Executive Order  No. 410: Establishing the Governor's design team on teacher professional development and support

WHEREAS the commitment of Education Reform in the Commonwealth is to provide a high quality public education to every child in Massachusetts; and

WHEREAS the cornerstone of such a high quality education is high quality teaching; and

WHEREAS to attain and maintain the highest standards of professionalism, teachers must have access to quality continuing professional development resources; and

WHEREAS the Commonwealth is committed to helping teachers across the state achieve and maintain excellence in the teaching profession;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Argeo Paul Cellucci, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, by virtue of the authority vested in me as Supreme Executive Magistrate, do hereby order as follows:

Section 1. There is hereby established the Governor's Design Team on Teacher Professional Development and Support (the "Design Team"). The Design Team shall research, analyze and recommend methods to address effectively the professional development needs of teachers throughout the Commonwealth, paying particular attention to issues of access to and quality of professional development resources. As part of its mission, the Design Team shall develop a design and implementation plan for Regional Centers of Excellence described in Section 3 below and the Massachusetts Teachers Opportunities On-Line for teacher professional development described in Section 4 below, and shall submit said design and plan to the Governor on or before April 15, 1999.

The Design Team shall consist of no more than 25 members appointed by the Governor, including a representative of the Board of Education, a representative of the Board of Higher Education, a representative of the New England Board of Higher Education, a representative of the Massachusetts Corporation for Educational Telecommunication, a president of a public college or university, a president of a private college or university, a school superintendent, a principal of a public school, a public school teacher with less than three years of teaching experience, a public school teacher with at least 15 years of teaching experience, two faculty members specializing in higher education, and two parents of public school pupils. The Governor shall appoint the chairperson of the Design Team.

Section 2. In carrying out its responsibilities, the Design Team shall consider, among other factors, the following:

a. The need for teachers to have access to high quality professional development in substantive content areas as well as in state-of-the-art practices in administration and pedagogy;

b. The need to continue to develop strong leadership skills in school and district administrators;

c. Using as resources in professional development the skill and insight of exemplary practitioners and the power of teachers learning from one another;

d. The need for seamless and continuous professional development from teacher induction through retirement; and

e. The importance of encouraging cooperation between teachers at the college or university level and teachers at the K-12 level.

Section 3. The Design Team shall develop a design and implementation plan for Regional Centers of Educational Excellence ("Centers") for the purpose of providing high quality professional development resources for schools, school districts and teachers certified by the Commonwealth. The design should enable the Centers to:

a. Provide access to high quality professional development opportunities consistent with the mandates of Education Reform;

b. Be located at colleges or universities, but outside of schools of education, in order to encourage the involvement of traditional arts and sciences faculties;

c. Provide teachers with opportunities to earn the professional development points necessary for recertification;

d. Be responsive to the needs of schools and districts;

e. Research and disseminate to schools and districts state-of-the-art teaching models; and

f. Assist teachers, schools and districts with curriculum development.

As part of its design and plan, the Design Team shall make recommendations with respect to the number and location of Centers necessary to provide reasonable access for every school district in the Commonwealth, whether Centers should specialize by subject areas and whether administration of the Centers should be performed by a public agency, by a private nonprofit organization under contract with the Commonwealth, or by some other means.

Section 4. The Design Team shall develop a design and implementation plan for the Massachusetts Teachers Opportunities On-Line ("M- TOOL") for the purpose of providing teachers with access to high quality professional development resources and academic courses through electronic media. The design should enable M- TOOL to:

a. Provide Massachusetts teachers with on-line access to courses offered by public and private colleges and universities and others;

b. Provide on-line access to professional development courses and materials; and

c. Provide on-line access to exemplary curriculum units.

As part of its design and plan, the Design Team shall make recommendations with respect to the content of the courses to be offered, the establishment of adequate security measures, the prevention of fraud in the completion of coursework through electronic media and methods of integrating opportunities for face-to-face interaction between professors and students in the provision of on-line courses.

Given at the Executive Chamber in Boston this 20th day of January in the year one thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine.

Argeo Paul Cellucci
Governor

William Francis Galvin
Secretary of the Commonwealth