October Board of Ed: update on STEM initiatives

update on STEM
"trying to extend that STEM Week feeling!" Erin Hashimoto-Martell, Associate Commissioner

closing tabs

 Things I've had open to share: 

• I linked to this in yesterday's post, but do read the New York Times coverage that, yes, ICE raids do have an impact on attendance: 
  

  The spike in absences is equivalent to the average student missing about 15 days of school each year, up from 12 days, according to Professor Dee’s paper.
  He called the findings “a canary in the coal mine” for public education. If absences continue to be elevated, they could threaten student learning and children’s mental health.

  While the article suggests unlinking school funding from attendance (the data are from California) and perhaps adding funding when there are raids, the answer is of course not having them in the first place.
  At some point, someone may want to mark that chronic absenteeism is part of the school accountability system in Massachusetts.

November Board of Ed: later blog

 Duty called elsewhere on Tuesday, and thus, you get this much later

The agenda is here; the livestream is here.

October Board of Ed: strengthening instructional materials

Riley: I've seen a lot of variation in what curriculum are being used and some aren't aligned with state standards
CURATE assesses degree of alignment
Ron Noble: teacher access to high quality instructional materials
began as teachers who needed to source their own materials
spoke with educators about the best role of the department
"they and we are compelled by the emerging research" that curricular materials matters
need support with professional development
ensuring that all students have access to high quality materials
CURATE: "cut through the noise" in the marketplace in ELA, math, and, "to a lesser extent" science
quality and useablity of materials
in some cases, there isn't much to consider
"dearth of high quality science materials"
use Ed Reports as an initial line
then further review conducted "by Massachusetts teacher leaders"
review process is on a card that the Board has but isn't in the presentation
test quality and organization; classroom tasks and instruction; usability; impact on learning
standards alignment, classroom application, overall rating
if they qualify for an overall meets expectations qualifies for a statewide contract
give publisher a chance to response
quotes by teachers
overview of subratings for productes reviewed
I am finding this SUPER hard to follow...I'm going to remind you that School Committees adopt curriculum
there was also a question there that I missed
West: no one documents what curricula are in use
have made usch progress in tracking student learning but don't track what may matter in student learner
"curriculum heat maps" to track what is being used where and make that data available
Fernández: curriculum design by teachers that are in use and being used now: how is that captured in your process?
Noble: CURATE doesn't address that as built
'we are doing other things to try to capture home-grown curriculum"
14 districts meeting with researchers from Johns Hopkins in places where they rely on teacher home-grown materials; way to start the conversation
Riley: think teachers should have to start with purchased curriculum
then "sharing teacher created tasks"
I don't think I agree with that
use additional resources wisely
OpenSciEd science: need for additional materials
through guiding design of open-source curriculum K-12
in year 2 of piloting middle school materials
one unit per grade level publicly released
2 units piloted each year before being released
professional learning resources being released alongside
Boston teacher: "the students are doing the heavy lifting here"
student: "it was more student guided than teacher guided"
student: "opens a door to what we need to study about"
Peske: What are we trying to get done: if schools and districts have the information they need and professional learning then experiences and outcomes will improve
"this board has had decades of work in building the standards...and the assessments"
haven't done a lot of work around the assessment of those standards
were asked "to send a signal about quality"

Mills: do you expect all districts in the state in users of this or participants in this? Or which districts do you think will or won't use it?
Science: storyline instructional model is not unique to OpenSciEd
"my hope is that every student is getting to learn science through this instructional model" by student questioning and engagement
a way to get it quickly into classrooms
Noble: at least want every district to go to the site and use it
want districts that self-build to use rubrics to review their own produced curriculum
hoping cost isn't an object
Stewart: raises for me some issues around integration with other efforts
mentions site council and school committee efforts
Peske: an effort to ensure that all of the students in our state have access to high quality materials
"all of this work is districts choosing to use the resources provided"
"we did this work because the field said to us 'we need help here'"
and it would feel like a spot here to note that among the end users should be school committees...and again, not mentioend

AHA! Riley "as they begin to make some of these decisions at the school committees..." using this as a resource
Rouhanifard: how many districts are using ELA and math curriculua that meet expectations?
Quite low
have information from only about a third of districts
"have a lot of work to do"

Fernández: adaptability of curriculua
A; "think it will be more of a question as they start to develop into the high school"
because it is open source will be easier to adapt over time
West: history, social studies area
imagine there's a need to support districts and educators
develop curriculum from scratch in 8th grade
effort going on like OpenSciEd
Peske:agreed, more parallel
"very specific to Massachusetts"
in process of building out a project plan "to build our own curriculum"
interviewed with districts
"emphasized need for upper elementary grades"
guidance in response to law that requires completion of civics tasks

