EdTech Systems Guide – Selection, Implementation, and Evaluation of Edtech

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Office of Education Technology (OET) partnered with The Learning Accelerator (TLA) to develop this guide for educational technology (edtech) leaders in Massachusetts. 

This guide’s primary audience is system-level administrators in charge of overseeing edtech in their district, school, or school system. Depending on the structure of your school or system, this audience may include members of academic teams, technology teams, and/or standalone edtech teams. Given the variety of school systems in this state, we will refer generally to administrators making decisions about edtech as “school and system leaders.” 

This guide aims to be useful to all school and system leaders, whatever your context may be. Throughout the guide there are callout boxes labeled “Thinking About Your Context” that provide additional support for systems with varying contexts.

Resource Links

EdTech Systems Guide: Equity-Driven Selection, Implementation, and Evaluation

Sustaining Progress in Access and Equity: EdTech Strategic Planning Guide

Sustaining Progress in Access and Equity: EdTech Strategic Planning Guide, published in 2021, is a guide for Massachusetts School Leaders prepared by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in close partnership with state and national stakeholders. The Guide will be refreshed over the course of the 2023-2024 school year to include updates in content, resources, and recommendations.

The current guide presents an overview of information related to K–12 edtech and provides insights and suggestions to support administrative teams as they plan for the future of edtech in their districts and schools.

The EdTech Strategic Planning Guide was honored by SETDA as one of the 2022 State Achievement Award Recipients during the SETDA Emerging Trends Forum in June 2022. Read more about the award.

DESE Instructional Leadership Institute - August 2023

In August 2023, DESE hosted the first ever summer Instructional Leadership Institute. District teams gathered from across Massachusetts to engage in an interactive, learning-centered approach to building the effectiveness of instructional leadership teams towards advancing innovative, high quality instructional practices and equitable student outcomes.

This opportunity was developed in response to requests from school and district leaders for more support with:   

1. deeply examining what relevant, real-world, and interactive grade-level work looks and sounds like within the Massachusetts ELA and Mathematics Curriculum Frameworks,

2. deepening their understanding of how to equitably use high-quality instructional materials to engage all learners at the rigor of the standards, and

3. helping to build the necessary equity-centered routines and rituals for instructional leadership teams to effectively support high-quality instruction across all classroom and drive professional learning.

The Institute materials are now available to any school or district.

Resources

Instructional Leadership Institute materials

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and TNTP

Better Together: Massachusetts Family School Partnership Fundamentals Training Module

Creating strong partnerships with families isn’t just a good thing to do. It’s a vital strategy for helping students succeed - as impactful as having a strong principal and strong instruction.

The Better Together online training module developed by MA DESE helps educators think about and do family partnership. You will learn about the Massachusetts Family, School, and Community Partnership Fundamentals, hear from family members, and explore strong family partnership practices.

The module also provides a Fundamentals Reflection Process Tool Kit which school and district teams can use to identify the next stage or level of family school partnership in the district.

Resources

• Better Together: Family School Partnership Fundamentals Online Training Module

• Massachusetts Family, School, and Community Partnership Fundamentals (self-assessment tool)

Here are a few of the tools you’ll find in the training module:

• Better Together: Family School Partnership Mindset Summary

• Better Together: Family School Partnership is Everyone’s Job

• Better Together: Why Family Partnership Matters - Research Nuggets & Sources

• Family School Partnership Fundamentals Reflection Process Tool Kit

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Coherence Guidebook

CSDP Coherence Guidebook

We believe great schools create the conditions that ensure all students regularly engage in deeper learning, where all students have consistent access to grade-level work that is relevant, real world, and interactive, which fosters not only mastery but also identity-development and creativity.

Over the last several years, the Department has published and utilized several frameworks and resources that capture elements of great schools and levers to create conditions that improve student outcomes. The Coherence Guidebook pulls them together into one place to illustrate a systems-level path toward deeper learning.

