EEC Board Committee
Planning and Evaluation
Thursday February 28, 2012
10:00am-1:00pm
Department of Early Education and Care
51 Sleeper St. 4 th Floor
Boston, MA 02210
AGENDA
Members of the Committee Present
Sherri Killins, EEC Commissioner (Ex-Officio)
Eleonora Villegas-Reimers, Committee Chairperson
Cheryl Stanley, Board Member
Joni Block, Board Member
JD Chesloff, Board Chair
EEC Staff Present
Jennifer Louis, Researcher
Jay Swanson, Policy Analyst
Guests
Members of the Public
The meeting was called to order at 10:15 am.
Welcome and Introductions
Committee members were welcomed to the meeting.
Routine Business:
Minutes
Members had an opportunity to review the minutes. No changes were necessary for the January 24, 2013 minutes.
Disclosures
Board Member Eleonora Villegas-Reimers disclosed that she works for Wheelock College who is a recipient of EEC grant funds.
New Business and Commissioner/Committee Updates

QRIS
Commissioner Killins mentioned to the Committee that after the board meeting in February school age standards were revisited to and that the same methodology was used for removing standards that were used in the center based and family child care standards. School Age Standards were included in the board presentation in February.
51 Sleeper Street, 4th Floor, Boston, MA 02210
Phone: 617-9886600 • Fax: 617-988-2451 • commissioners.office@state.ma.us www.eec.state.ma.us