March Board of Ed: MCAS scoring for 10th grade

Vote here is on setting of descriptors of 10th grade ELA and math MCAS
plan, as with other grades, is to tie scores statistically to like scores of prior years

These photos are going to be terrible; apologies in advance.
Plan is to link scoring, so pic.twitter.com/f100IoXBm2

— Tracy O'Connell Novick (@TracyNovick) March 26, 2019

 Only such levels will be set this summer NOT NEW GRADUATION STANDARD
Passes

November Board of Ed: standards updates

History and social studies
ELA and math implementation
also coming: arts and health

Wulfson: update on review of history and social sciences curriculum framework
getting field involved "has been very much a part of this process"
"this team has really provided for a lot of public input"

Peske: appreciate educators who have served with us; panel review process
what is a standard? What a student should do and be able to do, and should be measureable
curriculum? content standards and other materials to support instruction

what teachers should teach and students should learn

Buchanan: multiphase process
public survey, "one of the strongest responses we've seen...there's a lot of interest in this"
convene review panel: six meetings
drafting and reviewing proposed revisions
plan is to present draft of revision to Board to vote to invite public comment in January
Board to vote new standards in June

Priorities were to emphasize civics education and to deepen understanding
improve also rigor, clarity, and coherence
"major concern by demographic group" and engagement

New full year civics course proposed for grade 8: "centerpiece around which we drew a through line"
civics standards integrated into every grade
"middle school is a place where the first really deep look" into our system of government happens
revised U.S. Gov and Politics standards for grade 12
emphasis in supporting sections: introduction: "A Renewed Mission: Education for Civic Life in a Democracy"
guiding principles: studying current events, data analysis, media literacy skills
history and social science practice, prek-12
research, process, analysis, evaluation of credibility of sources
sample guiding and supporting questions

Grade 8 to include: philosophical foundations of US political system; institutions of US government; rights & responsibilities of citizens; Constitution, amendments, SCOTUS decisions; state and local government

"8th grade seen as a launch pad for the work they'll do in US History in high school"

Q from Fernandez on integration of social emotional learning
A from Susan Wheltle of the guiding principles, also overlap in curriculum with early grades in what is required
in older grades shifts into how institutions are formed
democracy in the classroom: "every day democracy...then democracy within every larger groups of society"
comes with discussion of how we're always wrestling with interpretations of history
Buchanan: having students do more independent research
students be reviewing primary source documents
"investigating these questions actively"
"What historical interpretation involves"

(this in response to Moriarty) grade 12 course designed to be leading students to what they'll be doing in college
research, digging into practices, what they're learning on the national stage can be applied locally
maintaining content from 2003 framework in revised document

Peyser: "it's more like a Rubik's Cube than a stone in a pond" to revise the standards while retaining the core of 2003 standards
"we obviously haven't seen it all yet, so let's not get ahead of ourselves"

Sagan: what are your thoughts on what we'll measure?
"I am reluctant to talk more assessments"
Wulfson: we know there's a question of assessment before us; we've just started to do some thinking on what a history and social science assessment would look like
chance to integrate some new models, perhaps some project based
Sagan: don't want to do it serially
Wulfson: hope to have some resources in FY19 to flesh that out

McKenna; applaud all of you getting to this point
all students will have civics
having it integrated, students with more resources would get it and others would not

Sagan: have draft education from Legislature, which is unusual
Wulfson: at this point, have not filed a formal bill
some things that would be helpful for us, some things that we suggest might be a pilot
"we are providing..."
Sagan: "but they wrote to us, not to you, so we as a Board need to respond"
McKenna: suggest sending them the draft standards in January
"I think the nervousness has been that DESE won't move this ahead"
Sagan will respond with plan and schedule

arts and health standards haven't been revised since 1999
arts: group to be created in January; back to Board with final revision by spring 2019
health a few months behind that

and adjourned! 

March Board of Ed: revision of ELA and math

back up is here
Chester: don't want to run right past this moment in time
Massachusetts history of setting strong standards, "envy of most of the nation"
anchoring a state educational system that has succeed in way that no other state has
industry practice to periodically review and revise standards
lots of commentary, lots of discussion of what's working well, what can afford to be clarified
Very "robust process"
standards "are the Commonwealth's own"

DESE wants YOUR opinion!

No, that wasn't sarcastic at all!

There are a significant number of things out for public comment right now, and, thinking some of you would like nothing better than to use your time over the holiday break than to express your views, I'm collecting them all here in one list:

• Public comment on the ELA and math standards is due by February 17. A summary of proposed changes to the ELA standards are posted here. A summary of the proposed changes to the mathematics standards are posted here. The full changes are available for download of math and of ELA.

• Public input on the proposed new MCAS achievement levels and descriptors is due January 27. You can do that via this survey. 

• Public comment on the proposed changes to educator evaluation are due January 27. They are available for download here. Comments should be emailed to edevalcomments@doe.mass.edu. 

