DESE is excited to be partnering with two organizations (and their partner networks) to provide a number of professional development offerings this month. Please see the registration links below for more information about each offering.

•  Friday, April 16^th (2:00 – 3:00 PM) - Reclaiming a Sense of Community, Belonging, and Connection
• Starting Friday, April 16^th (10:00 AM – 12:00 PM) - Understanding Mental Health in Our Times – Offered by Walker (in partnership with Partnerships in Education and Resilience (PEAR)
• Monday, April 26^th (2:30 PM - 3:30 PM) - Helping the School Community Offer a Therapeutic Dose – Offered by BRYT
• Tuesday, April 27^th (2:00 PM – 3:30 PM) – Supporting Students who Experience Anxiety – Offered by MASMHC
• Starting Friday, April 30^th (10:00 AM – 12:00 PM) - Understanding Mental Health In Our Times Series: How Do We Know What Students and Teachers are Going Through? – Offered by Walker and PEAR
• Additional related upcoming offerings from the Rennie Center and its partners are listed here.

We know that the last year and a half has been unlike any other. To ensure students are able to meet grade level standards and be prepared for success in life, DESE is working with TNTP, a national nonprofit, to create an Academic Excellence Roadmap for school leaders and teachers as they prepare for the 2021-2022 school year. The goal of the guidance is to accelerate learning for students after more than a year of interrupted learning due to COVID. You are invited to participate in a virtual focus group with TNTP to share the family perspective of what’s most important to include in this guidance. The focus groups will take place over Zoom on Wednesday, April 21st from 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm and Thursday, April 22nd from 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm. If you are interested in participating, please express your interest and availability in this form. A member of the TNTP team will contact you to confirm your slot and share the Zoom link.

The Massachusetts Family Engagement State Coalition, in partnership with the Statewide Family Engagement Center (MSFEC), will be hosting virtual listening sessions for families, practitioners, community organizations and other interested community members - to hear about current experiences related to schools and COVID-19 and racial equity. Similar to the sessions held last summer and this winter, these sessions will inform our upcoming year’s plans related to family engagement offerings. We invite you to participate and help spread the word! For more details and to register, see the links for the Regional Coalition and Affinity Group sessions.

The Department is continuing to work with Walker Therapeutic and Educational Programs to schedule additional Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) training sessions for 2021. Schools and districts may request to host a YMHFA session. The YMHFA training helps teachers and other school staff to recognize and support students who may be experiencing mental health or substance use challenges and/or may be in crisis, and if needed, to refer them to mental health services.

The Department is partnering with Lighthouse Wellness & Health Education Consulting to offer  adult Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training sessions for 2021. Schools and districts may request to host a MHFA (adult) session. MHFA (adult) teaches people how to recognize signs of mental health or substance use challenges in adults ages 18 and older, how to offer and provide initial help, and how to guide a person toward appropriate care if necessary. Topics covered include anxiety, depression, psychosis, and addictions. We will also be scheduling additional sessions open to individuals.

DESE is pleased to offer eight intensive professional development Academies designed to aid school and district teams with the implementation of tiered systems of instruction and support. Any school and/or district may apply for these MTSS Academies. However, please note that first priority will be given to schools that are designated as underperforming or chronically underperforming and/or schools requiring focused/targeted or broad/comprehensive support. Additional teams will be accepted for participation based on availability, readiness, and relative need.
 
Districts are encouraged to submit applications for school and/or district teams that are ready and committed to participate in a rigorous, multi-year professional development opportunity. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis and we will take stock of submissions after Friday, April 16th, to make a first round of enrollment decisions. For questions, please reach out to Rebecca Shor. For more information including the applications and slides from an information session in March please visit the Systems for Student Success Office Professional Development page.

If you have a child in Massachusetts Public Schools, or work with/in schools, please consider joining the Pinnacle Partnerships Community of Practice Alliance or COPA! The COPA was created in the spirit of COVID relief for families, schools, and districts in support of healthy schools and wellness initiatives. Many hands make light work!
 

• Weekly Office Hours: Optional on Wednesdays 1:30-3:00. Email us for the Zoom Info! Come with your project, tasks, or ideas regarding the health and wellness of your school/district. Pinnacle Partnerships is here to lighten the load because we believe that many hands make light work! Some examples of what we can use this time for: Action planning, family engagement/messaging, resource creation/consultation, staff wellness...etc.

• Monthly Immersive Workshop Experiences (We ask that you commit to attending at least two) We will come together to learn, share resources, co-create, and engage in productive conversations. 9:30AM-11 AM. The dates are: April 26, May 24, and June 21, 2021

• Discussion Board: Participants of COPA also have access to an online portal to keep conversations going and build sustainable partnerships. Please sign up for the online discussion board here.

The Department is seeking vendors to offer summer enrichment programming (day camps or something similar) to English learners. The programming is expected to have a focus on science and/or the arts. Vendors will apply in partnership with one or more local education agencies (i.e., districts or charter schools) who will identify students for the program and ensure compliance with local health and safety regulations. The bid solicitation is posted online, and applications are due on Friday, April 23. See Commbuys for more details about registering to apply.

The Department (DESE) and the MA School Administrators Association (MSAA) are pleased to release a joint position statement on play as an instructional strategy in the early grades. The statement calls attention to the importance of deepening the learning and engagement of our youngest students through intentionally planned playful learning opportunities that are tied to our state's learning standards. The importance of this statement has been heightened with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and our planning for recovery and beyond.
 
We encourage district and school administrators, classroom educators, community organizations and families to engage with this position statement, create opportunities to talk about what playful learning looks like in school-day classrooms and out-of-school time programs and how families and organizations can extend playful learning into the community and beyond.

The BIRCh Project at UMass, in partnership with Massachusetts Association for Mental Health (MAMH), is conducting a survey to understand how a statewide School Behavioral health Technical Assistance Center could support efforts in meeting students' social, emotional, and behavioral health needs. BIRCh and MAMH are seeking broad input on which training and resources would be most helpful. The survey should only take a few minutes to complete and will close on Friday, April 30th.