Thursday District Professional Development

Thursday, March 4, 2021 District Professional Development

Apologies, this section of February 26 Friday Flyer was missing in my blog. We have district professional development on Thursday. See the agenda, choices, and form to sign-up below:

Office of Leadership Development

All Leader Professional Development - Thursday, March 4, 2021

Please choose sessions below.

   Overview agenda for All Leader PD is as follows: 

9:30	Opening with Dr. Cassellius
9:45	Coming Together
10:00	Instructionally Focused Sessions
11:30	Lunch
12:30	Hiring Focused Sessions
2:00	Coming Back Together
2:15	Closing
2:30	End

We are very excited to offer you the opportunity to choose your sessions for PD. Below, please find the session descriptions and use this form to sign up. Thank you in advance for making your selections by March 2nd, which will help us prepare for a great day of learning.

INSTRUCTIONALLY FOCUSED SESSIONS  10:00-11:30 am

Title/Topic	Objectives	Session Description
Instructional Session 1: Leveraging Remote Learning to Develop High Quality Hybrid Instruction	During this session about developing excellent hybrid instruction, we will:  Identify the standard of excellence for instruction and opportunities to plan for content, task, product, and feedback in the hybrid setting  Explore effective strategies for technical hybrid planning (schedules, staffing, groupings, etc.) that consider the student-facing learning experience  Unpack examples of effective planning and practice that weave together the technical and adaptive components of hybrid instruction  Consider the implications for adult learning and practice as well as next steps in our own contexts	Hear from school leaders and teachers about how they apply a common framework to reflect on remote instruction as they shift to building a high quality hybrid environment. This session will include some of the technical aspects (scheduling, station teaching, family engagement) that can facilitate adaptive shifts.
Instructional Session 2: Excellence in Writing Instruction in Hybrid Construction	Participants will: Strengthen our understanding of the relationship between standards-aligned writing tasks and college readiness Practice using exemplar student work to support thinking about the instructional experiences students need to master writing standards and demonstrate college readiness Consider the implications for adult learning and next steps in our own contexts	During this session participants will engage in reflecting on a standard of excellence in writing and determine the instructional moves necessitated to generate quality student writing products within a hybrid setting.
Instructional Session 3: Supporting Teachers toward Standards-Aligned CLSP Instruction	Participants will be able to:  Analyze a lesson plan using core CLSP tools (7 Forms of BIas Protocol and CRIOP) Prepare a coaching conversation that supports educators to plan in ways that ensure alignment to grade-level standards and CLSP best practices.	In this session leaders will have the opportunity to learn from Christina Balkaran, Math Transformation Coach at Madison Park, about practices she has found effective in supporting educators to plan relevant, standards-aligned instruction in the current instructional context. She will share her discoveries around shifting mindsets and beliefs and finding productive growth from uncomfortable conversations.  Leaders will utilize core CLSP tools (7 Forms of Bias Protocol & CRIOP) to analyze a lesson and draw on insights and inspiration from Christina’s presentation to plan a coaching conversation to support an educator to strengthen their planning processes.

HIRING FOCUSED SESSIONS   12:30-2:00

Title/Topic	Objectives	Session Description
Hiring Session 1:  Designing a Hiring Process for Equity and Diversity	Participants will: Explore strategies to ensure diversity on your screening committee and to set the charge for diversity hiring with your subcommittee Review tools and strategies to screen resumes and interview to ensure a diverse, culturally proficient candidate  Review resources to and develop an interview and performance task practice to evaluate equity/CLSP lens and professional skills of candidates.
Hiring Session 2: Moving from Reactive Staffing to Strategic Staffing	Participants will: Reground yourselves in the mission and vision of   your school community. Use the mission and vision to identify the assets of your school community and match them to your strategic staffing. Assess how leveraging relationships can inform strategic staffing for optimal student outcomes.	School Leaders will have an opportunity to reground themselves in their mission and vision to think differently about potential staff (immediately and in the long-term) and consider how they might cultivate and leverage existing relationships to develop current and potential staff that represents their school’s needs and reflects the community.
Hiring Session 3: Cultivating and retaining  a Diverse Learning Community	Explore strategies to support the development, cultivation and retention of staff of color.	Participants will learn about and understand the programs and services provided by the district to support educators of color and how to access them and share with their staff and identify school-based strategies that can be implemented to retain a diverse workforce.