• Public comment on proposed changes to recovery high school regulations are due January 17. Those can be downloaded here. Comments should be emailed to achievement@doe.mass.edu.

• The standards for history and social studies are just beginning to be reconsidered. You can give input on this by taking this survey. 

Public comment on the math and ELA standards is up!

As I posted last week, the Board of Education voted to send proposed changes to the state ELA and mathematics standards out for public comment. That is now posted.

• The quick reference guide to proposed changes to the ELA standards are posted here. The full changes are here.
• The quick reference guide to proposed changes to the mathematics standards are posted here. The full changes are here. 
• The public comment form is here.

So about those Massachusetts PISA scores

Can we all say this together? "We are proud of the work of our students and teachers but there is still work to be done!"
(really: check the quotes)
It's interesting to see what PISA itself emphasizes in the release of the results:

Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Hong Kong (China) and Macao (China) achieve high levels of performance and equity in education outcomes.  

 Poorer students are 3 times more likely to be low performers than wealthier students, and immigrant students are more than twice as likely as non-immigrants to be low achievers. 

Nearly 20% of students in OECD countries, on average, do not attain the baseline level of proficiency in reading. This proportion has remained stable since 2009.

These would be useful conversations to have. They aren't the ones being had, however.
It's worth (as always) reading Yong Zhao about the relative worth of such results:

PISA is not a political poll, but it does attempt to predict the future. “PISA assesses the extent to which students near the end of compulsory education have acquired key knowledge and skills that are essential for full participation in modern societies,” according to its brochure. These students are 15 years old. In other words, PISA claims that its results predict the future success of individual students and, by association, their nations.

I riffed a bit about PISA on Twitter this morning: we'll inevitably have comparisons between Massachusetts and our only real competition, Singapore, which is a Malaysian city-state which spends 20% of its budget on education. Call me a cynic, but I suspect we'll hear less about that and more about how they teach math.

UPDATE: and I'd be interested in any explanation that someone can offer on this (from DESE's press release):

"Of particular note is the fact that only 14 percent of the variation in our students' science scores is attributable to family economic background. Eighty-six percent is determined by instruction and district practices," Commissioner Chester said.

And we know that how?

The Board of Ed meets Tuesday, November 29

You can find the agenda here.
It looks as though there is not a Monday evening meeting.
After the comments from the Chair, Secretary, and Commissioner, and public comment, the first item is continuing the discussion (and the vote to solicit comment) on the math and ELA standards.
As was previewed last month and is covered in the Globe, the Commissioner is moving forward with his recommendation to amend educator evaluation.
They're getting reports on the Mattahunt (Boston) and on Commerce High (Springfield), both of which were on the Commissioner's "very concerned" list when the latest round of test scores came out. The Boston School Committee voted last week to close the Mattahunt and reopen it as an early childhood center. Springfield has not taken any such votes after receiving what amounts to a Level 5 warning.
There are some proposed regulations for recovery high schools; the vote is to solicit public comment.
Amendments to their charters are being requested by Foxborough Regional Charter and by Parker Essential Charter. Foxborough wants to add 400 students; Parker wants to add the town of West Boylston to their region.
There is an update on standard setting for MCAS 2.0.
There is a discussion scheduled on last week's release of discipline data. 

And yes, I plan to be there. 

The Board of Ed meets this week!

a bit behind on getting the preview up this week: apologies!

The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education meets in Malden this week on Monday night and Tuesday morning. You can find the agenda here; the Commissioner's meeting briefing is here.

On Monday night, the Board will be getting an update on proposed revisions to ELA and math standards. Note that the plan at this point is for an update at this October meeting, with a vote to send the standards out for public comment at the November meeting, with comments due back by January. Overview on ELA changes is here (detailed changes here); overview on math changes is here (detailed changes here). If this matters to you, the time to start reviewing is now!

On Tuesday, following opening comments, there will be an update on Southbridge, which, as you might remember, is in state receivership. There will also be a first quarter update on the level 5 schools. There will be a recap of the previous night's presentation.
The Commissioner plans an update on the ongoing discussion regarding educator evaluation, namely dropping the explicit "student impact" section of the teacher evaluation. The plan is for the Board to vote on that next month, as well.
The shift to the class of 2020 as the final one to need to pass the current MCAS to graduate will be discussed and voted on.
There is also a vote on an amendment to the turnaround regulations that would make it clear that turnaround schools are still under their plans until a new plan is accepted or the old one is renewed. That's been happening anyway, but it isn't in the regs.
And there's an update on the FY18 budget.

I'll be posting on Tuesday! 