Resource Links

Explore the Coherence Guidebook and companion Self-Assessment

• Coherence Guidebook

• Coherence Guidebook Self-Assessment

Appendix Resources

• Appendix Frameworks

• Appendix Effective Instructional Practice

• Appendix Prioritization Template

• Appendix Crafting a Common Instructional Vision

• Appendix ILT Framework

• Appendix Action Steps and Resources

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Wraparound Replication Cookbook: Recipes for Creating Strong School Culture and Addressing Social Emotional Barriers to Learning

This cookbook is the result of the Massachusetts Wraparound Zone Initiative - an initiative aimed at helping schools tackle both academic and non-academic barriers to student learning.  A rigorous evaluation of the Massachusetts Wraparound Zone Initiative (5 districts, 30 schools) conducted by the American Institutes of Research found that wraparound strategies made a significant contribution to improved student outcomes, particularly those related to student behavior, student support, and family engagement. This handbook represents the best thinking and strategy "recipes" on how to support the social emotional aspects of learning:

• Addressing school culture and the social emotional aspects of learning

• Rethinking systems for holistically identifying and addressing student academic and social emotional needs

• Creating focused partnerships and coalitions

• Treating parents as full partners

• Big district and state takeaways

• How to get started and how to manage priorities coherently

• Profiles of six districts and the strategies they used

• Links to resources, tools, templates and more

Resource Links

Wraparound Zone Cookbook

Individual Recipes

1. Doing a Welcoming School Walkthrough

2. Creating a School Culture Team

3. Rethinking Recess

4. Students as Culture Builders

5. Assessing Student Strengths & Needs

6. Student Success Teams (Student Support Teams, Child Study Teams, Whole Child Support Teams)

7. Mobilizing around a Tiered System of Supports Framework

8. Tracking Student Support

9. Mapping Your Resources

10. Creating Deep Wraparound Partnerships

11. Managing Partnership Development at Your School

12. Organizing as a Coalition of Partners

13. Academic Parent Teacher Teams

14. Parent House Parties | Academic Support Parties

15. Rethinking Parent Academies and Cafes: Pooling Community Resources

Wraparound Video Series - hear Mass educators, students, staff, parents and partners highlight their strategies and the impact

• Why Wraparound Works

• School Culture and the Social Emotional Aspects of Learning

• Understanding and Supporting Student Strengths and Needs

• Focused Partnerships & Coalitions

• Parents as Full Partners

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and School & Main Institute

Disrupting Inequity: Having Brave Conversations About Bias - Bias Toolkit

Tool kit created by UnboundEd that educators can use facilitate a “brave conversation” about bias. Includes an overview of the 3-part conversation process, slide presentations with notes and resources, and activities you can use and adapt to support part of the conversation.

• Session 1: Introducing Bias (90-120 mins)

• Session 2: Historical Perspective about Race in America (90-120 mins)

• Session 3: How Does Bias Manifest in School (90-120 mins)

Resource

Bias Toolkit

Source

UnboundEd

Safe and Supportive Schools Self-Reflection Tool

Welcome to the revised Safe and Supportive Schools Implementation Guide & Self-Reflection Tool. The goal of the self-reflection Tool is to catalyze a reflective and creative inquiry-based, year-long or multi-year process to create and enhance a school`s work to become more safe and supportive for the entire school community (including but not limited to: students, staff, families, and community partners). This tool is intended to assist with documenting current practices that support students` behavioral health ranging from the whole school community to individual students that require more intensive supports. It also examines the role of various school professionals and staff in providing these supports. This process enables schools to identify their most pressing local priorities and create action plans that can be incorporated into School Improvement Plans to address these priorities. It may be helpful to revisit your school`s responses to this tool on a regular (e.g., quarterly, annual) basis to review progress and continually work towards full implementation on a range of practices that address and remove the barriers to learning.

Resources

Safe and Supportive Schools Self-Reflection Tool

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Creating Positive Learning Environments: Recommendations and Resources to Support the Social Emotional Well-being of Students, Staff, and Families

Even in the midst of a pandemic, educators can create a safe and healthy learning environment that is joyful, engaging, and equitable for every child. On August 3, 2020 DESE released Creating Positive Learning Environments: Recommendations to Support the Social Emotional Well-being of Students, Staff and Families. This document includes a series of recommendations and sample resources and is designed to help districts and schools prioritize and support the social emotional well-being of students, staff, and families as they prepare for the new school year. DESE supported this guidance with a webinar to unpack the document and provide additional supports.

Resources

• Creating Positive Learning Environments: Recommendations to Support the Social Emotional Well-being of Students, Staff and Families (document)

• Webinar to Navigate the New Social Emotional Recommendations and Resources: Presentation Slides and Webinar Recording

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

The School & Main Institute

MTSS Scheduling Guidance

This resource is intended to provide administrators with guidance when developing a master schedule that supports a tiered system of instruction and support, inclusive of Tier 1 core instruction and common planning time. The resource includes two sections. The first examines student scheduling considerations and focuses on Tier I core instruction and time for supplemental intervention and enrichment. The second section examines teacher scheduling considerations, including common planning time.

