The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education
Race to the Top Update
At the special meeting of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education on Monday evening, June 25th, we will review our progress in implementing our state's Race to the Top grant program. We will provide an overview of the current status of the program and highlight two initiatives of particular strategic importance and visibility: the new educator evaluation framework and the wraparound zones initiative.
RTTT program review
Our discussion of the program overall will be informed by our recent program review by the U.S. Department of Education (USED). A team of several USED staff spent a week here in Massachusetts in late May interviewing program managers and visiting three participating districts: Boston, Lowell, and Reading. Their questions focused on the depth and quality of the implementation of our proposed initiatives. Staff from the Race to the Top implementation team will share findings from their report, which we expect to have by the time of the Board meeting.
Educator evaluation
One of the major initiatives of our Race to the Top program is our new educator evaluation framework. Staff from the Office of Educator Policy, Preparation, and Leadership will update you on our implementation progress since the most recent Board discussion in December 2011 and identify the upcoming milestones for districts. Your packets include the following background materials:
- A two-page summary of the educator evaluation framework
- A summary of DESE's strategic outreach and communications activities
- A list of completed and planned professional development and technical assistance
- A description of the seven train-the-trainer modules on the educator evaluation cycle
- An explanation of the types of vendors DESE will pre-approve to provide educator evaluation support services to districts
Wraparound zones
We are also making promising strides in systematically addressing students' non-academic barriers to learning in five Level 4 and 5 districts through our Wraparound Zone initiative. Staff from the Office of District and School Turnaround will describe the major features of the program and highlight early results from the participating schools. As background information, we have included a PowerPoint presentation summarizing the program in your packets; we will present an abbreviated version at the meeting.
Enclosures: