Public Policy Updates

MASC reports on Massachusetts public schools, education news, school committee issues and updates from the Department of Education.

This information has been compiled by MASC Field Director Tracy Novick.

Public Policy Updates: November Board of Education

Details: Published on Wednesday, 29 November 2017 22:06

The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education met on Tuesday, November 28. The agenda is posted here.

The meeting opened with updates from Acting Commissioner Wulfson, who spoke of the recently signed LOOK bill on bilingual education. He commented that it was "designed to provide additional flexibility for English language learners," and he told the Board that they would receive a complete update at their December meeting. He also spoke of the results of the first school climate survey, which students took after completing the MCAS this past year. He said it was a "first attempt to quantify some qualitative measures." He noted that the influx of students coming from Puerto Rico not only has continues, but appears to have picked up, with the state having passed 1400 new students last week; the state continues to monitor that and is discussing what is to be done with and for districts both this year and next. Finally, he warmly praised East Boston's McKay School, which he recently visited and was among the schools positively profiled in a recent Boston Globe article.

Public Policy Updates: October Board of Education

Details: Published on Thursday, 26 October 2017 12:54

The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education met in Malden on October 23 and 24. The agenda of the meetings is here.

Monday evening's meeting focused on the results of last spring's MCAS test and the resulting school and district accountability levels. The presentation given on the MCAS results can be found here. Student achievement in the legacy high school MCAS remains similar to prior years, with 91% of students in ELA, 79% in mathmatics, and 74% in science achieving a score of proficient or above. Most of the discussion, however, focused on the new test taken by the younger students. Acting Commissioner Wulfson opened by commenting that the standards of the test in grades 3-8 were more rigorous than in previous years, and he and others reiterated that it was a single datapoint, which they regard as a good baseline. He warned of being "wary of jumping to too many conclusions" based on these test results. Much of the discussion focused on the gaps between different populations, particularly the results among ELL students and low income students. There is additional information for families and for educators on the Department's website.

Public Policy Updates: September Board of Education

Details: Published on Thursday, 28 September 2017 15:22

The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education held their regular monthly meeting in Malden. The meeting agenda can be found here. A video of the meeting is available here.

Prior to the meeting, two new members of the Board were sworn in: Amanda Fernandez, who replaces Penny Noyce, and Martin West, who replaces Roland Fryer. James Morton was also sworn in for a second term. Fernandez is the founder and CEO of Latinos for Education. West is on the faculty of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Public Policy Updates: Joint Committee on Education Hearings

Details: Published on Thursday, 14 September 2017 12:46

The Joint Committee on Education has held hearings this month regarding bills filed this Legislative session, several of which are of interest to members.

Public Policy Updates: August Board of Education meeting

Details: Published on Wednesday, 16 August 2017 12:56

On August 17, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education held a previously unscheduled summer meeting, due to the untimely death of Commissioner Chester the morning of the June meeting. The meeting was called largely to discuss the process for hiring a new Commissioner.

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Public Policy Updates

Public Policy Updates: November Board of Education

Public Policy Updates: October Board of Education

Public Policy Updates: September Board of Education

Public Policy Updates: Joint Committee on Education Hearings

Public Policy Updates: August Board of Education meeting

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