Resource

Scheduling Guidance for MTSS

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Novak Educational Consulting

RECA

Improving Math Instruction for Students with Disabilities Protocols for Mathematics and Special Education Leadership Teams

This series of five protocols are designed to promote collaboration between mathematics and special educators to improve math instruction and outcomes for all students including students with disabilities. The protocols are intended to assist district or school-based leadership teams by providing a structure for developing a shared vision, common language and foundational knowledge on mathematics instruction and the instructional needs of students with disabilities. These protocols are the result of a four-year collaboration between the Offices of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and the Special Education Planning and Policy at the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, EDC and math and special educators from the districts participating in the Massachusetts Urban Math Support Network.

Resources

Protocol 1 Resources: Shared Beliefs About Mathematics Instruction for Students with Disabilities

• Overview

• Summary

• Beliefs

• Facilitator Notes

• Math Leadership

• Talking Points

Protocol 2 Resources: Essential Understandings About Students with Disabilities

• Overview

• Facilitator Notes

• Essential Understandings about Student with Disabilities

• The Six Areas of Demands and Difficulties

• Memory Learning

• Math Language

Protocol 3 Resources: Essential Understandings About Rigorous Mathematics Instruction

• Overview

• Facilitator Notes

• Math Practices Summary

• Rigorous Math Instruction

• Staircase Problem

• Talking Points

• Standards Math Practice

Protocol 4 Resources: Aligning Barriers and Strategies

• Overview

• Facilitator Notes

• Talking Points

• Math Accessibility Strategies

• Six Learning Areas

• Aligning Barriers

• Candies Problem

• Kym’s Description

• Kym’s IEP

• Kym’s Work

Protocol 5 Resources: Using an Accessibility Framework to Support a Group of Students

• Overview

• Facilitator Notes

• Talking Points

• Learning Needs

• Strategy Cards

• Work for Students

• Individual Reflection

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Education Development Center, Inc.

Building Systems to Support the Whole Child Amid COVID-19

DESE offered a webinar, hosted by the Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy and the Center for Optimized Student Support at Boston College, focused on systems to remotely identify and organize a response to students’ strengths and needs in this moment of crisis. In particular, the webinar focused on successfully closing out the academic year while simultaneously beginning to plan for supporting students through the summer and into the fall. District and school presenters included Somerville Public Schools and the Parker Elementary School in New Bedford.

Resources

Presentation Slides

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy, Center for Optimized Student Support at Boston College

2020 MTSS Planning Institute Materials

Welcome to the February 2020 MTSS Planning Institute. This opportunity was developed in response to educator feedback from September’s MTSS Leadership Institute, requesting additional guidance, professional development, tools, resources, and facilitated planning time to help them design, implement, and lead cohesive tiered systems of support.

Resource Links

Access all conference materials.

Breakout Sessions Day 1: MTSS Overview Session

• Getting Started with MTSS

• Moving Beyond MTSS Basics

• Moving from MTSS Theory to Practice

Breakout Sessions Day 1: MTSS Implementation Modules

• Elementary Scheduling

• Secondary Scheduling

• Resource Allocation

• Improving Professional Learning and Coaching

• Selecting High Quality Curricular and Intervention Materials: ELA

• Selecting High Quality Curricular and Intervention Materials: Math

• Selecting High Quality Curricular and Intervention Materials: SEL

• Staffing

Breakout Sessions Day 2: Student Opportunity Act Breakouts

• Researched-based early literacy programs and professional development

• Early college programs serving all students

• Community partnerships for in-school enrichment and wraparound services

• Acceleration Academies to support skill development and accelerate advanced learners

• Dropout prevention and recovery programs

• Parent-teacher home visiting programs

• Inclusion/co-teaching for students with disabilities and English learners

• Recruitment and retention strategies to diversity the educator and administrator workforce

• Increased staff and services to support holistic student needs

• OPTIC (Online Platform for Teaching and Informed Calibration): Calibration Training to Support Effective Instruction & High Quality Feedback Using a Dynamic Professional Learning Platform

Breakout Sessions Day 2: Team Planning Time

• MTSS Self-Assessment

• Calibrating with your Team

• Pause and Reflect on Existing Plans Protocol

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Supporting the SEL and Mental Health Needs of Students and Educators in the COVID-19 Era

DESE partnered with Education Development Center (EDC), Transforming Education, and Walker Cares to offer an optional 90-minute webinar about how districts can address the mental health needs of students and support their social and emotional learning (SEL) needs during the COVID-19 school closures. The partners followed up with a webinar focused on district-systems to support student and educator mental health during COVID-19. In addition to the webinars, the partners organized a set of resources, ideas, and supports for schools and districts.