Other news that was missing:

First and Second Year Induction Programming

• We look forward to Second Year Cohort Professional Learning on March 2nd from 3-4:30 which will focus on identity markers and difficult conversations.  

• First Year Leader Cohort Professional Learning will take place on March 10th from 9-2 with a focus on chosen elements of Literacy instruction and support in hiring.   

• To learn more about our induction programming for first and second year leaders, take a look at our website here. 

Referrals for School Leadership Positions

Do you know someone who is interested in school leadership? Do you see promise in someone with whom you work?  Would you like to learn more about leadership yourself?  Please fill out this referral form for folks interested in our pipeline programs or building level leadership.  

Applications for School Leaders and School Administrators (Assistant Principal and similar roles) Hiring Pools (2021-2022) are now open. 

If you are interested, the school leader application can be found here, and the school administrator application can be found here. Additional information about the hiring process is available on the Lead in BPS website. For questions, please feel free to contact Megan Reed (mreed@bostonpublicschools.org) or Monica Hall (mhall4@bostonpublicschools.org).

PSI/BPS Cohort, Pipeline Program 

In partnership with the Perrone Sizer Institute (PSI), the BPS-PSI fellowship is now accepting applications for the 2021-2022 school year!  This is a pipeline designed to prepare teacher leaders to become Assistant Principals. There are upcoming information sessions on:

Tuesday, February 2 - 7:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Tuesday, February 23 - 7:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Sunday, March 7 - 8:30 am - 9:30 am

Friday Flyer - February 26, 2021

  

REDUX!!!

Words from Grace

Wishing all of you a joyous back to school on Monday and Thursday next week. The transition back for all of us can be stressful, but I am certain it will be a great week! Since there have been and are so many "firsts" coming up, I hope to get to your schools throughout the month of March. I've been setting up visits at schools - just know that I may need to use a space for Zoom meetings. I'm working on a schedule and hope to publish something the way I have done in the past. When I send the invite, feel free to note whether you prefer a virtual visit to observe in classrooms, etc... 

Rest up this weekend!

Important Dates

April 2 - Good Friday - No School

    April 19 - Patriot’s Day - No School

    April 20 - 23 - Spring Recess - No School

Division of Academics

Spring Physical Activity Series Begins Next Week!

BPS Moves Together is launching their Spring Physical Activity Series! Virtual sessions begin next week and are free to the BPS community. Please share the schedule with students and families for some physically active fun led by PE teachers! Next week's sessions will be Yoga, HIIT, Fitness Challenges, and Dance.  Contact: Sravanthy Gumidyala, Physical Activity Program Coordinator

New Episodes of BPS Moves Together: Join the Fun!

BPS Moves Together is launching new episodes of their family-friendly Fitness Show on BNN, Mondays and Thursdays at 9 AM which started on February 8th (Xfinity 23 | RCN 83 | Fios 2160)! Watch on demand HERE.  Contact: Sravanthy Gumidyala, Physical Activity Program Coordinator

Join our Adult SEL Learning Community

Educators will engage in a 90-minute professional development session each month, create SEL instructional goals, and engage in SEL practices that uplift student identity, belonging and agency. Please share this opportunity with your staff! For more information, see the flyer here.

Contact: Carla Burley, Director of Social Emotional Learning Instruction

Generation Citizen 

Are you interested in having civics education come alive and feel more meaningful for your students? Would you like to bridge the classroom to the community? Do you hope your students will be prepared to be lifelong participants in their democracy and community? Would you like to see your students help bring about systemic change in their community? Generation Citizen’s Action Civics program is a great way to develop students’ civic motivation, knowledge, and skills. Our project-based and student-centered learning approach is not just about civics. Students develop skills in collaboration, critical thinking, problem-solving; the program strengthens their literacy skills, builds student leadership skills, and increases students’ awareness, understanding, and tolerance for others. When you partner with Generation Citizen, teachers receive curriculum, training, online localized advocacy resources, and most of all, continual coaching and support from expert staff.

