Professional Development

Paragraph 30: Intake personnel at FRC and NACC or others involved with student registration will be properly trained on the following: Intake/registration forms, Language proficiency is properly assessed, Appropriate SPED IEP referrals, Explaining services and programs to parents.

By September 1 of each school year the District shall ensure that all intake personnel at the FRC, NAC, and the schools who are involved in student registration and assessment receive training on the following tasks:

1. Completing the intake/registration forms of students, including the HLS;
2. Ensuring that students’ English proficiency is properly assessed in all four language domains of listening, speaking, reading, and writing and that the determination of each ELL’s overall proficiency level reflects an accurate interpretation of those results;
3. Referring appropriate students to the BPS SPED department for potential evaluation or provision of SPED services if they have a current IEP, or there is some other indication that the student may have a disability or may require special education or related services; and
4. Informing parents/guardians of the District’s ELL services and programs, and responding to parental questions regarding assessment and placement procedures.

Paragraph 50: The District shall update its ESL Curriculum Frameworks and require and provide training on such standards to any teacher assigned to teach ESL.

The District shall update its ESL Curriculum Frameworks (BPSECF) and ESL curricula, and provide training on the updated curriculum frameworks and curricula to all principals/headmasters who evaluate ESL teachers, LAT facilitators, and teachers assigned to teach ESL. The District shall provide the United States documentation of such training and a list of attendees by October 15 of each year beginning with the 2012-2013 school year.

Paragraph 52: All core content instruction is provided by teachers who are certified in the content area and in SEI. As such, subject to any changes DESE mandates: District shall ensure adequate number of teachers are category trained, Require categories in 1, 2, and 4 until DESE launches RETELL, Provide supplemental SEI training.

The District shall ensure that all core content instruction for ELLs is provided by teachers who are certified in the content area and adequately trained to shelter content instruction based on current SEI instructional techniques. Toward that end, subject to any changes in MADESE mandates approved by the United States:

1. The District shall ensure that adequate numbers of teachers are trained in at least Categories 1, 2, and 4 at each school enrolling ELLs;
2. The District shall ensure that trainings for Categories 1, 2, and 4, or other MADESE-mandated training, are offered during the summer and the school year to all teachers who deliver content to ELLs; and that the capacity of each training is sufficient to accommodate the number of teachers who seek to attend;
3. The District shall ensure that supplemental SEI training is provided to its SEI teachers to address deficiencies in the current Category training curriculum and the inadequate transfer of the Category training to BPS’ SEI classrooms. The training shall, at a minimum, ground teachers in current methods of making content delivered in English accessible to ELLs in order to promote the use of these methods in classrooms;
4. At the District’s request, the Boston Teacher Residents Program has added Category training to the pre-service programs for incoming teachers to the District;
5. The District shall require all non-tenured year one and year two core content teachers of ELLs to complete the Category 1, 2, 3, and 4 training or to obtain an ESL certification as a condition of tenure;
6. The District shall have all teachers at the twelve turn-around schools complete the Category 1, 2, and 4 training;
7. The District shall require that principals/headmasters assign ESL certified teachers to teach SEI content classes within their “primary program area,” as this term is defined in the current CBA with the Boston Teachers Union (BTU) and by District practice, as needed to provide all ELLs in their respective schools with the SEI instruction required by Paragraphs 44 and 45;
8. The District shall provide one in-service credit to each teacher who completes 15 hours of Category training, which presently results in one credit for Categories 1 and 4 and two credits for Category 2; and
9. The District shall not offer “reasonable assurance” to any newly hired core content course instructor, following their first year of their employment, that they will be rehired in the forthcoming year, nor shall the District rehire any such teacher, unless they have made substantial progress toward completing training in Categories 1, 2, 3, and 4, or toward obtaining an ESL certification. A teacher shall be deemed to have made substantial progress toward completing training if s/he has completed in the first year of employment (i) at least Categories 2 and 4 or (ii) half of the ESL certification requirements and is committed to completing Category training or the ESL certification requirements prior to the end of the last month of his/her second year of employment. The District shall not rehire any such teacher for a third year of employment if s/he has not completed training in Categories 1 through 4 or obtained an ESL certification.

Paragraph 60: All employees who evaluate teachers or ESL or SEI classes are trained regarding cultural awareness and best practices in order to perform meaningful evaluation of instruction.