Access All Resources

Webinars:

Supporting Students’ SEL and Mental Health Needs During COVID-19: Webinar Slides

• Webinar slides with speaker notes

• Watch the webinar recording

Establishing District-Wide Systems to Support the Mental Health Needs of Students and Educators during COVID-19

• Webinar recording on 4/17/20

• Webinar recording on 4/24/20

Massachusetts Resources:

• Mental Health and Wellbeing: Resources from School Districts across the Commonwealth

• Network of Care Massachusetts: Finding Behavioral Health Services

National COVID-19 School Resources:

• Information and Resources for Schools and School Personnel: US Department of Education: COVID-19 (“Coronavirus”)

• Health Crisis Resources: National Association of School Psychologists (NASP)

• COVID-19 Resources: National Center for School Mental Health (NCSMH)

• Talking to kids about Coronavirus: Child Mind Institute

• Creating a PBIS Behavior Teaching Matrix for Remote Instruction: Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions (PBIS)

• 4 Resources to Support Students During the Pandemic through PBIS

• Behavioral Health Care Resources COVID-19: Resources from behavioral health care practitioners across the country

• The Training and Access Project (TAP) is an initiative within Boston Children’s Hospital Neighborhood Partnerships (BCHNP) that offers free online training modules related to addressing students’ social, emotional, behavioral, and mental health needs.

Crisis Support Resources:

• Samaritans: 1-877-870-4673 | https://samaritanshope.org/

• Crisis Text Line – Text “HOME” to 741741

• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 | https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/

• National Sexual Assault Hotline": 1-800-656-4673 | https://www.rainn.org/

• National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 | https://www.thehotline.org/

• The Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386 | https://www.thetrevorproject.org/

• Trans Lifeline: 1-877-565-8860 | https://www.translifeline.org/

Telehealth Resources:

• OCR Issues Bulletin on Civil Rights Laws and HIPAA Flexibilities That Apply During the COVID-19 Emergency

• FERPA and the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

• HIPAA, Civil Rights, and COVID-19 

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Education Development Center (EDC), Transforming Education, and Walker Cares

2019 MTSS Leadership Institute Materials

Welcome to the September 26 & 27th MTSS Leadership Institute. This professional development opportunity focused on giving district teams the opportunity to learn about the new MTSS blueprint and discuss how to lead within an MTSS framework. Please see below for breakout session material links.

Resource Links

Access all breakout sessions.

Access the keynote speaker and breakout sessions.

Access the MTSS Blueprint.

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Leading with Access & Equity 2018 Conference Materials

Welcome to the November 1, 2018 Leading with Access & Equity Conference! This annual professional development opportunity focuses on systems and strategies to meet students’ holistic needs and ensure that every child has equitable access to a world-class education. The event represents a collaboration across multiple offices and initiatives at DESE and focuses on topics including, but not limited to: creating a pipeline of diverse educators, developing multi-tiered systems of support, equitable access to high quality curriculum, bilingual education, ensuring racial and cultural equity, effectively engaging families, student mobility, approaches to addressing students’ mental health needs, integrating social emotional and academic learning, and more. Please see below for breakout session material links.

Resource Links

Access all breakout session materials.

Access the 2019 Leading with Access & Equity Conference materials.

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Leading with Access & Equity 2019 Conference Materials

Welcome to the October 24, 2019 Leading with Access & Equity Conference! Please see below for breakout session material links.

View the incredible performance from the Springfield High School of Science and Technology (SciTech) Band!

