Educator Preparation Specialist; ESC

Position: Educator Preparation Specialist (ESC)
The Education Secretariat is committed to equity and valuing the unique and diverse characteristics and experiences of every member of its workforce. We encourage an authentic workplace where colleagues show up as their full selves, where collaboration, innovation, and connections are key to realizing our mission that all children, youth, and families thrive socially, academically, and economically. We seek teammates who are committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive work environment, where everyone is valued and engaged.

We encourage you to apply and identify your strengths in these areas.

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) seeks an Educator Preparation Specialist to join the Department's Office of Educator Effectiveness.

About the Office of Educator Effectiveness

The Office of Educator Effectiveness sits within DESE's Teaching and Learning Unit. In the Office of Educator Effectiveness, we work to create the conditions that support the recruitment, preparation, development, and retention of a diverse and effective educator workforce so that all of our students thrive through access to diverse and effective educators, defined as educators who nurture and cultivate academic achievement, cultural and linguistic competence, sociopolitical awareness, and emotional intelligence.

About the Role

The Educator Preparation Specialist will be part of a team responsible for overseeing the effective, equitable, efficient, and consistent review of educator preparation providers in Massachusetts. Supporting increasingly equitable and effective educator preparation in Massachusetts is a key strategy in our commitment to cultivate a diverse and effective workforce.

In 2023, DESE released updated Guidelines for Educator Preparation Program Approval that center evidence-based practices, including culturally and linguistically sustaining practices, as the foundation of effective educator preparation. In 2024, equitable and inclusive practices were embedded throughout the Standards of Effective Practice for all teachers and leaders, and now serve as the pedagogical knowledge and skills required of all aspiring teachers as they complete preparation programs in Massachusetts.

Together, these frameworks reflect a critically important shift in focus for all educators in Massachusetts towards the evidence-based, culturally and linguistically sustaining practices necessary to support all students to attain academic knowledge and skills, understand and value themselves and others, and engage with the world.

The Educator Preparation Specialist will help to advance and deepen this work, particularly through partnerships with and oversight of educator preparation providers, such that all aspiring educators are prepared to serve all students in Massachusetts, particularly those from systemically underserved groups and communities.

Key Responsibilities:

● Facilitating a multi-faceted review process for a caseload of educator preparation providers, which results in high-stakes accountability recommendations. This involves:

o Training and managing diverse teams of volunteer reviewers (including teachers, district personnel, and ed prep faculty and leadership);

o Providing technical assistance and ongoing communication to educator preparation programs throughout the four stages of the formal review process;

o Managing the collection of evidence throughout the review process, including coordinating focus groups and interviews;

o Analyzing and evaluating quantitative and qualitative data related to review criteria to assess program quality (including but not limited to focus group, survey, and other output data);

o Producing evidence-based evaluation reports that have been calibrated externally, vetted internally, and that uphold DESE's rigorous expectations for providers.

● Managing informal program review submissions in high-need licensure areas (e.g., special education, secondary STEM) to review and approve licensure programs outside of the formal review cycle;

● Providing ongoing support and assistance to the Educator Preparation field in alignment with DESE policy and regulations;

● Supporting…