The Boston Public Schools’ School Quality Working Group will meet on Wednesday, July 10, 2013, at Winter Chambers on the first floor of 26 Court Street in Boston from 6:00 pm -8:00 pm.
The new School Quality Working Group is co-chaired by Boston School Committee member Meg Campbell and Boston University School of Education Dean Dr. Hardin Coleman. It is modeled on the work of the External Advisory Committee on School Choice, which met earlier this year. The Working Group consists of “BPS parents, academic experts, and business and community leaders.” It is tasked with the following:
- “Helping to develop a better way to measure school quality for the Home-Based school choice model, which takes effect for the fall of 2014. Currently the Home-Based model
uses MCAS Tiers, which are based on a combination of overall performance and growth as measured by MCAS. - Analyzing the implementation of the Home-Based school choice model, including measures of equity and school quality improvements“
According to an email from the Mayor’s office, in their last meeting, the Working Group proposed the sub-committees listed below. At Wednesday night’s meeting, the Working Group plans to assign members and tasks to the sub-committees.
“Proposed Subcommittees:
Community outreach – This subcommittee will focus on how to best engage the widest range of Boston residents on school quality
Quality assurance/policy – Recommend policies for an overall accountability system with rewards and consequences to ensure quality for all students, specifically utilizing an agreed- upon public review process and basic standard of performance
Measuring school quality/performance and opportunity metrics – Determine how to weight and quantify measures for school quality performance and opportunity”
All meetings of the Working Group are open to the public.
Anne Johnson Landry
Committee Counsel and Policy Advisor
Office of State Senator William N. Brownsberger