Resource Links

Breakout Session Materials:

• Session A2:  Building a Prenatal through Post-Secondary Family Engagement Framework:  An Opportunity for Communities to Strengthen and Align Family Engagement Practices

• Session B2:  Drafting and Implementing a Revised District Code of Conduct

• Session C2:  Reducing Anxiety and Increasing Engagement in the Classroom

• Session D2:  Six Components of Integrating Social-Emotional Learning into Daily Classroom Practice

• Session E2:  Using Psychosocial and Behavioral Data to Support Multi-Tiered Systems of Support

• Session A1: A Diagnostic Approach in an Integrated Public Preschool: A Framework for Assessing English Learners

• Session B1: Advancing Racial Equity in the Commonwealth

• Session C1:  Building a Multi-Tiered System of Support 

• Session D1:  Building a Prenatal through Post-Secondary Family Engagement Framework:  An Opportunity for  Communities to Strengthen and Align Family Engagement Practices -  One hour version

• Session E1:  Building an Alternative School 

• Session F1:  College and Career Advising and My Career and Academic Plan:  A Whole School Plan for Student Success 

• Session G1:  Culturally Responsive Teams:  4 Strategies to Strengthen Family-School Partnerships on 504 and Special Education Teams 

• Session H1: Deeper Dive into Supporting Students in Foster Care or Experiencing Homelessness

• Session I1:  Educational Equality in Opportunities and Outcomes for ELs:  Bilingual Education Programs 

• Session J1:  Embedding Social and Emotional Learning in Secondary Classrooms 

• Session K1:  Equity and Literacy: Reaching the Brilliant and the Bored - Centering the Literacy Lives of Young People of Color in Our Classrooms

• Session L1:  Hiring for Equity: Disrupting Bias in the Interview and Selection Process 

• Session M1: Impact of Today’s Poverty, Trauma, and Stress on Learning

• Session N1:  Leveraging Prep Partnerships to Diversity the Workforce 

• Session O1:  Promoting Culturally Responsive Education

• Session P1:  School and Youth-Serving Agencies Together to Create Flexible Solutions for "Potentially" Suspended Students 

• Session Q1:  Strengthening and Diversifying Existing Teacher Recruitment and Retention Programs

• Session R1:  Supporting Students in Foster Care or Experiencing Homelessness 101

• Session S1:  Supporting Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students

• Session T1:  The CURATE (CUrriculum RAtings by TEachers) Project:  Broadening Access to High-Quality Curriculum in Massachusetts

• Session U1: The Power of Play in New Bedford Public Schools

• Session V1:  Thinking About Student and Teacher Assignment Strategically

• Session W1:  Tier II Mental Health Services:  Implementing a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Group Programs 

• Session X1:  What Does Equitable Access in Math and Science Classrooms Look Like? 

• Session Y1:  Where Equity and SEL Collide:  Adult Self-Care 

Access all breakout sessions.

Access general conference materials.

Access 2018 convening materials.

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Conditions for Learning Surveys→

The Conditions for Learning surveys (CFL) were developed collaboratively and field-tested by districts and Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education staff involved in the Urban Leaders Network for School Climate & Student Support. The CFL metric and survey tools focus on the holistic “conditions” (including social emotional learning) students need in order to learn in a school setting. The CFL contains surveys around the following domains: school climate, academic engagement, social emotional learning, parent & family engagement, and systems of student support, with surveys for students, staff, and families. Schools and districts are welcome to utilize these survey tools.

Resource Links

Conditions for Learning Surveys

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education with School & Main Institute

MTSS Introduction Videos and Facilitation Guide

This resource contains seven videos that introduce the viewer to the key drivers, foundational frameworks, and focus of the MTSS Blueprint. The videos are embedded in the MTSS Mobilization Guide (see pages 10-17 for Video Facilitation Guide) to support learning and team collaboration.

Resource Links

MTSS Videos

• Introduction to the MTSS Visual

• Introduction to Implementation Science

• Unpacking the Leadership Drivers

• Unpacking the Competency Drivers

• Unpacking the Implementation Drivers

• Universal Design for Learning & Equitable Access

• Tiers are Not Locations

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education with Novak Educational Consulting and Rodriguez Educational Consulting Agency

MTSS Tiered Resource Map

This resource mapping template will help you inventory the Curriculum & Instruction/ Interventions, Assessments, and Data-Based Decision practices you are currently using (or have the goal of using) at each tier. Please note that this template should not be used in place of the MTSS Self-Assessment, which helps teams unpack where they have strengths and needs relative to the systems needed to effectively implement MTSS. Map away!

Resource Link

MTSS Tiered Resource Map (word document)

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education with Novak Educational Consulting and Rodriguez Educational Consulting Agency