MassGrad
MassGrad Dropout Prevention & Re-Engagement Work Group
2013-14 School Year
Calendar
*All of the following opportunities are open to any interested schools/districts.
October 2, 2013 – Statewide meeting
Focus: Making grade 9 a springboard for high school success
Place and time: Four Points Sheraton, Leominster from 9:00-12:30 (with optional afternoon session)
Winter – Regional college and career readiness networking sessions
The purpose of the college and career readiness (CCR) regional sessions is to provide a facilitated day to
help support teams of district, school, workforce development, higher education, and/or community
partner staff strategize and plan to move their CCR work to the “next level.” This will be accomplished
through structured sessions to promote sharing across teams as well as individual team time. Teams will
leave the day with the start of (or expansion of – depending on starting place) a CCR action plan that
emphasizes coherence across CCR initiatives, as well as connections to other key education initiatives.
The six, daylong (repeated) sessions are based on the six DSAC regions:
Wednesday, December 4, 2013– Berkshire: Crowne Plaza, Pittsfield
Tuesday, December 10, 2013 – Pioneer Valley: Holyoke Community College, Holyoke
Wednesday, January 8, 2014 – Central: Worcester State College
Tuesday, January 21, 2014 – Northeast: UMass Lowell Inn and Conference Center
Tuesday, February 4, 2014 – Greater Boston: Four Points, Norwood
Wednesday, February 12, 2014 – Southeast: Holiday Inn, Taunton
February 26, 2014 –Workshop on Individual Learning Plans (ILPs)
This daylong workshop will include an overview of the goals and benefits of using Individual Learning
Plans (ILPs), as well as strategies to implement ILPs with students in your school or district.
MassGrad
March 2014 – Open house month
MassGrad Open Houses for the 13-14 school year will be scheduled during the month of
March 2014. Given previous years' successes, we expect another great round of peer-topeer learning opportunities hosted by schools and districts working to improve graduation
rates and decrease dropout rates.
Are you doing interesting work to improve high school graduation rates or decrease dropout rates? Be a
host for a MassGrad Open House during March 2014! This is a great peer-to-peer opportunity for
interested districts to share ideas, practices and/or policies with people from around the state.
Want to learn more or to apply to be an open house? https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/THG38MT
April 9, 2014 – Statewide meeting
Focus: Dropout prevention strategies through core academic engagement
Place and time: Four Points Sheraton, Leominster from 9:00-12:30 (with optional afternoon session)
Monthly webinar series
Content-based and thematic webinars will be offered from 2:30 to 3:30 PM on the dates listed below;
participants will need to register for each webinar individually. The topics, content, and presenters are
confirmed for September and October. Department staff are currently working to develop the webinar
sessions for the remainder of the school year. Sessions are likely to include information about
graduation and dropout data, looking at school scheduling flexibilities, transition to high school, and
individual student learning plans among other topics.
Month
September 17, 2013
October 15, 2013
November 12, 2013
December 17, 2013
January 21, 2014
February 25, 2014
March 18, 2014
April 15, 2014
May 20, 2014
June 10, 2014
Title
CCR Data Wise: EWIS, Postsecondary Reports and DART (COMPLETED)
Career Development Education: Career Awareness, Exploration and
Immersion
Transition to High School through Summer Bridge and Other Ninth Grade
Transition Programming
CCR: Integration of the Academic, Workplace Readiness and Personal /Social
Domains
Individual Learning Plans
Graduation and Dropout Rate Data
Structured Learning Time: Extended Day, 990 and Alternative Structures
Transition for Students with Disabilities
MassCore
Early College Designs
MassGrad
About the MassGrad Dropout Prevention & Re-Engagement Work Group
One of the major components of the MassGrad initiative is the Dropout Prevention & ReEngagement Work Group. The Work Group was created several years ago, originally to
support urban districts in their dropout reduction efforts. Under MassGrad, all districts are
welcome to participate and we are also increasing the types of opportunities available.
There is a growing body of work across the country around the importance of following up with students
that drop out, re-enrolling them in school, and keeping them engaged. As a result of some great efforts
across the country (including some national leadership coming from our own Boston Public Schools!) we
are updating the name of our Work Group for the 2013-14 school year to reflect the need for dropout
re-engagement, not just recovery.
The purpose of the Work Group is to provide...
 Structured opportunities for districts to learn from each other
 A venue for sharing information from “experts” – from both within and outside of the state
 Facilitated time for districts teams to develop or refine a dropout prevention and recovery action
plan
The face-to-face meetings offer content-specific information on various themes (e.g., 8th to 9th
transition, early indicators, etc.) as well as facilitated time to learn from and share with other districts. In
order to fully benefit from these face-to-face meetings, districts should plan to send a team of 4-8 staff.
The topical webinars provide information on a focused topic (e.g., working with community partners)
and usually include presentations on promising practices from districts within Massachusetts.
The Open Houses offer an opportunity to see districts’ programs and services first-hand. Districts
selected to host will develop an agenda that includes a combination of presentation and observation of
highlighted programs/services.
Do you receive the monthly MassGrad Minute? Each month highlights a theme related to improving high
school graduation rates. Sign up for the MassGrad Minute by sending us an email.