Curriculum framework review (Board of Ed)

backup here
Chester: hoping by end of 2016 we'll have a redrafted set of frameworks that we'll send out for public comment

May Board of Education: Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership

the backup is here
per the backup: SEZP is:

a groundbreaking voluntary partnership of Springfield Public Schools (SPS), the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), the Springfield Education Association (SEA), and Empower Schools aimed at rapidly improving outcomes for Springfield's middle school students

Chester: this Board knows the work of receiverships in schools and districts, work done with Level 4 schools as well
"really neat to have in front of us today" those working in Springfield
The Board of SEZP is as follows:

SEZP Board - SEZP has a 7-member board that governs the nonprofit. Four members are appointed by the Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education to serve 5-year terms; the other three members represent the Springfield community in their official capacities. The current board members are: Chris Gabrieli, Chairman; James Morton; Beverly Holmes; John Davis; Domenic J. Sarno (in his role as Mayor of Springfield); Daniel J. Warwick (in his role as Superintendent of SPS); Chris Collins (in his role as Vice Chairman of the Springfield School Committee)

Chester: Gabrieli "was a key" contact with me, "aren't there measures short of receivership"
And the union, "very vital to us" in this partnership
MOU between and among DESE
School district "has appointed a board to receivership of middle schools
"this is a very promising approach to thinking about middle schools"

and I'm not going to be able to keep track of who is saying what here, as their backs are to me in a gym and they have no place cards
Gabrieli: excited to share this, level of collaboration is very high
"ultimately what matters is the results of the students"
DESE's willingness to think out of the box
"not directly obvious from the regulations but clearly well within them"
9 middle schools in Springfield serving 4000 students had Level 4 status
81% it says economically disadvantaged...I don't think that can be right
the state has four members; the city has three
Legal agreement between Zone, Springfield, and DESE approved in a 6-1 vote of the School Committee
new teachers' contract, modeled on Lawrence's contract: all working conditions are at the school level; ELT is "affordable" and no lanes; steps based on "merit"
Superintendent speaks of great flexibility in contract
"this kind of autonomy I would have loved as a principal"
"This teachers' contract is really a model for the state"
Gabrieli interested in expanding zones elsewhere in MA
SEZP believes "schools are a fundamental unit of change"
"school performance distributes on a bell curve and we have an obligation to move that curve to the right"
"pretty similar to the strategy we've taken in Lawrence"
"SEZP educators have broad autonomy"
Principals "create plans with solutions that fit a school's specific needs"
current performance analyzed>>principal and leadership team vote on operation plan>>SEZP approves plan
Principal says "how I was ever a principal before this, I don't know"
"what we truly do with that hour" (of ELT)
"intervention and attacking the trends and the needs of our schools"
reading class in addition to regular ELA
nine schools are all completely different: gifted program, social justice program
program "that best supports the students and the staff as well"
middle schools (in response to Q from Sagan) are assigned by address
visited Lawrence on numerous occasions; borrowed best practices across the state
reading program is geared towards our proficient students "and that's why we received the scores we did on our PARCC"
one hour of reading intervention each day, one hour of math intervention each day
Gabrieli "some framework to doing this all aggressively"
"schools are at the top of the triangle"
"active coach" of consultants that "were brought on"
Achievement Network: consultant that "makes sure we're true to our operational plan" in a one hour meeting with the principal, hiring, observations of teachers
"acceleration academy strategy" as in Lawrence "we've chosen to do only math" so far
now speaking of Teach Western Mass recruitment
quality of life, advertising to attract teachers at this point, at some point to move towards retaining teachers on the spot
SEZP holding schools accountable "configuration changes can include partnership with independent organizations like UP Education Network" opening UP Academy Kennedy this fall
Gabrieli: "the two leaders speak to the kind of leadership you can attract"
Founders Fellow program moving particular people into Springfield
"sustainable collaborative governance" says Gabrieli
Gabrieli: "there are early signs of progress" though not much academic evidence
could hire earlier than last year

Morton: "this partnership takes courage"
"everyone has to give something up"
"almost as if the entire city of Springfield has wrapped itself around the Zone"