The District shall ensure that all employees who evaluate teachers of ESL and SEI core content classes are adequately trained regarding cultural awareness and best practices in ESL instruction and sheltering techniques to deliver content to ELLs, so that they may be able to perform a meaningful evaluation of ESL and SEI instruction. Formal evaluations of ESL and SEI core content teachers, whether they are teaching core content to both ELL and non-ELLs or teaching in classrooms exclusive to ELLs, shall address the degree to which such teachers use ESL and/or sheltering strategies appropriately and effectively in their classes, consistent with the requirements for SEI classes in Paragraph 44. By April 30, 2012, the District shall, consistent with the requirements of Paragraph 43, revise its classroom observation tools for ESL and SEI classrooms to include items that assess whether the teacher is explicitly teaching reading comprehension and writing strategies for ELLs and otherwise aligning content instruction for ELLs with the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. Toward that end, by December 30 of each year, beginning with the 2012-2013 school year, the District shall ensure that all employees who evaluate SEI and ESL teachers complete an abridged version of the Categories 1, 2, and 4, to be delivered in no less than 12 hours of in-class time and augmented with on-line and in-home assignments. Such training shall cover the topics of SEI and ESL instructional techniques, Second Language Acquisition, and Cultural Awareness, and shall be designed to provide evaluators with sufficient knowledge to carry out effective evaluations of SEI and ESL classrooms. Additionally, for employees engaged in evaluation who request assistance from OELL, OELL shall provide in-person, in-building assistance focused on how to conduct ESL and SEI classroom observations, including using the ESL and SEI classroom observation tools required by this Paragraph and Paragraph 43. By January 15 of each year, OELL shall report to the United States the name of any principal/headmaster or other employee who evaluates ESL or SEI teachers and did not complete the training required by this Paragraph.

Paragraph 61: Annual training is to be provided during Principal Institute and other mandated principal gatherings.

The District shall provide annual training and a forum for discussion through the Principal Institute and other mandated principal gatherings such as monthly Academic Superintendent conferences regarding the following topics:

1. The requirements of this Settlement Agreement;
2. How to schedule ESL by proficiency level to maximize instructional time;
3. How to assign Category trained staff to SEI classes and schedule SEI classes to maximize instructional time;
4. How to evaluate ESL and SEI teachers, whether they are teaching core content to both general education students and ELLs in general education classrooms or teaching in classrooms exclusive to ELLs; including how evaluations may be completed with the assistance of other staff with expertise in ELL instruction, how to ensure the evaluations are rigorous, and how to maximize improvement in the delivery of services to ELLs consistent with the instructional practices required in Paragraph 44;
5. Strategies for ensuring that SEI teachers complete at least Categories 1, 2, and 4 and that ESL teachers obtain ESL certification;
6. The compensatory services available for newly identified ELLs and students previously deemed to have “opted-out” of programs or services for ELLs;
7. How to communicate with parents/guardians of newly identified ELLs and students previously deemed to have “opted out” of ELL services about the availability of compensatory services; and
8. How to communicate with parents/guardians who wish to opt their children out of programs or services for ELLs about the benefits of ELL services.

Paragraph 69: With the assistance of New England Equity Assistance Center, the District shall provide training to Special Education and Student Services Coordinators regarding appropriate strategies for educating ELLs with disabilities. OELL shall ensure that special education staff and school ELL staff hold at least one joint planning meeting.

The District shall employ reasonable measures to increase staff knowledge of best practices governing the provision of services to ELLs who have disabilities, particularly disabilities affecting language acquisition and written and oral language processing and expression. With the assistance of the New England Equity Assistance Center, the District shall provide training to all Special Education and Student Services Coordinators regarding appropriate strategies for educating ELLs with disabilities. The District shall sponsor training events for Coordinators of Special Education Support and Services and LAT facilitators throughout the year, and shall ensure that all Coordinators of Special Education Support and Services and LAT facilitators are trained on the intersection between ELL and SPED service provision. Beginning with the 2012-2013 school year, the OELL shall ensure that special education and ELL staff at the school level hold at least one joint planning meeting annually to discuss ELL services and processes. OELL shall obtain documentation of such joint planning meetings from each school by June 30 of each school year and report any schools that did not meet this requirement to the United States by August 1.