students meeting or exceeding expectations

d.     Increase grade 10 Math by 9 percentage points to 59 percent of students meeting or exceeding expectations

2.     By 2026, the state will return to pre-pandemic levels (or lower) of the percentage of students who are chronically absent:

a.      Decrease the non-high school chronic absenteeism rate by at least 9.4 percentage points to 9.0 percent

b.     Decrease the high school chronic absenteeism rate by at least 9.1 percentage points to 17.3 percent

3.     By 2026, at least 85,000 high-school students will be enrolled in a designated high school college-and-career pathway or program (e.g., Career and Technical Education, including Chapter 74 and “After Dark” programs, Innovation Career Pathways, and Early College).

4.     By 2026, the percentage of diverse staff in schools and districts will increase by at least 4 points to 17.9 percent.

5.     By 2027, the state will offer structured professional learning on evidence-based practices for literacy for all teachers and administrators with responsibility for early literacy.