Advocacy 

COALITIONS, PARTNERSHIPS & WORKING GROUPS

• Language Opportunity Coalition (LOC)
• Coalition for Equity, Diversity and Disability (CEDD)
• Massachusetts Education Equity Partnership (MEEP)
• Portuguese Language Partnership for Education
• DLE School Accountability Working Group

Advisory Boards

MABE Board members are representatives on the following state education advisory councils:

• MA DESE  Accountability and Assistance Advisory Council
• MA DESE English Learner/Bilingual Education Advisory Council

Bilingualism is a GIFT! 

• An initiative by the Watertown Public School (MA) encouraging families to use their home language everyday.

An Act Relative to the Training, Assessment, and Assignment of Qualified School Interpreters in Educational Settings (HB 552 /SB 303)

Creates standards and competencies for the training, hiring and use of interpreters in educational settings in order to provide limited English proficient (LEP) parents and students with competent interpretation services, as required by federal and state law. This bill incorporates the recommendations of DESE’s School Interpreter Task Force, formed pursuant to section 81 of chapter 154 of the acts of 2018.

• Written testimony, June 1, 2021 
• Bill Summary
• Fact Sheet
• Testimony 1, September 2019 Hearing
• Testimony 2, September 2019 Hearing
  

Educator Diversity Act  (HD.3641/SD.2208)

This bill would create robust pathways for diverse professionals and educators to enter the teaching profession and is sponsored by the two Joint Education Committee Chairs, Representative Alice Peisch and Senator Jason Lewis..

An Act Relative to Opportunity for Students (Student Opportunity Act)

The bill  addresses long-standing funding inequities between the Commonwealth’s highest need and wealthier districts, but prompts all districts to take critical steps to address persistent disparities in opportunity and achievement. 

• Fact Sheet: A Focus on Equity
• MEEP Statement announcing passage  of the bill

Number One for Some

The Massachusetts Education Equity Partnership,  has released a report titled Number One for Some, Opportunity and Achievement in Massachusetts. The report gathers and highlights critical disparities facing Black, Latino, and low-income students who continue to have a dramatically different experience in Massachusetts’ schools than their White and higher-income peers.