Name of Program: Performance Review Program for Initial Licensure

Client: Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE)

Duration of Current Contract: July 2020 to August 2025

Delivering towards a long-term State plan:

• PRPIL was created by DESE as a mechanism through which a provisionally licensed Massachusetts teacher can demonstrate the skills, knowledge, and abilities required for an initial license.
• As a more affordable alternative to a graduate degree in education, the PRPIL program has been a key factor in the recent diversification of the teacher population in Massachusetts.
• Class Measures has been administering PRPIL since DESE’s first RFR in 2003.
• Class Measures has renewed this contract with DESE at every renewal opportunity.
• In 2021, Class Measures successfully completed a transition to a fully-digital administration of the PRPIL program – teachers complete the program via a web-hosted portal.
• Since 2003, Class Measures has supported over 4200 teachers through the PRPIL program to be endorsed for an Initial License. An Initial License is for five years, and can be renewed for another five years, thus helping Massachusetts retain 4200 teachers for an additional ten years. These teachers would have had to either earn a M.Ed or leave the teaching profession otherwise.

Developing a robust program:

• The PRPIL includes two primary components for teachers to complete:

1. Classroom observations
2. An ePortfolio of evidence

• Goal Setting and Implementation
  • Teachers who join PRPIL are required to establish their learning/implementation goals at the beginning of the program. Our evaluators/associates/Instructional Consultants (ICs) coach them on these goals and provide feedback within the context of these goals throughout the classroom observations.
• Classroom Observations and Coaching/Feedback from the Instructional Consultant to meet requirements for Massachusetts Candidate Assessment of Performance (CAP).
  • While CAP only requires four observations, Class Measures has implemented a system in which the teachers are observed five times instead of four.
  • ICs give meaningful, actionable feedback between each observation, and ensure that the feedback is implemented in the very next observation, a standard which is also more rigorous than the CAP requirements.
  • Evaluates their content fluency in the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks and Subject Matter Knowledge Guidelines through their practice.
• An e-portfolio that compiles artifacts and reflections that align with the Massachusetts Professional Standards for Teaching (PST).
  • Candidates must submit artifacts from only the current calendar year or school year.
  • The same artifact may not be used for multiple sub-standards.
  • 3 out of 5 portfolios are sent back to the teacher for revisions, indicating a rigorous portfolio evaluation standard.

Statistics from Current Contract (2020 to Present)

• Quantitative and Geographic Enrollment into PRPIL:
  
  

  Regions	2020/2021	2021/2022	2022/2023
  Cape Cod	10	18	20
  Western MA	53	41	47
  Southeast MA	75	52	59
  The Islands	0	1	2
  Greater Boston	199	186	180
  Central MA	52	55	55
  TOTAL	389	353	363

Diversification of Teacher Population in Massachusetts: Why PRPIL is Relevant

The State of Massachusetts, like other parts of the United States and the entire education landscape worldwide, experienced a shortage of teachers during 2020. In order to reconcile this issue, Massachusetts issued thousands of “Emergency Licenses” to ensure that students still had educators to learn from, and that the required educator/student ratios were being met. More than ever before, these emergency licenses were being distributed to parents and community leaders in marginalized and sectors of State and respective districts. This has introduced a ‘silver lining’ – many of these Emergency license holders are people of color or non-native English speakers who represent a demographic shift that more accurately represents the student body. According to a study conducted by non-profit research organization “So All Students Thrive”, a teacher in Massachusetts is 107% more likely than a white teacher to be in the first or second year of teaching:

The PRPIL program is a key player in providing accessible and equitable opportunities for this unprecedented saturation of diverse teachers to remain in the education field. Without the PRPIL program, and without the accessible nature of the program, these teachers would have a lower chance of remaining in the teacher pipeline.

Statistics that support PRPIL’s role in diversifying the teacher population in Massachusetts:

• In the 2023/2024 school year, 41% of teachers are supported by a non-white Instructional Consultant, compared to 35% in 2022, and less than 25% throughout the history of the program.
• PRPIL has seen a vast increase in enrollment rates in Massachusetts’ most racially diverse districts:

PRPIL program satisfaction feedback

PRPIL completers are asked to rate their experiences on a scale from 1 (lowest rating) to 5 (highest rating).

• “As a career changer who already has a master’s degree outside of education (and the loan debt to prove it), I was so happy to find the PRPIL Program…I needed to be able to work while pursuing my initial license. If I had needed a second Masters degree to switch to education, I don’t think that I would have been able to afford to make the change."
  
  
• “It was hard work, but without any doubt, absolutely worth the effort. I am grateful for this opportunity to become a better educator for my students, who deserve only the best that I can offer."
  
  
• “To be honest, I was a little nervous about what the program would be like for me as a PE teacher, but I can honestly say that I as very happy with the entire process. My IC and my mentor were so great to me the entire time. A lot of great feedback was given to me that I was able to apply to my teaching immediately. 10 out of 10. No question."
  
  
• “I am grateful to have the opportunity to work with my IC, who helped me to fine tune teaching strategies and continually expand the scope of student learning in my classroom.”
  
  
• “It was great to have multiple sets of eyes on my classes. It helped me to see that I was having success in some areas that I really didn’t think too much about and reinforced a lot of the strategies I have developed.”
  
  
• “I thought the e-Portfolio allowed me to show many different aspects of my teaching. It also made me reflect a lot and helped me understand that different competencies work together to improve overall practice.”

If you are a Massachusetts teacher looking to advance your provisional license, visit the PRPIL website.