4. Edwin Office Hours Are Back:
Edwin users from schools and districts who are curious about whether students in their school or district have equitable access to educators are invited to participate in an Edwin “Office Hours” webinar at 10:00-11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, December 1. This session in the series will explore the recently updated Student Learning Experience reports. Each of the monthly “Office Hours” webinars includes a brief overview of a particular Edwin report or set of reports, as well as extensive Q&A time to explore questions about any Edwin report. Registration is open online, and information on upcoming sessions is also posted.
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5. Designing Strong Instructional Scaffolds:
TNTP, with support from DESE, is offering a drop-in professional development session on “Designing Strong Instructional Scaffolds for Tier 1 Instruction.” (Tier 1 instruction is for all students.) Participants will receive:
- A one-pager to share with teachers,
- Concrete examples of scaffolding strategies in multiple content areas, and
- Additional resources that will help teachers plan scaffolds based on their content area and students’ needs.
The session will be offered twice: 3:00-5:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 2 and 12:00-2:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 16. Register and see all available sessions here.
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6. Seeking Vendor for K-12 Educational Technology Guide:
The Department’s Office of Educational Technology is seeking a vendor to create a Massachusetts K-12 guide for the effective and equitable selection, implementation, and evaluation of educational technology. The user-friendly guide should be grounded in equity and provide evidence-based strategies, recommendations, examples, and/or resources for school system leaders to establish or enhance their technology systems. More details about the scope of work are available in the downloadable “Attachment A” on Commbuys. Proposals will be accepted through Commbuys until 12 noon on Thursday, December 2. Questions can be submitted to MAK12EdTech@mass.gov through the inquiry process outlined in the bid documents.
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7. Civics Project Fellowship:
The Civics Project Fellowship is an exciting opportunity for civics teachers from schools across Massachusetts to collaboratively plan and lead professional development, share successes, and work alongside DESE to ensure that student-led civics projects are meaningful for students and teachers. Civics Project Fellows will work together from January to June 2022 and will receive a $1,000 stipend and 30 professional development points (PDPs) upon successful completion of the fellowship. Apply at bit.ly/MACivicsFellows by 9:00 a.m. on Monday, December 6. Email Kathryn Gabriele with questions.
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8. Education Superhighway K-12 Bridge to Broadband Webinars:
K-12 Bridge to Broadband, operated by EducationSuperHighway in partnership with DESE, identifies the connectivity status of student households in a given district through data exchanges protected through confidentiality and data privacy agreements with local internet service providers. K-12 Bridge to Broadband has so far engaged 23 pilot districts, providing connectivity information for over 160,000 Massachusetts students.
EducationSuperHighway is now opening K-12 Bridge to Broadband to all Massachusetts districts and will host informational webinars at 3:30-4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, December 7 and at 3:00-4:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 9. Interested districts can register online to learn how this free program can help them get actionable data to connect students’ homes to the internet.
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9. School Hate Crimes Prevention Resource Guide and Upcoming Grant Opportunity:
Earlier this month, the Baker-Polito Administration released its School Hate Crimes Prevention Resource Guide, which provides school and district leaders with a framework and tools for responding to bias-related incidents and recommendations on how to prevent them.
The guide's publication coincides with the availability of a grant program and $400,000 in funding that DESE is administering to prevent hate crimes and bias-motivated incidents in public schools. The Hate Crimes Prevention Grant will be posted on the DESE current grant opportunities page soon, and applications will be due by Wednesday, December 8.
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10. Culturally Responsive Teaching Workshop:
In partnership with DESE, The Teacher Collaborative is collaborating with The Teachers’ Lounge to share a set of tools and resources supporting culturally responsive teaching. Participants in this workshop will:
- Learn how to navigate a rubric on culturally responsive teaching (download) from the educators who created it,
- Apply the rubric to an exemplar video of teaching in order to better understand how to use the rubric, and
- Explore additional resources to guide culturally responsive practice.
This workshop will be held via Zoom at 6:00-7:15 p.m. on Thursday, December 9. Registration is open online.
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11. Applicants Sought for Sontag Prize:
The Sontag Prize in Education is an annual award that recognizes and celebrates outstanding educators. All Sontag Prize recipients receive a $3,500 honorarium, and first-time recipients receive professional development and an invitation to an awards ceremony. Educators who are selected for and accept the Sontag Prize expand their impact by teaching in an Acceleration Academy, a week-long academic program designed to accelerate student learning through engaging, standards-aligned lessons. The Acceleration Academies take place during February and April school vacations, with the academies in February traditionally focused on English language arts and academies in April focused on math and science.
Educators interested in applying for the Sontag Prize should visit the Sontag Prize in Education webpage to learn about Acceleration Academy locations and to access links to each district’s application. Applications are due either Sunday, December 12 or Monday, January 3, depending on the district. Anyone with questions about the Sontag Prize and Acceleration Academies is asked to please email csi@mass.gov and write “Sontag Prize” in the email’s subject line.
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12. Comments Sought on Proposed Charter School and Charter Amendments:
The Department invites written comments on an application for a new charter school and on seven requests for amendments to existing charters.
- Innovators Charter School proposed for New Bedford and Fall River: The Department has received a final charter application for the proposed Innovators Charter School, which would serve up to 735 students in grades 6-12. Next steps include a review of the written final application, an interview of the applicant group, a public hearing, and a review of public comments submitted to DESE. Commissioner Riley will then review all of the materials and decide whether to recommend the proposal to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education for charter award in February 2022. The public hearing will be held at 4:00-6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 15 at the Kilburn Event Center, third floor at the Kilburn Mill, 127 West Rodney French Boulevard, New Bedford.
- Requests for charter amendments: The Department has also received seven requests for amendments to the charters of existing charter schools this year, and five of the requests are for enrollment increases. If Commissioner Riley decides to recommend any of these changes to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, he will do so at the Board’s January or February meeting.
Please contact the Department at charterschools@doe.mass.edu to obtain copies of the charter application or any of the charter amendment requests. Comments should be submitted by Friday, January 7, 2022 to: Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, c/o Office of Charter Schools and School Redesign, 75 Pleasant Street, Malden, MA 02148 or by email to charterschools@doe.mass.edu.
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13. Survey for Mandated Reporters:
The Office of the Child Advocate is conducting a survey open to all Massachusetts educators about mandated reporting of child abuse and neglect. This survey is intended to inform the curriculum of an educator-specific mandated reporter training pilot. The survey is anonymous, and responses will be available only to the Office of the Child Advocate. The office wants to hear directly from educators, because their experiences are critical to the design of the training. The survey takes 10 minutes or less and is at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/OCAmandatedreportersurvey.
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14. More Districts Participating in Influence 100:
The Department recently announced that six more districts and an additional 20 fellows will participate in the Influence 100 Pilot Program, a four-year initiative designed to help prepare 100 diverse educational leaders for the superintendency, create more culturally responsive districts and leaders, and promote better outcomes for students. This year’s additions bring the total number of fellows to 61, and the six new districts will join 21 Influence 100 districts and collaboratives that DESE selected from interested applicants over the last two years.
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15. Enrollment Data Posted:
On Thursday, November 18, DESE posted enrollment data for the current school year.
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