Please fill out the linked Google Form by February 26, 2021, if you are interested in working with Generation Citizen for Spring 2021 or for SY 21-22.

Division of Accountability

Safety Care Recertification Training

Safety Care is the de-escalation and physical management training used in BPS. The Behavioral Health Services (BHS) department will begin holding Safety Care Recertification trainings for staff. These trainings are only for staff who attended a full 2-day training in SY19-20 by the BHS department. Staff who were trained last year will have until May 2021 to attend a recertification; otherwise, they must attend a full training if their certification lapses beyond that time. It will be critical that those who sign-up for the training actually attend on their scheduled date. Historically, we have had multiple no-shows for trainings. Given the limited seats/trainings, it is important that we maximize each session to ensure access for staff across our district. Here is a link to the Safety Care Recertification Training Schedule for 2020-2021. Please register for training through TeachPoint. If you have questions, please contact Lucinda Mills at lmills@bostonpublicschools.org.

DESE Lowest Performing Students List - Now Available

School Leaders can access their SY20-21 Lowest Performing Student List in their DESE Dropbox. Until more information becomes available regarding DESE’s plans for 2021 district and school accountability reporting, the list is intended for informational purposes only. The methodology for determining the lowest performing students has been amended to account for the missing year of data. If you have any questions please reach out to Jake Stern from the BPS Office of Data and Accountability (jstern2@bostonpublicschools.org) or DESE's District and School Accountability team (esea@doe.mass.edu)

MCAS Related Updates

1. Spring 2021 MCAS Testing Schedule for High Schools have been posted. The Office of Data and  Accountability will complete the import of the SR/PNP files for all high schools, registering all eligible high school students for Spring 2021 MCAS ELA & Math tests into the PearsonAccessNext (PAN) site. In preparation for this, Headmasters were asked to complete the shared Google Form by February 26 to communicate their school choice for the tests taken by grade 11 students. The import, completed in PAN by March 5, will include the latest students' enrollments, demographics, students’ testing accommodations. Additional details in the News and Notes_Process for Student Registration for the Spring 2021 HS MCAS tests. If you have questions about this process please contact igruia@bostonpublicschools.org  

2. MCAS-Alt DESE Portfolio-in-Progress (PIP) virtual review sessions (one-hour time block) have been scheduled for March and April. These sessions will be the final opportunity for educators to receive feedback and answers to their questions about their MCAS-Alt portfolios at a state-sponsored session. Teachers working with students’ portfolios are encouraged to attend a session to receive feedback and answers to their questions about their MCAS-Alt portfolios.

 

3. DESE announced new eligibility procedures for Adams Scholarship and Koplik Certificate Of Mastery for the Classes of 2021 and 2022 to ensure that students can qualify for scholarship programs based on MCAS scores.

• For students who have ELA, Math, and STE scores, all three scores will be used to determine eligibility. (Note that the STE score would be from February 2020 or earlier, since the modified CD for STE was established in spring 2020.)

• For students who do not have a score for STE, only ELA and Math will be used to determine eligibility. (This group will include students who received a modified CD in STE.)

 

2020 School and District Report Cards 

District Report Cards are now available on the DESE report cards website. By federal law, Massachusetts is required to annually produce information about school performance for families and communities. Our district will electronically distribute school report cards to BPS families by March 1st. 

Panorama Weekly Update -  How to Keep Student Plans Up-to-Date

• There are three ways to add information to Panorama (as shown below), but only “Update Progress” integrates with progress monitoring data.

• This new slide deck answers two key questions for school teams:

• How Do We Manage & Update Plans?

• How Do We See Which Plans Are Up-to-Date and On-Track?

• 21% of BPS students have a tier-2 or tier-3 plan logged in Panorama. Thank you for taking action to create and log these! These detailed instructions explain how to keep plans current.

