1. Accountability & Assistance Advisory Council Meeting
March 20, 2019
Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel
Marlborough, MA

2. Welcome & introductions
Review of discussions norms
Key assistance strategy: Diversity recruitment initiatives
Accountability reporting in 2019
K-2 accountability initiative
Next steps & closing
AGENDA

3. Welcome & introductions

4. Welcome & introductions
Council co-chairs: Valerie Annear & Mary Skipper
New members:
Heidi Driscoll, Academic Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment, Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical High School
Nancy Urbschat, Owner, TSM Design

5. Review of discussion norms

6. Norms & protocols
Promote risk-taking by not assigning specific comments to individual members in meeting summaries & minutes.
Maintain respect before, during, & after meetings.
Seek clarification & check understanding to avoid mistakenly attributing ideas to an individual or organization represented on the council.
Keep improvements in student learning at the core of the discussions. Students should drive the conversation.
Stay engaged in the issues.
Actively address implicit biases & instill cultural proficiency in discussions.
Encourage discussion from all voices of members. Be additive, not repetitive.
Let members know if pre-reading or other pre-meeting assignments require more than 30 minutes of preparation time.
Make it fun!

7. Key assistance strategy: Educator diversification initiatives

8. Session overview
This session will provide an overview of current strategies developed by the MA DESE to support the diversification of the Commonwealth’s educator workforce.
Ventura
Boston Collegiate Charter School

9. Graduation rates
Ventura

10. 2018 MCAS average scaled scores (grades 3-8)
Ventura

11. MA’s goal: Prepare all students for success after high school
Strengthening standards, curriculum, instruction, and assessment
Promoting educator development
Supporting social-emotional learning, health, and safety
Turning around the lowest performing districts and schools
Enhancing resource allocation and data use
Ventura

12. Educator diversity research findings
Improved academic performance (Dee, 2004; Gershenson et al 2018)
Improved high school graduation rates and enrollment in college (Gershenson et al, 2017)
Role models (Noguera, 2008; Ladson-Billings,1994)
Higher expectations of students of color (Uhlenberg and Brown, 2002; Gershenson et al, 2016)
Ventura
In addition to continued work on content standards, high quality curricula, and other strategies, we have also begun exploring the potential benefits of having a more diverse educator workforce in the state. Educational research underscores the importance and need to diversify the educator workforce.

13. Massachusetts K-12 student enrollment by race/ethnicity
Ventura

14. Massachusetts educator & teacher figures by race/ethnicity
Ventura

15. Massachusetts educator preparation program demographics
Ventura

16. Barriers to recruiting teachers of color
Obstacles to completing college
Teacher preparation and impact of student debt
Teacher licensure exams
Source: Diversifying the Teaching Profession Through High-Retention Pathways (April 2018). Carver-Thomas
Shay
Alma Del Mar Public Charter School

17. Barriers to retaining teachers of color
Feeling undervalued or unappreciated
Not heard in staff meetings
Feelings of isolation, frustration, and fatigue
Restriction of assignments
Only teaching Black students
Disciplinarians
Shay
Intentional focus on retention, support, and career advancement for educators of color may contribute to lower attrition rates

18. DESE initiatives to increase educator diversity
Teacher Diversification Pilot Program
InSPIRED Fellowship
Influence 100
Shay
MATCH Public Charter School

19. Teacher Diversification Pilot Program
Support district efforts to strengthen and diversify existing teacher recruitment and retention programs:
Paraprofessionals with bachelor’s degrees
District graduates and other college graduates
Provisionally licensed teachers
Grow-Your-Own Initiatives
Pilot districts will engage in cultural
proficiency and anti-bias trainings.
Shay

20. InSPIRED Fellowship
In-Service Professionals committed to Increasing the Racial and Ethnic Diversity of the Commonwealth’s teacher workforce.
Fellowship Goals
Increase the number of students of color entering the teaching profession.
Host teacher recruitment activities for students at the high school, community college, and undergraduate level.
Increase the retention rate of teachers of color.
Activate a network of supports and resources for students interested in becoming educators and for themselves.
Shay

21. Influence 100
Increase the diversity of senior leadership in Massachusetts school districts
Approximately 4 percent of traditional public school superintendents and central office staff are people of color.
Pilot districts commit to engage in the four-year pilot program to launch summer 2019.
School committees and central office staff required to engage in professional development on the root causes of the leadership disparities.
Shay
Persistent challenge as the 4 percent figure has not changed over the last decade.

