We want to welcome you to this informational webinar on this amazing opportunity we
have for supporting schools. Welcome! I'm Jenn Sauriol, Math Content Specialist here at
DESE. Throughout this webinar you will also hear from Erin Hashimoto-Martell, our Director of STEM,
Ian Stith, our Math Content Support Lead, and Stephen Garschina-Bobrow, also a Math Content
Specialist. We are part of the team that has been working hard to bring this opportunity to you.
This webinar will hit on several different aspects of this programming. First I'll give a brief
overview of our intent with this opportunity, then Ian will touch briefly on the decision making to
help you get started thinking about how you determine what is best for your students,
Stephen will then share the vendors that have applied and are successful bidders
with a brief overview of the programs being offered, and, finally,
Erin will talk about the application process before we open this webinar up to some Q&A.
Our program goals are mainly to support students and teachers to find success in
the coming school year. We know that access to high quality core math instructional materials
has a large impact on student learning. So, an important aspect of this is increased
access for our students to grade-level work through high quality core math instructional
materials. We also know that there are some quality digital computer-based programs founded
in building conceptual understanding that have large impact on learners as well.
So, a second goal we have is to increase access to supplemental computer-based programs
that enrich and deepen K-8 students' conceptual understanding of mathematics.
Additionally, we wanted to support schools who may be interested in running in-person or virtual
summer programming for their math learners this summer, with access to targeted summer
programming aligned to high quality core math instructional materials. Our goal was to help
districts by working with vendors to be able to offer these programs free to you for the coming
summer and school year, and negotiate a discounted rate for districts for subsequent school years.
We talk about high quality instructional materials. We define high quality through the work
of two groups. One is EdReports which rates curricula in terms of focus and coherence,
rigor and math practices, and finally usability. These reports are readily available online with
descriptions for their ratings. The other is our Massachusetts Curate group which engages
Massachusetts teachers to review materials through our own State vetting process. If a curriculum
achieves the highest rating in EdReports across all three areas, then they are eligible to be
reviewed by our curate team where we look at content standards and organization, grade
appropriate practices, accessibility for students, and usability for teachers. All of these reports
are readily available on our site. We have also included here some links to studies that show that
using high quality materials has great benefit to the students. High quality materials embed
the math practices and ensure that students are engaged in grade-level work while also embedding
supports for teachers to support students who may be having difficulty. By having a curriculum
design team think about student learning, supports for teachers, and a coherent structure and pace,
your teachers are supported to engage their students in deep mathematical learning.
In order to get maximum benefit, it is imperative that teachers engage in professional development
for how to use these powerful resources. Recent research shows that engaging in curriculum-based
professional learning is showing the strongest benefit to student learning outcomes. So included
in all of our offerings are professional development packages that support teachers to
implement the program essentials and make informed instructional decisions based on student data,
as well as resources for students and families to access and engage with the program. There is
also the option to add additional PD, at a cost to you, if you would like more customized supports.
Our current opportunities include Core High Quality Instructional Materials. We started
with high quality materials that could be used for the coming school year and some vendors also
offered additional supports that could be used as summer-intensive, summer school-like programs.
We also have included digital conceptual supplements to support the summer and school
year work of your students. We have worked to provide these free to you for the coming summer
and school year. Cost beyond this year will be the responsibility of the district or school.
As part of the application process, you will be asked for an implementation plan.
It is our hope and expectation that you will use this opportunity to its full benefit for students
and teachers. So, just to get you thinking about the types of questions you may be asked, here are
some thoughts: we would like these materials to be accessible for all student populations,
not just specific populations of learners. There should be coordination between schools
and districts throughout the application process. If your district chooses not to apply,
you may apply as a single school, but we want to minimize redundancy of applications.
A team should be created to help make an informed decision which Ian will talk about in a moment.
We expect the district to support all teachers in participating in the professional development.
This may have some cost to the districts for teacher release time.
We hope for full implementation and participating grades and school years.
If there are digital resources, we ask that you monitor student use and provide student and
teacher data sharing permissions. We also may ask you to submit quarterly implementation surveys,
not as oversight by DESE but so that we can gauge impact of these programs.