Doherty: is there a long range vision of expanding up to high school or down to elementary?
"looking at some of these as best practices" which are being shared out to other schools
Sagan: same contract in place at others?
Warwick: This contract applies only to zone; "a lot that we do have in place at other levels" and progress is strong at other levels"
Gabrieli: would rather have parents, teachers, principals come to the conclusion that this might be needed
Warwick: there are other middle schools (than these) outside the zone
Moriarty: (from Holyoke) MOU with receiver, now described as an alternative school
"partnerships are hard"; mid-level admin, others resented receiver brought in
reciever was seen as an imposition; is there a good process, "a good ventilation system, if you will," if either partner is not happy
Gabrieli: each school is very clear who the decision makers are
biweekly check-in meetings (I don't know who is talking right now) collaborate as partners
what's going on across the zone
Warwick: behind it 100%, won't tolerate anyone not being behind it 100%
Peyser: interesting to see this kind of change in our public education system
do you see this as school turnaround or a long-term governance strategy?
Gabrieli: an early question
"spirit in which we all entered this was going into novel territory"
"it's not the state doing some alone, it's not the district doing something alone, it's partners"
"is it necessary"
"goal is not to have an automatic end"
Warwick: a lot more learning to be done in this
"I just love this contract; I wish it were in place when I was a principal"
improve this work, build on it
Morton: have there been an exodus of parents from the schools?
Warwick: has been a lot of positive press, haven't had any requests
extended time, extended PD for staff
Gabrieli: parents know relatively less of this than we do, see schools that are changing
"very committed to data collection"
"net health of the school"
Sagan: talent pool, talent drain: not necessarily able to attract staff
"Holyoke trading best people and not attracting new talent" which was debunked by the Commissioner previously
Principal: no competition, the job fairs have been huge
collaboration helps everyone, "we're all in this together"
want to recruit the best talent
Chester: don't see the talent question as limited to western Mass, particularly for turnaround principals
teaching pool: one thing to think about opening an elementary slot, another to think about opening a high school chemistry slot
some inventive things happening
discussions with UMass Amherst; not affordable housing for their faculty in the area, talking about housing in Holyoke
in Springfield, too many schools were stuck
"very aggressive" choices made by state
"some level of disruption to the status quo"
avoiding state receivership, keeps schools in the hands of the school committee (it does?) but protects the schools from business as usual

Rennie Center "Conditions of Education in the Commonwealth"

I'm posting this morning from the Rennie Center's "Condition of Education in Commonwealth" at which it seems they're going to make a pitch for social-emotional learning as something schools are evaluated on. You can find the data report that they're releasing today here and the resource guide is here; the report on social and emotional learning is here. Posting as we go...the Twitter hashtag is #COE2016

d'Entremont (Rennie Center) Have wrestled more directly with moving ideas to action
invite open dialogue and critique
use knowledge gains to build capacity for reform

Discussion on PARCC

update: press release distributed is here. DESE is working on uploading the PowerPoint shown this afternoon.

Chester:
"not everyone is in agreement on what would be the right course of action"
"very strongly about the need to move and to move expiditiously"
two year timeline: full set of experience with the PARCC assessment
"we've had quite a bit of experience and feedback and you've heard a lot of it"
"the more I've thought of it, the sharper my thinking has become"
"depth and range of feedback you're getting"
systematic analyses, strongly held opinions
"have been concerned that we identify the forest for the trees"
Three principles as we move forward (this from Chester):

1. MCAS has reached the point of diminished returns. "Last year was the 18th year we'd administered MCAS" having greatest impact on places where there's a lot of energy on having students succeed on a test rather than being successful.
2. Having looked at an awful lot of information on PARCC, "it's clear to me that PARCC is a strong advancement on MCAS"
3. Whatever path we pursue, "we need to be in control of our destiny." Opens options beyond a binary decision

"what's been colloquially referred to as Door 3"

"capitalizing on the investment we've made in PARCC"

"Massachusetts has played a leadership role...how can we capitalize on it"

Well over $100M investment, can't replicate

capitalizes on PARCC development, but we as a Commonwealth decide what is and isn't in it

Owe it to our educators, students, families, "to move ahead, as standing still with MCAS is not a path that I would recommend"

Bob Lee and Jeff Wulfson:
Lee; trying to provide some context for these results
98% PARCC test takers (not many opt outers)
selected statistically to represent state population from 2014 both demographically and in academic achievement
"though their accountability level can't go down, we'll be calculating a percentile for them, and those percentiles will be public record"
also need context for these (given history)
MCAS and PARCC have different levels of achievement; MCAS has 4 levels, PARCC has five
"not that they're the same things"
"seeing about 50 to 60% of students meeting expectations on PARCC" in grades 3-8 (which is where most of the results are)
in math, about half: (all grades 52%) (80% of eighth graders who took algebra I, BTW)
in high school, numbers are kind of all over the place (?) for PARCC, but no higher than 49%
91% of students in MCAS ELA; 79% in math in MCAS

