Our Approach
DYS strives to ensure that all youth have access to a high-quality education. Providing effective access to the general education curriculum for ALL students requires a multi-faceted approach that includes planning instruction using Universal Design for Learning principles, differentiation, culturally responsive practices, and collaboration with other educators. We follow a collaborative planning process that uses a formal data driven discussion protocol and is a responsibility shared by general education and special education educators alike. This serves to advance our commitment to blended learning and differentiation.
The DYS core curricula support students in pursuing their educational goals and providing access to resources designed to expose them to rigorous content. Lessons are aligned with the most current Massachusetts State Curriculum Frameworks. Instruction is regularly evaluated by qualified educational administrators, informed by the MA DESE model evaluation system, and professional development is organized to support teacher proficiency in these standards and in advancing the goals of the Department.
Positive Youth Development and Culturally Responsive Practices
Our approach to professional development is grounded in research-based positive youth development (PYD) and culturally responsive practices (CRP). Trainings provided through the CES partnership with DYS are designed to deepen understanding of PYD and CRP and identify strategies and practices that maintain academic rigor and high expectations for student performance while giving students experiences that are culturally relevant, enriching, and meaningful.Together, PYD and CRP provide a framework to give educators the awareness and skills to foster in all DYS youth a stable sense of self, belief in one’s abilities, positive and caring relationships with others, and a sense of control over future outcomes.
For a brief summary of the DYS program’s best practices, innovations, and progress, please download our DYS Education Practice Brief. We hope you will share with others!
Professional Development Series
Each year, a general and special educator PD series is planned and delivered. The year’s PD series can incorporate overall themes such as the design elements of social justice and culturally responsive teaching, and special education strategies and skills. A PD Workshop Model resembling classroom instruction in DYS settings is implemented to support best practices in promoting civic engagement and cultural responsiveness across a range of youth concentrations and pursuits.
Content-based Learning Teams
DYS also hosts Content-Based Learning Team (CBLT) meetings which give content-alike teachers a venue to share practices, analyze student data, and give feedback on instructional plans and lesson activities that could enhance classroom teaching and learning within their respective content areas. Most teachers value CBLTs because they provide additional opportunities for collaboration around instructional planning, curriculum, and technology resources, and modeling new instructional strategies for content.
Job-embedded Coaching
Another strategy DYS utilizes to strengthen educator practice is instructional coaching. The instructional coaching framework is based on three research-based coaching modalities:
- Residency Coaching: Instructional Coach spends consecutive and/or multiple days at a program with the teacher or teachers.
- Rotation Coaching: Instructional Coach works with a teacher for all or part of a day for a specific, timely coaching request. Multiple visits may be scheduled.
- Virtual Coaching: Instructional Coach assists teacher(s) with one or more specific practices by phone, email, webinar, or Google Drive.
New Teacher Induction
New teachers at DYS participate in a comprehensive five-day New Teacher Induction Program (NTIP) that fulfills DESE’s new teacher induction licensure requirements and supports new teachers in their transition to teaching in DYS programs.
Annual Addressing Racial Trauma Conference
In April 2021 as part of the 2020-2021 DYS Professional Development Series, we hosted a multi-disciplinary conference titled, “Liberatory Education: Healing from the Hidden Wounds of Racial Trauma in the Classroom.” Liberatory education explicitly teaches about real social issues through raising critical consciousness and applying social justice principles to create a more “just” society. Guided by this theme, the conference was designed to deepen our shared understanding of racial trauma and use this understanding to strengthen our individual and collective skills in reaching and teaching our youth.
Technology Literacy
DYS has been unwavering in promoting teacher and youth use of technology to strengthen teaching and learning. At the start of the academic year, several strategies are identified that would enhance proficiency of educators in blended learning. The Instructional Technology Coaches help with the professional development sessions on the use of technology to meet learning objectives.
Workplace Readiness
Consistent with the expectations of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, DYS is committed to supporting youth to be prepared for the demands of further education and a contemporary workplace. To meet this commitment, DYS has invested in curricular resources and materials that benefit all learners from high school and beyond and trainings to support teachers in integrating the new resources into their lessons.
DYS Curriculum Supports
The curriculum design supports students in pursuing their educational goals and provides access to resources designed to expose them to rigorous content. Lessons are aligned with the most current Massachusetts State Curriculum Frameworks.
An extensive library of approved curricular materials and supports are provided to teachers in the DYS educational system.