As we celebrate the Commonwealth’s aMAzing educators, school and district leaders were invited to host a Future Teacher Signing Day in their districts this Spring. Much like when a student-athlete commits to play a sport at a specific college, a Future Teacher Signing Day recognizes the graduating seniors that are choosing to pursue a career in education. In addition to recognizing students who are choosing to be become educators, hosting such an event can help people see teaching as a valuable career worthy of celebration and may help inspire others to become educators. If you partner with a district that chooses to host a Future Teacher Signing Day, you may be asked to attend and/or support this effort – if you so, please share a photo with us from the event to spotlight our aMAzing educator pipeline!

• SMK Corner
• 2019 Stakeholder Survey Administration
• Diversity Corner
• Ed Prep Reviewers
• CAP Corner
• Early ID Reminder
• Welcome Natasha!

SMK Corner

Register for an upcoming Subject Matter Knowledge (SMK) Session!  The goal of the SMK Session is to support Sponsoring Organizations in deepening their understanding around how to ensure that initial teacher licensure programs sufficiently address the depth and fluency in the content knowledge needed to teach the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks.

At this session, you will:

• Learn about a protocol to use the following optional tools:
  • SMK Program of Study Mapping Tool
  • SMK Candidate Tracking Tool
• Learn how to use the required Crosscutting SMK Matrix
• Get responses to your questions about SMK Guidelines

We recommend that organizations participate in teams of 2-3 people. Please use this form to indicate which individuals will attend the session. Please complete one survey per Sponsoring Organization.

Sessions will be held on the following days/locations:

• April 29, 9:30am-noon at Boston College
• April 30, 1:00pm-3:30pm at UMass Amherst
• May 1, 9:30am-noon at Stonehill College

Check out the responses to SMK Frequently Asked Questions here! Have additional questions? Email us at edprep@doe.mass.edu. 

2019 Stakeholder Survey Administration begins in Mid-May!

Summer is around the corner and so are stakeholder surveys! Every year, DESE reviews the stakeholder survey items for alignment and efficacy, makes minor updates, and releases blank survey protocols on our website prior to survey administration. DESE will post the 2019 survey instruments and begin administration to the following stakeholders in mid-May:

• Teacher Candidates (who completed their program in 2018-2019)
• Teacher Completers (who completed their program in 2017-2018 and were employed in a Massachusetts public school in 2018-2019)
• Administrator Candidates (who completed their program in 2018-2019)
• Administrator Completers (who completed their program in 2017-2018 and were employed in a Massachusetts public school in 2018-2019)
• Supervising Practitioners (who oversaw a candidate in practicum in 2018-2019)
• Hiring Principals (who hired a teacher completer in 2018-2019)

We ask that you reach out to your stakeholders to encourage them to keep an eye out for and complete the survey. You are not obligated to reach out to your stakeholders, however, we encourage you to do so as it will likely increase the survey response rate. In support of survey administration to Supervising Practitioners (SPs) and Candidates, please remember to complete your spreadsheet with SP and Candidate contact information by April 30th. 

Look out for a direct email from Ed Prep with more details about the surveys in mid-May!

Diversity Corner

What are your diversity goals for 2019-20? Over the past year, our team has been actively working to identify ways to increase the diversity of the educator workforce across the Commonwealth. While our schools have over 40% students of color, only 8% of teachers, 12% of administrators, and 4% of superintendents are people of color. As per our Program Approval Criteria (CAN 1) all Ed Prep programs should be working towards having systems in place to recruit and admit candidates that result in the increased racial and ethnic diversity of completers in the workforce. As you set your annual goals this Spring/Summer, you may consider using the Ed Prep Program (EPP) version of this data tool to pinpoint the most crucial points where implementing carefully selected strategies can help diversity candidates completing your program.

• Engage in a meaningful professional learning opportunity and earn PD points
• Gain insights into educator preparation in Massachusetts
• Collaborate with diverse education leaders and professionals
• Make recommendations to the Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education that help determine program approval.

• The MEPID did not match the Teacher Candidate name
• The Sponsoring Organization's name was incorrect
• The Program name was incorrect (either because it did not match the candidate, or because it was incorrectly formatted, including, for example, "post-bac" instead of "Post-Baccalaureate")
• The District name was incorrect (for example, "Newton Public" instead of "Newton"
• The Practicum school name was incorrect (for example, the "JT Hood School" instead of "J Turner Hood"

• Review candidate Early ID information for accuracy, including MEPIDs, program names, and first and last names.
• Review candidate district and school placements.
• Review SP MEPID, district, and school information

Welcome Natasha!

We are excited to welcome Natasha Trueblood as an Educator Effectiveness Specialist! Natasha was previously a middle school ELA teacher in Boston and is eager to support the mission of Educator Preparation in MA to ensure all teachers are ready for all students on day one.