slide that tries to compare percentages
"what was a 68 on MCAS compares to a 60" in PARCC though Fryer points out that this is not the case
"that's not to say our proficiency went down, but there are differences in meeting expectations"
difference of about 8 points
Fryer: 60 doesn't equal 68; it doesn't work that way
because they're different cut points; math cut the test into deciles
distributions are matching up across the test
Peyser: is there something you could say about the percentage of raw score points you need in one rather than the other?
Lee: somewhat relevant, cut scores 60-70 percent
"when we calibrated our expectations, and we talked to our professors and our teachers"
"47% is a really good score on the PARCC test"
lot of score points on the PARCC test, lot of good information
have .3 correlation with grade point average
Doherty: reading at grade level by grade 3, is what that means to be
"how do I interpret that in reference to reading on grade level?"
Lee; probably not your best source
Chester: with PARCC, there was a standard setting process that began at the 11th grade
"what part of the 11th grade test to you need to master by" lower grades to then succeed at a higher college course
PARCC was very deliberate in terms of lining that up, grade by grade
Noyce: "we've talked about grade level for years as if we knew what that met"
this is a definition: "we talk about these things as if they have some meaning, but they have the meaning that we give them"
Lee: there was a process, they looked at very detailed standards
Morton: for MCAS districts, there was 10% fewer low income students
Lee: that's why we normalized the sample
Morton: were you able to determine impact of poverty on achievement
Lee: matched first on achievement, then on demographics
Morton: I want to know if PARCC adversely impacts low income students, compared to MCAS
Sagan: "and 'struggling' isn't the word I would use...I would use 'not meeting expectations.'"
Chester: fewer students across the board are getting to those standards
"so this becomes a pretty interesting discussion...does the gap widen or shrink...and" what does that mean
"let's not look for a test that eliminates the gap"
essentially he then here talks of a test that just tests content and thus gives pure resutls
Lee; rigorous bias review process for items
"strange to say a kid is not proficicent one year and is proficient the next without his having a particularly good year"
Lee: compare how kids did to how kids did on a test we know better: correlates with 9th grade MCAS
now there's a chart that basically shows that if you take MCAS results and take PARCC results, they do correlate at a beyond statistically significant level
Wulfson adds cavet on relative seriousness with which test was taken, which is protested by Willyard (the student rep) that he doesn't like the insinuation that any students might not take the test seriously
Peyser: we're comparing a four performance to a five performance scale
Lee: have two scales that work and you've broken them up in different ways
pretty massive gap in Algebra II and 11th grade ELA
Lee; "these are tests that don't correlate as much"
Willyard: would this mean that the cut scores need to be reevaluated?
Chester; they can both be equally correclated by cover very different content
Fryer: text complexity, other is different cut points on a test
"if I were to do the exact same thing, and give it six levels and call it PARCC revised, I could say 'Look, look at the complexity'"
Sagan: but do you want to say that 90% pass? Whatever that number is?
Moriarity: if we go with PARCC, does that mean that there will be three math graduation requirements?
Sagan: change in high school requirement waived for three more years
rules won't change partway through the process
Peyser: if these data are right...
Sagan: "wouldn't it line up with the large numbers of students being put into remediation?"
Noyce: there is a strong movement among other states in the country at back mapping on math to what you study in college
"we should as a state really not try to tie ourselves to the Calculus track"
and now comparison with NAEP


And now on PARCC and technology (presentation by Kenneth Klau, digital learning)
minimum needed to administer PARCC online:

• internet connection to download test to each computer prior to testing
• sufficient bandwidth (at least 5kbps per student)
• sufficient computers (desktops, laptops, netbooks, thin clients (?), and tablets) with a web browser and an input device (keyboard with mouse or touchpad)

20 day testing window x 3 sessions / day= 60 sessions

each student sits up to 7 sesssions

number of students x 7 sessions = total "seats"

for example: a school with 721 students has 85 testing seats & therefore needs computers to give tests during the window (721 x 7/60=84.1...thus 85)

how many classrooms? 5 

Statewide estimate need for $3.1M to $12.3M (based on type, ranging $250 to $1000)

• 304 schools need less than 30
• 85 need 31-60
• 37 need 61-90
• 13 schools need 91-120
• 3 need 121-150

infrastructure needs of $2.4M, includes broadband costs for schools that do not meet proctor caching requirements

Sagan: do you have a map? yes, but not yet, and you'll be able to zoom in and out to the individual level
For technology in general (beyond PARCC):
$90 (something)M for upgrading school technology
$67 and $278M for devices
Wulfson: behind much of the country, as much as we see ourselves as a technological state

what resources are out there? Erate being the best
districts applying, regardless of testing decisions
Digital connections partnerships schools grant: state bond batching program
sliding scale where state match funds for infrastructure, local money used for infrastructure, devices, PD, or assistive technology for students

Stewart: process out loud
had been rethinking MCAS in 2008, but went way of RTTT
"not a test per se, but college and career readiness for students"
tension between what is necessary and important wellbeing and what is necessary for the future economy
don't have a clear vision of 21st century skills look like
"no test ensures great instruction"
test to inform instruction, and how best to do it
"how do we go back and replan, retool for what we want to do with regards to assessment"
Chester: not at ground zero...and now we're reviewing 20 years of ed reform...
"this is not about starting a new direction; it's about continuing."
Stewart: MA has set standard at level 4; Ohio has set it at Level 3. How do we have common assessment?
Sagan: 'as long as you can compare...you can compare if it's the same data"

Oh, Boston Globe (regarding PARCC)

