2021 Annual Report to BESE

2020-21 School Year: The Return to In-Person Learning

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) serves 400 school districts, more than 75,000 educators, and over 900,000 K-12 public school students. We also directly support the education of more than 20,000 adult learners.

The first several months of the 2020-21 school year saw most districts return to learning in a hybrid model, although the details of these models varied widely. As we learned more about COVID-19 mitigation and the academic and mental health challenges that remote learning posed for students, it became clear that students would benefit from a return to in-person learning. With support from the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, Commissioner Jeffrey C. Riley established a time frame for all schools to return to full, in-person learning on a phased-in basis starting with elementary schools in April 2021, although families still had the option to keep their child learning remotely through the end of the school year.

The Department's 2021 Annual Report is below, with opening letters from Board Chair Katherine Craven and Commissioner Riley .

COVID-19 Response and Support for Districts and Schools

To provide districts and schools with COVID-19 operational support, we created the DESE Rapid Response Help Center, which responds during business hours and also on nights and weekends to help districts implement DESE guidance and collects weekly data on the number of positive COVID-19 cases in school buildings. We also provided updates to health and safety guidance and expanded health and safety measures, including partnering with other agencies to set up a robust COVID-19 testing program for schools. To address students' academic and social-emotional needs, we encouraged districts to prioritize in-person learning consistent with COVID-19 health and safety practices, recognizing that instructional time is an essential resource for students. We conducted reviews to identify and promote best practices and assess the quality of remote and hybrid learning models while urging that English learners and students with disabilities be served in person. In December 2020, the Board approved emergency regulations to require minimum guidelines for live instruction during remote learning, and in March, the Board voted to give the Commissioner the authority to determine when remote learning would no longer count toward student learning time requirements. All schools began offering in-person learning later in the spring. Throughout the year, DESE continued two-way communication with superintendents and other key stakeholders to address needs and determine additional areas where DESE could provide support.

Supporting Students and Families in Order to Address Opportunity Gaps

We created a grant opportunity for in-person summer Acceleration Academies, continued comprehensive stakeholder engagement for the IEP Improvement Project, posted "what-to-look-for" tools for districts to assess their progress on the four pillars of the Blueprint for English Learner Success , and helped districts communicate more effectively with all students' families by launching a Language Interpretation Services Project with 20 districts. We also provided targeted assistance, such as through Multi-Tiered System of Support Academies for districts with low-performing schools, through a partnership with Brockton following last year's district review , and in continued work with Boston on the priorities outlined in the DESE-BPS MOU . In June 2021, the Board adopted revised regulations to promote equitable access to career/vocational technical education programs.

Using Evidence-based Policies and Practices to Strengthen Teaching and Learning

Our work in this area included continuing efforts to diversify the educator workforce, improve early literacy, increase access to STEM courses, increase students' access to designated Early College opportunities, encourage the use of high-quality instructional materials and aligned professional development, and conducting action-oriented research for educational equity. Highlights included the release in fall 2020 of "Promising Recruitment, Selection, and Retention Practices for a Diverse Massachusetts Workforce , the launch of the third cohort of the InSPIRED Initiative, and the Board's approval of a pilot for alternative assessments for educator licensure. With respect to early literacy, DESE's work included the release of the Mass Literacy Guide; the start of the Growing Literacy Equity Across Massachusetts (GLEAM) program, which will award nearly $19 million in federal funds over the next four and half years; and investment in early literacy tutoring for early elementary students, primarily those living in high-needs communities.

Advancing Deeper Learning and Innovative Assessments

The Kaleidoscope Collective for Learning continued to bring deeper learning to schools across the Commonwealth, working both with specific cohorts of districts and making additional professional development opportunities available to any interested educators statewide. During the 2020-21 school year, pilot teams from each of the 21 schools in the first cohort participated in convenings with each other and in school-based meetings. Work on an innovative science assessment for grades 5 and 8 also continued, with one pilot completed and another planned. The assessment is designed to align with DESE's work to promote deeper learning and will feature in-depth, computer-based tasks that ask students to apply science knowledge and practices to simulations of scientific phenomena.

Strategic Planning

More than ever, given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are focused on helping each and every student, particularly those who are experiencing opportunity gaps and unfinished learning, to receive the supports they need to be successful in future grade levels and post-graduation. Within DESE, we have reaffirmed our commitment to anti-racism, holding 24 hours of training with our partner, Overcoming Racism; developing an action plan informed by recommendations from the agency's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee; and working across offices on culturally responsive pedagogy. We continue to build out elements of a larger instructional vision for the Commonwealth that will support all students with excellent instruction.