AAAC
October 22, 2015
Worcester Technical High School
Agenda
Welcome from Council Chair
Updates on ESE priorities and initiatives
District Accountability Reviews discussion
Executive Order 562 – Reducing unnecessary
regulations discussion
2
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
Welcome
Updates from Council Chair, Meg Mayo Brown
Introduction of new Council member, Paul
Schlichtman
3
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
ESE Updates
PARCC Update
Fall 2015 BESE Vote
Accountability Decision Timing
Holyoke Turnaround Plan highlights
4
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
PARCC Update
Fall 2015 BESE Vote
The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education
to vote on Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Potential impact on current accountability system
5
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
Proposed 2015 Assessment
and Accountability Timing
Late Oct. PARCC embargoed results
available to districts
Mid-Nov. Public release of PARCC results
Late Nov. Embargoed accountability results
available to districts
Early Dec. Public release of accountability
results
6
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
If PARCC Is Adopted
Reset Progress & Performance Index (PPI)
calculations
Equipercentile linking to establish baseline
Decision regarding maintaining framework
(cutting proficiency gaps in half over a sixyear period) or a different approach
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
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If PARCC Is Adopted (cont.)
Reconciling PARCC’s five levels and
accountability system’s five levels
Potential for additional indicators
8
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
If MCAS Is Chosen
Recalibrating 6 year goals in FY15-16 when
requesting waiver extension from ED.
Potential for additional indicators
9
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
The Holyoke Turnaround
Plan
Holyoke: Comparable Districts
Student Population
District
Enrollment
Low Income %
SWD %
ELL %
Boston
54,312
77.7
19.5
29.8
Fall River
10,246
78.3
19.1
7.8
Fitchburg
5,041
77.0
22.6
14.6
Haverhill
7,240
57.5
21.5
7.3
HOLYOKE
5,573
85.3
24.1
28.5
Lawrence
13,889
92.4
16.9
29.9
New Bedford
12,565
75.6
21.9
10.8
Salem
4,199
59.7
21.5
12.1
Somerville
4,987
66.9
21.0
17.4
Springfield
25,645
87.3
19.5
17.2
Worcester
25,254
73.0
19.3
35.1
Comparable districts are determined by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary
Education’s District Analysis and Review Tool (DART) algorithm
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
11
Achievement vs. Spending
Mathematics, SY2014
12
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
Achievement vs. Spending
English Language Arts, SY2014
13
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
Priority Areas
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
Holyoke Turnaround Plan
Priority Area 1
Provide high-quality instruction and student-specific
supports for all students, including students with
disabilities and English language learners
 High-quality core instruction and tiered interventions in
every school
 Complete review of special education services
 Comprehensive strategies to address the needs of
English language learners throughout the district
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
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Holyoke Turnaround Plan
Priority Area 2
Establish focused practices for improving instruction
 Universal preschool opportunities
 Redesign a secondary educational experience in grades
6–12
 Individualized college and/or career plans
 Multiple pathways to reach their full potential, including a
 Specific focus on the instructional program and student
supports in the middle grades
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
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Holyoke Turnaround Plan
Priority Area 3
Create a climate and culture that support students and
engage families
 Develop safe, healthy, and welcoming learning
environments
 Develop and implement strategies in support of
social/emotional learning (SEL)
 Organize partner supports to maximize their efforts
and align them to the district’s turnaround strategies
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
17
Holyoke Turnaround Plan
Priority Area 4
Develop leadership, shared responsibility, and
professional collaboration
 Streamlined, fair, and transparent evaluation process
that provides all staff with feedback for improvement
 Provide high-quality professional learning for a thriving
workforce
 Create clearly defined educator leadership roles
18
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
Holyoke Turnaround Plan
Priority Area 5
Organize the district for successful turnaround
 Build robust systems to recruit, develop, and retain
strong staff members and deploy them where they are
most needed
 Receiver will grant autonomies so that school teams
can tailor programs for their students’ needs
 Develop systems to maximize the use of existing
school time and strategically add time where it is
needed
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
19
Holyoke Turnaround Plan
At the core of this plan is our firm belief that all
Holyoke students deserve a world-class education.
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
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District Accountability
Reviews discussion
Carrie Conaway, Rob Curtin
Agenda
A look back to the 2014-15 school year – how
did we do?
Changes to the 2015-16 district review process
Discussion questions
22
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
2014-15 District Review Cycle
20 reviews conducted during the school year
Emergency review of Holyoke
Areas of concern: spacing and reviewer
overload
23
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
Changes to the Review Process
Self-assessment
Classroom observation tool
Report template
Reviewer assignment
Peer reviewer
Review models
24
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
2015-16 - Review Models
Comprehensive District Review
Closely aligned to past model
Six person review team
Districts are reviewed on all six review standards
Generally for level 3 and 4 districts
Will be the first reviews conducted in 2015-16
25
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
2015-16 - Review Models
Targeted District Review
Four person review team
Review on three of six standards decided based on
self-assessment results and consultation with the
district
Governance and administrative systems
(Leadership and Governance, HR/PD and Financial
and Asset Management)
Student-centered systems (curriculum and
instruction, assessment
Generally for level 2 districts and will be conducted
in the spring to allow for time for decision about
type of targeted review
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
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2015-16 - Review Models
Best Practice District Review
Four person review team
Law authorizing CDSA says that some reviews need
to be done in districts whose “achieve at high levels
relative to districts that educate similar student
populations”
Developing protocol for these reviews
Generally level 1 districts and will be conducted in
the spring
27
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
2015-16 District Reviews
Comprehensive
 Southbridge
 Haverhill
 Westfield
 Lynn
 Dracut
 Ludlow
 Gardner
 Gloucester
Targeted
 Minuteman
Regional
 Agawam
 Danvers
 Sutton
 Greater New
Bedford RVT
 Frontier
Regional
 Somerset/
SomersetBerkley
Best Practice
 Greater Fall
River RVT
 Cohasset
 King Phillip/
Plainville
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
Discussion Questions
What strategies can be used to recruit review
team members that are the most qualified and
“up-to-date?”
In order for the reviews to stay grounded in
the local context, what pieces of data should
the review teams be looking at?
What should the ESE team be paying close
attention to as the revised system is rolled
out?
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
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QUESTIONS?
30
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
Executive Order 562 –
Reducing Unnecessary
Regulations
Helene Bettencourt, Russell Johnston, Lise Zeig
Opportunity to review ‘slice’ of
regulations
Provide opportunity for discussion about key
portions of the statute and regulations among
AAAC members (MGL 15, Section 55A,
paragraph 6)
District Review Standards (603 CMR 2.03(b))
Conditions for School Effectiveness
Provide model for further input by AAAC
members
32
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
What is ‘fair game’ for the
regulation review?
Comparison of statute and regulations
Discuss in small groups (5 minutes)
What do you see?
Where do the regulations mirror the statute?
Where do the regulations provide more detail or
expand upon statutory language?
33
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
Consider amending or reducing
regulations
Whole Group Discussion
How are these regulations used now?
AAAC’s role in establishing
What have we learned?
Small Group Discussion
How do they help schools and districts
improve?
Is there a better way to articulate these
practices?
Does this streamline the current regulations?
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
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Recommendations?
Small Groups report out
Synthesize comments from AAAC
Any next steps for the AAAC?
Individuals may also submit comments
35
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education