Commissioner's Weekly Update 8 17 20 - Compensatory Services, ELE Webinars, Remote Learning Support

A message from the
Massachusetts Department of
Elementary and Secondary Education

August 17, 2020

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News from Commissioner Jeffrey C. Riley and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Advisory on Compensatory Services
Picture of the Week: Student Artwork at Malden’s Ferryway School
English Learner Education Webinars
Final Call for Instructional Materials Evaluation and Selection Network
Webinar to Navigate SEL Recommendations and Resources
Help Planning Hybrid and Remote Learning
Remote Learning Partner Overviews for District Leaders
Interpreting COVID-19 Metrics
For Your Information: Webinar on how to support remote learning

1. Advisory on Compensatory Services:

The Department has issued new guidance for schools, districts, and individualized education program (IEP) teams to help determine the types of supports and services that students with disabilities may need in order to address the impact that the suspension of in-person education has had on their learning. The guidance, “Coronavirus (COVID-19) Special Education Technical Assistance Advisory 2021-1: COVID-19 Compensatory Service and Recovery Support for Students with IEPs” (download), describes considerations for:

general education recovery support available to all students who need it to address social-emotional needs and to reorient them to learning in the new school year;
COVID-19 Compensatory Services for students with IEPs to remedy skill or knowledge loss or lack of effective progress due to IEP services that were delayed, interrupted, suspended, or inaccessible because of the emergency suspension of in-person education; and
new IEP services to address new areas of disability-related need.

As districts determine what types of supports and services students may need, close communication with families and examination of data and information from all available sources will be critical.

For questions related to COVID-19 Compensatory Services , please contact DESE’s Problem Resolution Office at 781-338-3700 or compliance@doe.mass.edu. More guidance and information related to special education during the COVID-19 pandemic is available on DESE’s COVID-19 special education webpage.

Picture of the Week:

Middle school students in the Malden YWCA’s 21^st Century Community Learning Center summer program at the Ferryway School in Malden created this artwork, which was recently installed in the school’s foyer. The piece features 3D faces of the students wearing masks, and the words that form the frame reflect students’ feelings, impressions, and concerns about both the pandemic and all that is going on in the world, as well as words of encouragement and things that comfort the students.

3. English Learner Education Webinars:

The Department’s Office of Language Acquisition has three upcoming webinars about providing English learner education (ELE) in a variety of learning models:

ELE Programming Resources for SY21 will be held from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, August 19. The webinar will review how English as a second language teaching can look in in-person, hybrid, and remote settings. We will also review monitoring and reclassification procedures for English learners during COVID-19. Please register online.
Online English Learner Parent Advisory Council (ELPAC) Training for Districts and Parents will be held from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, September 10. This webinar introduces the new online ELPAC training modules and toolkit for parents, districts, and schools. Please register online.
Guidance for English Learners with Disabilities Webinar will be held from 9:30-11:00 a.m. on Monday, September 14. This webinar reviews the initial identification of English learners with disabilities during COVID-19 and the provision of services through in-person, hybrid, and remote teaching models. Please register online.

In addition, the August 10 Initial Identification of English Learners webinar to review the English Learner Identification and Placement Procedures in SY 2020-21 (download) is available for viewing (use the password wb?3+?ps and start at 4:14). Anyone who watches the webinar is invited to fill out this survey. The Department appreciates your feedback!

4. Final Call for Instructional Materials Evaluation and Selection Network:

Districts that are considering high-quality instructional materials as part of their long-term continuous learning and/or Student Opportunity Act plan are encouraged to join DESE’s 2020-21 Evaluating and Selecting High-Quality Instructional Materials for English Language Arts, Math, and Science Network. The network combines three in-person sessions with monthly personalized virtual support to guide district teams through a strong instructional materials selection process in any K-12 grade span.

To apply, click here. To register for the final information webinar from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 19, click here. Anyone with questions about the network should email Woodly.Pierre-Louis@mass.gov about ELA, Ian.T.Stith@mass.gov about math, or Nicole.Scola@mass.gov about science.

5. Webinar to Navigate SEL Recommendations and Resources:

The Department will host a webinar from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 20 to unpack the Creating Positive Learning Environments: Recommendations and Resources to Support the Social Emotional Well-being of Students, Staff and Families (download) that was released on August 3. Participants will be guided through the main components of the recommendations and engage in an optional breakout session to further discuss a topic with peers (engaging families as partners, supporting staff and adults, re-envisioning school culture, universal Tier 1 social emotional learning for students, cultivating positive behavior, and supporting increased mental health needs). Please register for this webinar by 12:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 19.

6. Help Planning Hybrid and Remote Learning:

Join DESE and Education Resource Strategies for the second of a two-part series focusing on how districts and schools can apply strategic scheduling and staffing models for hybrid and/or remote environments, understand and plan for the tradeoffs involved in those models, and explore model schedules and plans. The session will run from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 20.

The session will provide time for participants to reflect on their current re-opening plans, identify opportunities to refine staffing and/or scheduling structures, and discuss challenges and opportunities with peers. This session is designed for Massachusetts educators, school leaders, and/or district leaders who are involved in planning hybrid and remote learning for the fall. Please register online. Anyone with questions about the session can email Jacqulyn.M.Gantzer@mass.gov.

7. Remote Learning Partner Overviews for District Leaders:

The Department is hosting orientations for district leaders with learning management systems and K-12 content remote learning partners (download). The orientations will provide an overview of the courseware and best practices for programs to consider prior to implementation. Topics will include student-teacher ratios, how teachers are deployed, the typical educator experience teaching fully virtually, evaluating online teachers, and how to get the school year off to a strong start. The FLVS Global district leader orientation will be from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. on Friday, August 21, and registration is open online. The Edgenuity district leader orientation will be from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. that same day, Friday, August 21, and registration is also open for that session. More information about state-sponsored professional development for teachers is forthcoming and will be provided during the orientations.

8. Interpreting COVID-19 Metrics:

On Tuesday, August 11, the Baker-Polito administration released community-level data on the spread of COVID-19, and DESE released guidance on interpreting those metrics (download). The Department of Public Health is releasing updated community-level data weekly. Such metrics should serve as a guide as to whether schools should open using full-time in-person, hybrid, or remote models and will also support future decision-making if the impact of COVID-19 requires us to switch between educational models throughout the school year.

9. For your info:

Webinar on how to support remote learning: The Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy will hold a webinar, “How to Support Remote Learning,” from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 19. Registration is open online at the link above. The center also has a remote learning action guide.

Copyright © 2020 Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, All rights reserved.

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