Impact: Massachusetts

Regional Impact

Massachusetts

Massachusetts Newsletter Stories

The EdEvidence newsletter features a regular letter from REL-NEI’s director and highlights of research findings, events, and key stakeholders and personnel. Sign up today!

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	Kutash Talks Evidence on Classroom Behavior to Massachusetts Districts (April 2010) Teams of administrators, general- and special-education teachers, school counselors, and parent advocates from Massachusetts school districts gathered in Framingham on January 26th to learn about a new set of recommendations for reducing problem behaviors in the elementary school classroom.
	REL-NEI Provides Research to Support New Massachusetts Accountability Standards (April 2010) Last spring, as policymakers at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) updated the state’s regulations for monitoring underperforming schools, they turned to REL-NEI to provide top-line research on school effectiveness to inform their decision-making.
	Connecting to Practice: REL-NEI Liaisons Take to the Road in 2009! (Jan/Feb 2010) In 2009, REL-NEI state liaisons and researchers participated at more than 40 education-related conferences and meetings across the Northeast and Islands Region, often staffing booths and providing overviews of REL-NEI.
	How Are States Approaching Response to Intervention? (Jan/Feb 2010) A new REL-NEI Issues & Answers Report finds that the six New England states and New York support response to intervention, or RTI, for overall school instructional improvement and for determining special-education eligibility at the local level.
	Massachusetts Report Challenges Single ‘Hispanic Student’ Label (Sep/Oct 2009) A new REL-NEI Issues & Answers Report addresses Hispanic student diversity by examining relationships between certain student- and school-level characteristics and 10th-grade Hispanic students’ performance on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS).
	Thinking Reader Study Wraps Up in Schools; Researchers Begin Data Analysis (Jul/Aug 2009) REL-NEI’s large-scale reading study involving about 2,400 sixth-grade students wrapped up in classrooms in June, and this summer researchers began analyzing the data they collected from 32 high-need schools in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.
	REL-NEI Researchers Consult to Massachusetts, Virgin Islands (May/Jun 2009) REL-NEI researchers provide research support to state education departments across the Northeast and Islands Region on a range of education topics and issues. This is a summary of recent technical assistance projects.
	Researchers Share Findings with Massachusetts Special Ed and Math Staff (Mar/Apr 2009) On February 25th, REL-NEI researchers Amy Brodesky, Stacy Ehrlich, and Josephine Louie presented findings from two published research reports to staff at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE).
	Leslie Hergert: Meeting Massachusetts’ Needs Means Knowing Stakeholders (Jan/Feb 2009) Massachusetts State Liaison Leslie Hergert cares about school improvement first and foremost. Whether leading a research study or facilitating staff training, her job is to help make schools better, and that means understanding the diverse needs and perspectives around the Northeast and Islands Region.
	What are Benchmark Assessments and How Do They Work? (Jan/Feb 2009) A REL-NEI research team examined the effectiveness of a Massachusetts pilot program in which selected schools use quarterly benchmark exams aligned with state curriculum standards for middle-school mathematics.
	NY, MA Studies Track Performance Among Fourth-Graders with Disabilities (Nov/Dec 2008) Two REL-NEI Fast Response Project Reports analyzing the performance of fourth-graders with disabilities on statewide math assessments in New York State and Massachusetts use similar methods to examine publicly available test data, but the reports’ authors caution against comparing the two.
	Math and Students with Disabilities: Support Time, Teacher Teamwork Highlighted (Nov/Dec 2008) A REL-NEI Fast Response Project Report finds that six schools in Massachusetts and New York that are perceived by education leaders as exemplary in math teaching and learning use both math-specific interventions, such as additional math support time, and schoolwide practices, such as teacher collaboration, to enhance math education for students with disabilities.
	Pathways to Math Achievement, Thinking Reader Launch Across Region (Nov/Dec 2008) Teachers and school personnel assisting with the implementation of REL-NEI’s large-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT) studies this school year were taught how to use software programs and monitor student progress in a series of trainings held in August and September.
	Mass Education Secretary Says Education Paradigm Must Change (Sept/Oct 2008) REL Northeast and Islands Governing Board members heard from one jurisdiction’s top education official when Massachusetts’ newly appointed Secretary of Education Paul Reville addressed the board at its June meeting in Salem, Mass.
	“Struggling Reader” Report Looks at Literacy Interventions in Four Urban Districts (Jul/Aug 2008) The report, titled “A Description of Foundation Skills Interventions for Struggling Middle-Grade Readers in Four Urban Northeast and Islands Region School Districts,” concluded that all four districts were in the beginning stages of both testing and providing foundation skills programs. The type of diagnostic assessment used in each district varied, as did the number of students included in each district’s intervention program. If programs existed, progress monitoring was built in.
	REL-NEI Begins Large-Scale Studies, Recruiting (Jul/Aug 2008) Schools throughout New England are encouraged to apply for inclusion in one of two new large-scale randomized controlled trial studies conducted by REL Northeast and Islands. These studies address two critical issues in education: broadening access to Algebra I in the eighth grade and improving adolescent literacy.