Commissioner Killins noted that the APT in the School Age QRIS standards was not to be mandatory for reasons of inaccessibility of the tool and training. It did end up attached to some standards as the method of documentation. This is being modified so the APT may be used but is not required.
Discussion
Board Member Joni Block noted that people in the public she has spoken to have thought that the changes will be confusing. Commissioner Killins and Board Chair JD Chesloff did not hear the same concerns at the meetings they attended.
Strategic Plan:
The Committee had a general discussion regarding the strategic plan prior to completing the remaining sections.
For the retreat, EEC Staff Member Jennifer Louis will pull the information into a word document similar to the strategic plan document.
The Committee reviewed the comments from the January Board Meeting. In the area of governance, the board suggested the ideas of working within the existing governing structure and tweaked the definition slightly.
In the Standards, Assessment and Accountability section the board suggested instead of “provide” to use “ to continue to provide and strengthen.” The Board also thought there wasn’t enough about assessment and accountability. The Committee agreed to add that is supported by assessment and accountability.
The Board also had some comments about where do we put managing the oversight of the system and where does quality come in if quality is no longer a strategic direction? The Committee agreed to add in the words reinforce and define the boundaries of the system
Strategic Plan: Workforce and Professional Development
(MaterialsEEC Board Retreat Executive Summary, Retreat Minutes and Strategic Directions PowerPoint)
The Committee discussed the comments from the January Board meeting and made modifications to the definitions where they agreed.
The Committee reviewed the preliminary ideas for the indicators and worked on finalizing the indicators. The
Committee discussed creating professional development that is linked to theory and research. Committee Chair
Eleonora Villegas-Reimers noted that you can teach theory with no practice basis and you can teach them the research and not the overarching theory itself.
The Committee developed indicators of success for the definition of the workforce and professional development.
In discussing the workforce and professional development, the Committee agreed that the indicators of success should not just include educators but should also include consultants, faculty, mentors, and coaches.
Commissioner Killins noted that the standards should not be just for the front line teachers but also for those who train them.
The Committee agreed with Commissioner Killins that there was a need to bring in the statewide system.
Statewide system is continued to be redefined and include the content, accessibility, and affordability of the professional development.
Commissioner Killins asked how we change practice through training. Educators attend trainings but don’t bring it back to their program and use their new knowledge. A balance needs to be created between individual efficacy
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and program requirements. It might be possible to assess through a program lens the effectiveness of the statewide professional development system.
Strategic Plan: Informed Families and Public
(MaterialsEEC Board Retreat Executive Summary, Retreat Minutes and Strategic Directions PowerPoint)
The Committee reviewed the comments from the February board meeting. Comments included adding all children instead of children to one of the slides.
Board Chair JD Chesloff noted that there is a document regarding communication that was shared at the policy and research committee meeting. Commissioner Killins explained that the document is tactical and for the strategic plan it needs to be a strategy. She and board member Joni Block noted that the document is about hearing from families.
Board Chair JD Chesloff pointed out to the committee that there are 3 points for this category. 1. Developing and implementing an external and internal communication to all stakeholders, 2. Brain building in progress as a frame for communicating the condition of positive growth and development and 3. Work with other education departments to determine the feasibility of developing a joint statement about the role of families and the public in educating the whole child.
Committee Chair Eleonora Villegas-Reimers suggested that the Board see the documents ahead of time before the retreat and get any clarifying questions to her prior to the meeting so she can answer them. EEC Staff Member
Jennifer Louis will send an email to the Board asking them to review the document ahead of time and send any questions to EEC Staff Member Jennifer Louis prior to the meeting. Board Chair JD Chesloff noted that this task was assigned to this committee and he doesn’t intend the retreat to be the Board rewriting the indicators or definitions.
Strategic Plan: Linkages
(MaterialsEEC Board Retreat Executive Summary, Retreat Minutes and Strategic Directions PowerPoint)
The Committee agreed that they accept the model by Kristie Kauerz. This includes the 8 P-3 elements. The elements are as follows:
1.
Mechanisms for cross-sector alignment
2.
Administrators and Leadership Quality
3.
Teacher Quality and Capacity
4.
Instructional Tools and Practices
5.
Instructional Environment
6.
Data and Assessments
7.
Engage Families
8.
Transitions and Pathways
Commissioner Killins noted that there has been some push back from the field regarding the use of the parent consent forms. The Committee discussed the issue regarding not having the names of children in programs that
EEC funds. Commissioner Killins noted that programs EEC funds should be required to give us the information regarding the children in their program.
The Committee reviewed the Strategic Definitions and as well as did some clarifying and modifying of the draft indicator of success.
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Commissioner’s Evaluation
(Materials-none)
The committee revisited the process to conduct the Commissioner Evaluation. The Committee reviewed the tool and job description that was sent to them after the January committee meeting. In addition, Board Chair JD
Chesloff sent the committee information regarding the evaluations for the Commissioners of ESE and Higher
Education.
The committee agreed to use the same tool as last year as well as the same senior leadership/regional directors’ survey with some minor modifications from board member Cheryl Stanley. The tool and survey will be updated by
Sarah prior to the March Board Meeting. Board Chair JD Chesloff reviewed with the Committee the process he went through last year. This year the evaluation will occur in the Planning and Evaluation. Committee Chair
Eleonora Villegas-Reimers will be charged will dispersing the tool to Board members, dispersing the survey to senior leadership/regional directors, collecting and analyzing the information received as well as writing up an evaluation summary. Committee Chair Eleonora Villegas-Reimers possibly with Board Chair Chesloff will interview
Commissioner Killins as her self evaluation.
Board Member Joni Block asked if she didn’t have enough information to answer the questions in the evaluation, should she be a part of the evaluation. Board Chair JD Chesloff noted that board members do not have to answer any questions they don’t feel comfortable answering but she should answer any questions she feels comfortable answering.
The committee discussed the timing of the evaluation. Board Chair JD Chesloff will let the board members know about the evaluation and its process at the March board meeting. Committee Chair Eleonora Villegas-Reimers would send out the tools and surveys to the board and senior leadership/regional directors and ask them to return the completed forms within 7-10 days. She will then take 3 or 4 days to compile the data, set up a meeting with
Commissioner Killins and complete the evaluation summary.
The committee discussed what possible recommendations there might be based on the evaluation. Board Chair JD
Chesloff noted that there could be a recommendation for a salary increase.
Committee Chair Eleonora Villegas-
Reimers asked if the Board could recommend benefits such as a state car or gas card like the Commissioners of ESE or Higher Education.
The next meeting of the Planning and Evaluation Committee is March 21 at EEC Boston from 10:00am-1:00pm.
Possible Agenda items:


DLL Literacy Digital Strategies- Abt.
Market Rate Study
 Common Metric Project

Commissioner’s Evaluation
The Committee convened at 12:50 pm.
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