Because the Board of Ed meets tonight and tomorrow and PARCC is on the agenda, the Globe editorial board apparently felt that it couldn't put off deciding any longer, and came out in support of PARCC. The Pioneer Institute could not, of course, let that go unchallenged, and Joanna Weiss doesn't understand this very specific math problem.
Oh, Boston Globe (sigh)...
The survey the Globe is citing (72% of teachers support) is this Teach Plus survey of teachers who attended a Teach Plus PARCC conference. Yes, it was a self-selected group, and they offer no evidence that, as they say, "The views of Massachusetts teachers who attended the “Testing the Test” events are similar to the views of the teachers across the sites." It was a survey that included 351 teachers. So all that we can conclude is that 252 teachers think it's better. That's about 1/3 of 1% of Massachusetts teachers. Note that their only support for "great teaching" is also from a Teach Plus fellow (which Board member Margaret McKenna pointed out at a previous meeting is a group that comes to this with a certain agenda).
The column by Jim Stergios, writing for the Pioneer Institute, is replete with myths and errors: PARCC will take more time (no, particularly now that they rolled both parts into one); kids will delay entering algebra at all (no) and kids will end math with Algebra II (no); oh, and this:

That demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of standards-based reform. PARCC tests the elements of Common Core shared by all states, not the supplemental math or higher-level reading individual states may add. Given that over time what isn’t tested isn’t taught, PARCC represents a race to the middle for Massachusetts.

Well, throw out calculus and AP physics, then, folks!
 The column by Joanna Weiss is a more measured version of the hysterical forwards replete on social media around Common Core math homework, which more-or-less boil down to "I didn't learn it this way; why should anyone?"
Because we can do better. Because kids who actually understand how math works rather than just memorizing formulas actually are better at mathmatics, long term, no matter what they do in the rest of their lives.

Please understand: I post all of the above not because I am a PARCC apologist. I made my own position clear--neither--back in July when I testified before the Board of Ed. There are other options out there. If we are going to have this conversation about testing, though, let's please at least attempt to do without making things up, misleading the public, repeating things that are wrong, and otherwise trying to cloud the issue.
What if we debate this on its relative merits?

TLSS meeting: notes

agenda is here

Report of the Superintendent

You can find the backup here. Posting as we go
Boone: third largest district in Massachusetts, takes a lot to get ready for back to school
new district leadership in HR, Supplemental academic services, career and technical ed, counseling/psych/community outreach, child study, coach in curriculum
new principals at Jacob Hiatt, Worcester Tech, Grafton Street, Goddard,
new assistant principals at Canterbury, Rice Sq, Vernon Hill, Burncoat Middle, Lincoln Street, Claremont, Chandler El, Sullivan, May Street, Quinsig, Union Hill, North, Grafton St (some acting)
if they're acting, it's because we didn't have time to go through the full process to fill the position permananently
Enrollment: while October 1 is the official enrollment date, as of Sept 15 we are at

24,655

Allen: essentially level enrolled from last year, up about 71 students from last year, still working numbers of students who have moved within or outside the district

"a snapshot as of Sept 15"

does not include Head Start

about a 1% at both high and middle schools level

by elementary schools: total looks to be fairly flat

five highest percentage increases and five highest percentage decreases

overall classroom teacher to student ratio of 1 to 21.8, "slightly below the foundation budget ratio"

student to adult ratio is 1 to 20.1 when including tutors

"as of right now, no classrooms over 30 students"

still 58 total K-6 over 27, however, mostly due to space constraints

Boone: "we do a fair amount of HR and payroll processing"

Brophy: processed 139 new hires: that's 75 teachers, 10 long term subs, 1 principal, 2 instructional support, 40 IAs, 6 non-instructional support, 2 school nurses, 3 school clerks

