Welcome to the Massachusetts Vision and Blueprint for English Learner Success Interactive Dashboard.
In 2018, following the passage of the LOOK Act, the Massachusetts Department
of Elementary and Secondary Education, along with a broad and diverse group of stakeholders
from across the state, articulated a shared future vision for English learner success.
This vision---informed by research and analysis of Massachusetts data
points around the success of ELs--calls for transformational change and coherence at all
levels of the educational system to support equity, achievement and outcomes for ELs.
Over the course of two years, the Department collaborated with stakeholders to develop a
Blueprint for EL Success providing educators with steps that can be taken at the classroom, school,
district, and state levels to achieve the Massachusetts Vision.
The Massachusetts Blueprint for EL Success consists of four research-based and
data-informed pillars and twelve building blocks that guide strategies and practices
that lead to CHANGE when supported with effective and sustained implementation planning.
Pillar 1 focuses on elements of School Culture that are necessary to EL success.
English learners in Massachusetts attend schools in which all educators share responsibility for their success,
engage effectively with their families, and value and nurture their linguistic and cultural assets.
Pillar 2 focuses on ensuring that English learners are taught by effective,
well-prepared, and culturally responsive educators who hold them to high standards and
have the materials and professional learning they need to advance students’ academic
and linguistic development simultaneously.
The Blueprint focuses on each building block,
creating coherent approaches at the State, District, School and Classroom level.
Pillar 3 focuses on opportunity and support. English learners have equitable access to
meaningful and rigorous learning opportunities that build on their cultural and linguistic
assets and the academic, linguistic, social, and emotional supports they need to excel.
Pillar 4 focuses on a plan for future success. English learners thrive in high school and
graduate with the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to be successful in
college and/or a career of their choice, and to contribute to civic life in a global community.
Together these pillars of our Blueprint for EL Success are unpacked into evidence-based
strategies, practices and guidance, with resources and tools to support them.
Most important to using the Interactive Blueprint dashboard is the systemic nature of the tools.
The core pillars and building blocks in the blueprint are expanded and amplified at each
of the classroom, school, district and state levels so that educators can create coherent
and aligned “through-lines” of practices and plans across the system.
This organizational feature of the Blueprint for EL Success
enables ANY educator at ANY level of the system use it to inform their own practice,
in their own role and in their own sphere of influence.
A district planning team, made up of educators and administrators with different shared
responsibilities for ELs, can use the Blueprint resources and tools in systemic planning for ELs,
for prioritizing system-wide goals, and integrating them into existing plans.
These plans may include school and district improvement plans, professional goals, PD plans
or other improvement or implementation plans.
The development of the Blueprint for EL Success informed the development of the interactive Dashboard for EL Success in 2020.
The Dashboard provides practical, actionable and interactive tools and resources to support educators, including:
New online user-friendly explanatory Quick Reference Guides (QRGs), Technical state and federal guidance,
Practical tools for implementation, Guidance and exemplars of effective practices for ELs,
and Resources aligning the use of the Blueprint to district and school planning processes.
What we know from evidence-based practices and implementation science for scaling up,
is that planning for ELs systemically AND systematically,
must be an ongoing planning and improvement cycle to achieve change.
With your involvement and a system-wide commitment,
every educator in Massachusetts can work in unison toward achieving this Vision and transforming
outcomes for our multilingual students.
Check out the resources and tools on the EL Success Dashboard! Share with your teams!
Just click on pink logo or the drop down menu.
And check back soon for the Department’s self-paced Blueprint professional learning modules
and new resources to support your local team in EL Success Planning.