Key Panorama Student Success Resources

Recent Friday Fliers of note: February 3: How to access new SAT data on Panorama. January 8: How to access an export of Panorama Support Notes. Guide to updating progress in student plans.  The BPS Student Success Help Site includes key resources including: FAQ, asynchronous training materials, a platform data guide and more.  Questions: mtssdata@bostonpublicschools.org

Division of Equity, Strategy, & Opportunity Gaps

Office of Recruitment, Cultivation and Diversity Programs (RCD)

Recruitment & Cultivation Team Updates & Events

• Support BPS Recruitment:  REMINDER: DEMO DAY IS TOMORROW, FEB. 27!!!  from 7:45a - 1pm for all grade levels. If you missed the orientation session for Demo Day and would like the slides and video, please contact Kim Connolly at kngo@bostonpublicschools.org.

• A SECOND Demo Day is being added on Saturday, March 13. Due to the overwhelming interest by candidates, we are adding another Demo Day. We have several more talented candidates in all grade levels. Please RSVP by Wednesday, March 3 if you would like to join us. Time is TBD, but will likely start at 8a or 9a depending on the number of school leaders and their staff members available to join us.

• DIVERSITY FAIR FOR TEACHERS: Friday, March 26, 5p - 8p. Want a chance to meet with talented and diverse candidates via Zoom?  RSVP here

• Emergency Licenses: DESE has extended Emergency licenses validity from June 30, 2021 to June 30, 2022. Any teachers you currently would like to retain on Emergency Licenses should apply in the Educator Licensure and Renewal (ELAR) system. Additionally teachers who do not have a current license, may apply for the Emergency License. See: Update on DESE Emergency Licensure - February 12, 2021 for additional information.

• Signing Bonuses:  Through a grant with DESE, there are fifty $1,000 Hiring Bonuses available for the hiring of new to BPS Latinx teacher candidates and BPS MTEL prep program completers. A referral form will be shared after postings go up in March.

• Affinity Recruitment Advisories: The RCD team is excited to launch the development of Affinity Recruitment Advisories to increase recruitment in diverse populations including from HBCUs and Latinx, Asian and Deaf & Hard of Hearing teachers.  If you would like to join an advisory to support this work, we will be meeting monthly...please see flyer for more info.

• The Early Hiring Pool is still open, but it closes soon...the end of February!! We would love your help in encouraging highly qualified and diverse candidates to apply!  For prospective teachers only. There are currently over 500 candidates with over 55% being teachers of color.  Early Hiring Pool candidates will be screened by our Recruitment Fellows, and we will develop a Priority Pool for you to search for recommended and highly recommended candidates.

Retention Services

• Happy to share this month’s Educators of Color Monthly Newsletter for February

• Join us for our February ALANA Black History Month Program sponsored by the BU African Studies Center on February 25th at 5pm. Register here.

• Celebrating Diasporic African and African-American Blackness All Year 2021

• The Division of Academics and the Division of Equity, Strategy, and Opportunity Gaps is proud to announce a year-long celebration of Blackness. We are creating a calendar of events occurring in February and beyond, celebrating the rich histories of people of the African diaspora. We invite you to submit any events taking place in your school, central office department, or the Boston community that celebrate and uplift Blackness. Please complete this form to submit an event.

• Calendar submissions must meet the following criteria:

• Promotes/encourages culturally and linguistically sustaining practices

• Aligns with the BPS Strategic Vision

• Sponsored by a BPS school or central office department (BPS community partners are encouraged to connect with a school or BPS central office department)

• Feel free to share this with your networks.  Questions contact: diversityprograms@bostonpublicschools.org

• Thanks to all those who attended this week’s events celebrating Black History hosted by ALANA. A big shout out to all those who led events: Frank Wright, Fabiola Decius, Katina McLain, Jessica Thimotee, Guerlandy Laguerre, Shauntell Dunbar, Quayisha Clarke, Art Collins and DJ KEIZ.  You can still attend the Yoga Class at 4:30pm and the Poetry Slam at 5:30pm. Thanks also to the ALANA Planning Team: Monica Pomare, Lea Serena, Luis Hernandez, Phyllis Leslie and Priya Kumar.

Division of Human Capital

*NEW* Hiring Guidance and Best Practices

• As the hiring season kicks off on Monday, March 1st, please take some time to review OHC's updated hiring guidance, policies, and resources and waiver guide to review key changes and process updates.

