1. AAAC October 22, 2015 Worcester Technical High School

2. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 2 Agenda  Welcome from Council Chair  Updates on ESE priorities and initiatives  District Accountability Reviews discussion  Executive Order 562 – Reducing unnecessary regulations discussion

3. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 3 Welcome  Updates from Council Chair, Meg Mayo Brown  Introduction of new Council member, Paul Schlichtman

4. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 4 ESE Updates  PARCC Update  Fall 2015 BESE Vote  Accountability Decision Timing  Holyoke Turnaround Plan highlights

5. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 5 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

6. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 6 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

7. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 7 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 six- year period) or a different approach

8. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 8 If PARCC Is Adopted (cont.)  Reconciling PARCC’s five levels and accountability system’s five levels  Potential for additional indicators

9. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 9 If MCAS Is Chosen  Recalibrating 6 year goals in FY15-16 when requesting waiver extension from ED.  Potential for additional indicators

10. The Holyoke Turnaround Plan

11. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 11 Holyoke: Comparable Districts DistrictEnrollmentLow 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 Student Population

12. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 12 Achievement vs. Spending Mathematics, SY2014

13. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 13 Achievement vs. Spending English Language Arts, SY2014

14. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 14 Priority Areas

15. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 15 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

16. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 16 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

17. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 17 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

18. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 18 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

19. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 19 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

20. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 20 Holyoke Turnaround Plan At the core of this plan is our firm belief that all Holyoke students deserve a world-class education.

21. District Accountability Reviews discussion Carrie Conaway, Rob Curtin

22. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 22 Agenda  A look back to the 2014-15 school year – how did we do?  Changes to the 2015-16 district review process  Discussion questions

23. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 23 2014-15 District Review Cycle  20 reviews conducted during the school year  Emergency review of Holyoke  Areas of concern: spacing and reviewer overload

24. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 24 Changes to the Review Process  Self-assessment  Classroom observation tool  Report template  Reviewer assignment  Peer reviewer  Review models

25. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 25 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

26. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 26 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

27. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 27 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

28. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 2015-16 District Reviews Comprehensive  Southbridge  Haverhill  Westfield  Lynn  Dracut  Ludlow  Gardner  Gloucester 28 Targeted  Minuteman Regional  Agawam  Danvers  Sutton  Greater New Bedford RVT  Frontier Regional  Somerset/ Somerset- Berkley Best Practice  Greater Fall River RVT  Cohasset  King Phillip/ Plainville

29. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 29 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?

30. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 30 QUESTIONS?

31. Executive Order 562 – Reducing Unnecessary Regulations Helene Bettencourt, Russell Johnston, Lise Zeig

32. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 32 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

33. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 33 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?

34. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 34 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?

35. Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education 35 Recommendations?  Small Groups report out  Synthesize comments from AAAC  Any next steps for the AAAC?  Individuals may also submit comments