also processed 2,764 payroll changes (some of which are changes in status, with accompanying status)
"give credit to the people who do the work in payroll"
"we may be an adminstrator...but without the work of the people behind us, we can't do the work"
3rd largest employer in the city (with 3,902 employees, of actual head count, but not including after school)
Boone: summer is our busy time for professional learning
Rodrigues: Worcester East Middle renewed for another three years, Claremont Academy new innovation status, 16 elementary piloting the electronic report card, instructional leaders at WSU, youth mobile crisis intervention, expanding ESL instruction, AVID school wide at Burncoat and Sullivan
23 AP courses
full time behavioral health clinic supports
continuing SEI courses for teachers of ELL students
restructured child study for full time assignment in most schools (with psychologist or adjustment counselor)
WorcesterHEARS grant planning and working to extend
applying for ch 74 for diesel at South; will be applying childhood study at South
"pathways outside of Worcester Tech"
DDM planning and development: "a huge body of work so we will be in compliance"
guidance counselors focused on Mass Model Curriculum
graduation improvement teams
work continues on middle-high school transition teams
fundation to 3 more elementary schools
SAT for all students in grade 11 at South
added 2 SAIL classrooms at Norrback and 1 autism/lifeskills classroom at Sullivan
district to now provide all ABA services IN DISTRICT: includes 12 BCBAs coordinating school-based services and 2 Behavioral Intervention specialists
early childhood grant for postive behavioral supports in three model classrooms in collaboration with Worcester Family Partnership
PD institute for grades 4 through 8
additional PD in Go Math (new instructional material in elementary)
89 teachers had PD at Eagle Hill
157 new WPS teachers had orientation
para-professionals having PD
day-long model of Universal Design training: in 24 model classrooms in 12 schools in partnership with DESE
multi-tiered system of supports: attendance, social-emotional, and academic
training for ESL teachers at Worcester State in ESL and sheltered content instruction
160 teachers trained in 25 schools on Fundations
Perda: preliminary MCAS data
public data is NOT yet available
PARCC results won't be available for some time yet
expect final MCAS results released next week
preliminary data used to schedule student supports and services, reflect on instructional practice, set school accountability plans
PARCC schools: "the best we have for that is late fall"
;"one of the conundrums we have this year is making sense of MCAS data for this year"
differences between the two groups (of who took what)
can look at student growth: district wide, overall, saw median student growth percentiles increased in grades 4,5 and 10 in ELA and in grades 4,5,6 and 10
science and tech: increase in students proficient or above
when PARCC is released, we'll also get accountability levels, out Progress and Performance Index data, school commendations
Allen: operations
Community Eligilbility program: "off to a pretty good start"
participation is up about 9% at lunch, about 1500 lunches more a day
largest increases at secondary level
"pleased with the growth so far"
"haven't done marketing so far...see a push that we can work on increasing participation from there"
22 elementary schools participating with breakfast in the classroom; having discussions with 11 remaining
EOS grants available for expansion, looking at those
Fresh Fruit and Vegetable grant awarded to 14 elementary schools
Farm to School preference to local farms in purchasing locally sourced meals
school chef position increase this year: improve menu options for our students
drive to increase participation: drive students to want to participate based on our meals
2nd mobile food truck: more than doubled meals served
from 13,000 meals to over 32,000 meals served
within WPS itself, additional 5000 meals served (up to 55,000 meals)
96 large buses
135 special ed buses
12,320 students daily: 10,000 miles a day, 1.8 million miles a year
80 grants awarded totaling $36,7 million ("larger than many school district budgets")
processed 1500 purchase orders: payments in excess of $2.37 million
new science lab at UPCS: should be fully operational at in next few months
new windows that went in at Union Hill, Goddard (still closing), West Tatnuck, Clark Street
other projects: Worcester Tech roof top compressors
boilers replaced at the Taylor Building, Flagg, Foley, Belmont, City View
Jacob Hiatt rooftop unit out to bid
solar panel installation: Sullivan, Norrback, Burncoat High, Forest Grove: in parking lots at Sullivan and Burncoat High; rooftops for others
3rd floor classroom next to Worcester East Middle
Elm Park: perimeter fencing, gate; new perimeter lighting, new handrails, carpeting in library
Technology: all staff migrated to Microsoft Office 365
allows us to reduce the number of servers ; more of a paperless
on Monday going full-scale live to all secondary students : all will have WPS emails and all have access to Office 365
"going from 4000 accounts to 16,000 accounts"
all of our E-rate applications were approved!
connection spead increased 2 1/2 times; began installation of fiber network
Boone: most appreciative of all the support we've received from all community groups and businesses

Meetings next week

Meetings up next week:

• The Board of Ed has their June meeting at 8:30 on Tuesday morning in Malden. The agenda is here: the big item on the agenda is the annual evaluation of the Commissioner. There's also an update on Lawrence, on Holyoke, on Level 5 schools, on the FY16 budget, on PARCC, on breakfast in the classroom. There's also a presentation on the new definition of low income that depends on enrollment in other programs (not free and reduced lunch) to encourage districts to participate in community eligibility (for universal free lunch); at some point I should do a post on this, because it's going to miss kids, and, while I admire the motivation, I think it's a bad idea.
• Also meeting on Tuesday morning, this at 10 at the State House, is the Foundation Budget Review Commission. And this is tough, because I can't be in both places at once. Anyone want to liveblog the BoE for me? They should be passing language on special ed and on health insurance and setting their priorities for the remaining time til their final report in the fall. 
• At 5:30 pm on Tuesday, there is a meeting of the Teaching, Learning, and Student Supports subcommittee. You can find the agenda here. We have an update on the curriculum review process (specifically math);  a report on Safe Routes to Schools; and an update on the new elementary report card pilot.

Also? It's the last week of school! School is out for the summer on Thursday!