• Please note, as we have done in previous years, we may need to close external hiring in certain subject areas when the number of effective, excessed educators greatly outnumbers the available and projected vacancies. We will give schools a two week notice before closing. Please note that closings by subject area may occur before May 28 and may mean schools do not have the full six weeks to hire for the position.

• Please reach out to your HC Manager with any questions!

Hiring Timeline

• 3/1 Vacancies Go Live: Postings for known (ex. Teachers, Nurses, Social Workers, etc.), Cluster Substitutes, and Paraprofessional positions that are exempt from the seniority process (ex. CFCs, Library Paraprofessionals, Autism Strand Paraprofessionals, etc.) positions will be posted on TalentEd

• Paraprofessional Transfer Pool (3/26-4/9): Positions that are subject to the seniority process will be posted on TalentEd from 3/26-4/9 for the Paraprofessional Transfer Process. More information on this process will be shared soon.

• Managerial Postings: (ex. Manager of Operations, Staff Assistant, etc.) will be posted on TalentEd following the submission and approval of job descriptions. Please submit job descriptions to your HC Manager for review. 

• BASAS Postings: Posts for known BASAS positions will be posted on TalentEd in late spring following the seniority process. Contact your HC Manager with questions regarding BASAS vacancies.

Please note: Family Liaison positions will be posted in the coming weeks as the Engagement and OHC Teams work together to finalize the process for SY21-22.  

Emergency Licenses & Waiver Process

• DESE will continue to honor emergency licenses that were issued for SY20-21. Those licenses will be considered valid through June 2022.

• DESE will continue to offer new emergency licenses for SY21-22 for educators who currently do not hold any valid MA licensure.

• For educators who you are planning to hire on a waiver, please keep the following in mind:

• The job needs to be posted for a minimum of 2 weeks before you submit your unlicensed candidate

• You are responsible for interviewing all licensed candidates who applied

• For full guidelines and links to apply for waivers, click here.

Accessing District-Wide Sub Pool 

School Leaders can access the District-Wide Substitute Pool using the dashboard on TalentEd. You are welcomed to review resumes and call candidates who you would like to invite to apply to your long-term sub positions.

Division of Operations

ID Card Access Policy

Please read the updated ID Card Access Policy which outlines the process for securing new and replacement cards.

Division of Student, Family, and Community Advancement

Cabo Verdean Community Conversation

On behalf of the BPS Office of English Learners, we invite you to attend a virtual Cabo Verdean Community Conversation on Thursday, March 4th from 5p -6:30p.  Please join us for an update on the Cabo Verdean Dual Language Program and to share feedback on the Roadmap for Quality Education for Multilingual Learning. This meeting is part of a larger series of meetings in which we are beginning to reimagine the Office of English Learners. You may register here. Interpretation will be provided in Cabo Verdean, and meetings in other languages will be added soon! For more information, please contact Daphne Germain at dgermain@bostonpublicschools.org. 

COVID - 19 Compensatory Services Information Sessions  

The link to a folder containing flyers in different languages can be found here. 

BPS Welcome Centers Reopening 

See this link for days and times.

School Site Council and Personnel Subcommittee Rosters Information

We are in hiring season for school staff and school leaders. In order to reduce the challenges that arise during the school leader and BTU hiring process, please make sure the Office of Advancement has your School Site Council and Personnel Subcommittee Rosters. The rosters can be submitted using this link or by emailing Cyntoria Grant cgrant@bostonpublicschools.org

Partnership Preference Form

The Partnership Preference Form, indicating your preferred partners for SY21-22 is due in your profile on www.PartnerBPS.org by March 1, 2021. Partnership Fund Liaisons can assist you in creating a partnership strategy. They received training this week. They will be reaching out to their assigned School Leaders in the next two weeks to meet with you.

To prepare for this meeting, we encourage you to have a conversation with the school site council. In particular, please consider how the needs of your community have changed this year and if there is a way to leverage partners to address these ongoing concerns next year.

The Partnerships Office is here to assist you; please feel free to reach out at any time to mfarmer2@bostonpublicschools.org