The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education had their regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, October 28, 2025 in Everett.
The agenda can be found online here.
A recording of the meeting can be found here.
The Board opened with public comment. The two public comments spoke of their support for biliteracy and of increased shared access to the data collected by the Department.
Chair Craven spoke to the committees of the Board, though the full membership of every committee was not announced. This year, the Board will have committees for the evaluation of the Commissioner; for the budget; for teacher diversity; for literacy (for which now retired member Michael Moriarty is being retained as chair); for “best practices and innovation”; and for data and evaluation.
Secretary Tutwiler spoke of STEM Week 2025, which was last week, a week, he said to celebrate “all of the wonderful things that are happening in STEM education.” Tutwiler reminded members of the public hearings on the local contribution study currently being done by Department and Department of Revenue staff; the next one is Thursday in Worcester, followed by Greenfield, Lakeville, and an online session. He spoke of the work on ensuring that everyone of any background has a place in public higher ed in the state, an effort called “Go Higher.” The graduation council has released their Vision of a Graduate; that will be followed by preliminary expectations next week, ahead of the full report coming next June.
Commissioner Martinez thanked all those with whom he has met for his warm reception received across the Commonwealth; he said he is “always amazed by…the beauty” of the state. He said he appreciated the opportunity to “be in community…with the multilingual community, for example, in Chelsea.” He wants to ensure we are seeing multilingualism as an asset, something to build on. He said he appreciated the chance to speak with students. The Board is holding a “team meeting” on November 7, at which he expects there will be further discussion of the way in which the graduation council’s work will shape the priorities of the Department. He also congratulated former member Michael Moriarty, who received the Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of State Boards of Education.
The Board then moved to a presentation on two initiatives within STEM: first, an update on virtual tutoring in mathematics in grades 4 and 8; then one on adapting science curricula for students in special education.
The tutoring initiative was done over two years. The Department contracted with Imagine Learning, Carnegie Learning, Mind Education, Catapult, and SAGA Innovations to provide 12 week cycles of 90 minutes per week in grades 4 and 8 to more than 3000 students every year, in an effort that was funded by ESSER. There was improvement across both cycles for all content areas of those participating. Haverhill Public Schools spoke to their local use with 100 students, who saw benefits from the tutoring; the district will propose funding it in the next budget with local funds. They spoke particularly of the importance of the effort as reflected in the confidence students now feel: “the shift in self-perception is crucial to academic success, particularly in math.” The Board discussed if it was possible to do further research using these data; there was not a control group for this effort, however. The tutoring cost between $400-700 per student, and the state has now created a master contract with approved vendors. Among the lessons learned: it was better for attendance for sessions to be during the day, but that is a challenge with an eighth grade schedule. An on-site point of contact is needed for success. Keeping tutoring groups at 1:4 ratio or lower and ensuring there is a consistent tutor to build relationship “especially in the virtual environment” both are also key. The Commissioner cited this as one tool of many that districts may use in the multi-tier system of supports they have for students.
On science, the Department worked on teacher PD in 2022-23, with teachers collaborating to develop online bank of adapted materials in science. This was moved in 2024-26 as a yearlong institute for district leadership in science and special education, in a train the trainer model that is designed to impact more staff. This provides for districts to see how their district curriculum adaptation plan was working. Class visits showed both strengths and areas to grow, with lessons being not only “hands on but minds on” for students. Member Kristen Smidy, reviewing the map, asked about western Mass participation; the effort was a volunteer one. The Commissioner suggested that we “imagine what we could do if we had more resources; we could take this to scale.”
The Board then voted to send two amendments to state regulation out to public comment, both originating with needing to revise references to the state competency determination. The proposed amendments to regulations on the seal of biliteracy also clarifies and streamlines procedures for notification, transcripts, and terminology; expands pathways to demonstrate English proficiency; supports equitable access. This did also allow for an update on the Seal, including updates on the numbers of students achieving it.
The strike-through version of the proposed changes is here.
The proposed amendment to the student records regulations would delete the words “required for the competency determination” but add “high school” before “MCAS” and add “and, when applicable, any seal or award endorsed by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.” The strikethrough version of the proposed changes is here. Both were sent out to public comment, which will shortly be posted here.
The Board also waived the requirement in state regulation that charter schools that spend more than $750,000 in federal funds submit a single audit by November 1. As explained in the Department’s memo, the federal government had submitted draft guidance to the single audit, and stated that single audits may not be submitted until the guidance is finalized. With the federal government shutdown, there has been no additional action. As such charter schools cannot comply with state regulation for the November 1 deadline.
District schools are required to submit their single audit (if applicable) by nine months after the close of the fiscal year, so this will not impact them for some time, if at all, depending on the length of the shutdown. State law requires that charter schools submit the single audit if it applies to them by January 1, a statutory requirement the Board cannot waive. The Board unanimously voted to waive the regulatory requirement.
The Board adjourned and will next meet November 18.