22. Educator diversification initiatives
Questions & answers

23. Accountability reporting in 2019

24. Accountability discussion
Grade 10 accountability reporting
Potential changes to the accountability system
Expanded advanced coursework list
Participation rate calculation
Using two years of data
Progress towards targets categories

25. Grade 10 accountability reporting in 2019 – background
Current grade 10 students (class of 2021) taking Next-Generation MCAS in English language arts & mathematics for the first time this spring
Legacy science MCAS test administered in grades 5, 8, & 10
All high school students must pass MCAS in order to meet the competency determination (CD) & earn a regular high school diploma
In February 2018, the Board of Elementary & Secondary Education (BESE) set an interim CD standard for students in the classes of 2021 & 2022
Similar level of achievement to the required standard in the legacy MCAS tests
Ensures fairness for students during the transitional period
Allows BESE to consider the Next-Generation test results before setting a new CD standard for the classes of 2023 & beyond

26. Grade 10 accountability reporting in 2019
Grade 10 Next-Generation MCAS results will be linked to the legacy grade 10 MCAS results
Similar to process used to link PARCC results to MCAS results in (“equipercentile linking”)
Allows DESE to use the 2019 grade 10 achievement results in the accountability system this year

27. Equipercentile linking model for setting interim CD standard

28. Grade 10 accountability reporting in 2019
Grade 10 achievement results will be reported using the Composite Performance Index (CPI) for one more year
Allows DESE to report on change & performance against achievement targets
Student growth percentiles (SGPs) are not impacted by change in assessment

29. Grade 10 accountability reporting in 2019
How will you communicate this to stakeholders (e.g., school leaders, teachers, school committee, parents & families, etc.)?
How can DESE help with communication?

30. Potential changes to the accountability system – high schools
Expanded advanced coursework list
Project Lead the Way (PLTW) courses added for 2019

31. Potential changes to the accountability system – all schools
Participation rate calculation
Old method: Calculate participation rates separately for each subject (ELA, math, science) for each subgroup
Proposed new method: Calculate participation rates for all subjects combined, for each subgroup
Using two years of data
Accountability results for 2019 would include 2018 & 2019 data
Similar to former accountability system (working up to a system that includes multiple years of data)

32. Potential changes to the accountability system – all schools
Progress towards targets categories
Progress towards targets currently reported in 2 categories: meeting targets & partially meeting targets
In 2018, BESE voted to move to three categories starting in with reporting (meeting targets, partially meeting targets, & not meeting targets)
Proposed change: Move to three categories, with modification

33. Potential changes to the accountability system – timeline
Timeframe
Action
March 2019
Initial discussion of potential changes with AAAC & the Board
April –
May 2019
Department to seek public comment on proposed changes
June 2019
Final discussion & Board vote on proposed changes

34. Potential changes to the accountability system
Is there value in DESE doing holding in-person sessions regarding the accountability system & potential changes?
What other accountability resources (e.g., videos, webinars, explanatory documents) do you find helpful? Why?

35. K-2 accountability initiative

36. K-2 accountability initiative – background
About 12% of schools were not included in the most recent accountability release
Too new
Too small
Serve untested grades only
There were 84 schools in 69 districts not included in the system that had some combination of grades 1 and 2 but no tested grades (early- elementary schools)
Schools are removed entirely from the system because they only have % of the data (chronic absenteeism & maybe EL progress)

37. K-2 accountability initiative – update
DESE to collaborate with Center for Collaborative Education (CCE) to create a system that reports on performance in early-elementary schools, using performance assessment data
Pilot in two districts currently involved in the Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education Assessment (MCIEA)
Scale up to the remaining early elementary schools (~80) in September 2021

38. Next steps & closing

39. Future discussion topics
Next steps
Future discussion topics
Changes to accountability system for 2019 reporting …?
Next meeting: Wednesday, May 29th