Everything a diversity partnership should be — and what comes next.
Each arm of the Alliance moves on one framework: Rooted and Responsive.
One framework moves every arm.
Presented at DESE's Partners in Progress Leadership Conference and built on the Commonwealth's own Educational Vision, Rooted and Responsive organizes the work as an ascent — ground the values, build the plan, sustain the network.
The front door of the Alliance — and its heart.
Members receive the full convening year, the conference and career fair, pathway support, and the Educator Diversity Act readiness layer: briefings, checklists, timelines, and quarterly updates on DESE guidance and Trust Fund grant rounds.
Membership also makes MEEA your pipeline conduit: the Alliance builds and stewards relationships with colleges, universities, HBCUs, and secondary-focused pathway organizations — so every member district inherits a statewide recruiting network no single district could build alone. From grow-your-own beginnings in high school classrooms, to student-teaching placements, to first hires at the spring career fair, MEEA connects the campuses to your classrooms.
School Membership
- Full member convening calendar
- Educator Equity Leadership Conference registrations included
- Spring Educator Career Fair access
- Act-readiness briefings and checklists
District / Charter Organization
- Everything in School Membership, organization-wide
- Participation across leadership, HR, and equity teams
- Quarterly Educator Diversity Act update webinars
- Member rates on the ALOC Fellowship and implementation tiers
- MTEL and licensure pathway support as funding allows
Pipeline Partner
- For colleges, universities, HBCUs, and pathway organizations
- Presence at the spring Educator Career Fair
- Visibility at the annual Leadership Conference
- Listed as a MEEA Pipeline Partner
- Direct connection to member districts' hiring and program needs
Conference registration allocations and membership benefits are confirmed annually with conference registration.
Ascending Leaders of Color
Massachusetts is promoting more educators of color into leadership — and too often leaving them isolated in exactly the roles where isolation costs the most. The ALOC Fellowship is a nine-month leadership experience for new school and district administrators of color: an October launch retreat, facilitated cohort sessions alternating with months of one-on-one coaching from veteran Massachusetts leaders of shared identity, registration at the Educator Equity Leadership Conference, and a June capstone showcase where fellows present their problem-of-practice work.
Districts already carry an obligation to provide induction and mentoring to first-year administrators. The Fellowship fulfills that commitment with identity-affirming depth — not a checked box.
One fellow at the member rate covers the cost of district membership itself. Sponsored placements available as Trust Fund and foundation support allows.
Ready to go deeper on the Educator Diversity Act?
For member districts, the Alliance operates a hands-on implementation practice built on the MEEA Educator Diversity Equity Tool — five movements that carry a district from desired results to a funded, accountable, DESE-ready three-year Educator Diversity Plan.
Implementation Cohort
A year-long facilitated cohort: eight monthly sessions, the Equity Tool and plan templates, and a statewide peer network. Reserved for members.
Cohort + Implementation Support
Adds a focused workforce data review, facilitated Equity Tool application, and two on-site working sessions producing a DESE-ready plan draft.
Full Implementation Partnership
Adds year one embedded: diversity council launch, required training for the school committee and leadership team, DEI officer coaching, and plan co-development.
Every offering, one ladder.
Districts and schools can enter at a familiar price point and never hit a wall — only a next step.
| Offering | Investment | Arm |
|---|---|---|
| School Membership | $900 / year | Membership |
| District / Charter Organization Membership | $2,500 / year ($2,000 founding) | Membership |
| Pipeline Partner Membership (colleges & organizations) | $1,500 / year ($1,200 founding) | Membership |
| ALOC Fellowship (per fellow) | $3,500 ($2,500 member rate) | Fellowship |
| Implementation Cohort | $5,000 | Implementation |
| Cohort + Implementation Support | $10,000–$12,000 | Implementation |
| Full Implementation Partnership | $15,000–$20,000 | Implementation |
A rhythm you can plan around.
The implementation cohort convenes and the ALOC Fellowship opens with its launch retreat.
Member convenings keyed to hiring season, plan deadlines, and DESE guidance — with coaching months between Fellowship sessions.
The Educator Equity Leadership Conference — member registrations included.
The Educator Career Fair, connecting member districts directly with diverse candidates.
The Fellowship capstone showcase, and cohort districts finish with DESE-ready three-year plans.
Dates and locations for each convening are announced to members first — one more reason to be in the founding class.
Meet the founding class.
Districts, charter organizations, and pipeline partners from across the Commonwealth — the founding class is forming now, and it closes at our inaugural conference on October 30, when every founding member is celebrated in the room where the Alliance begins. Founding is forever. The window isn't.
The Inaugural Educator Equity Leadership Conference
Friday, October 30, 2026 · Stonehill College, Easton, Massachusetts
Rooted and Responsive:
Building the Educator Workforce Massachusetts Students Deserve
One day. The district and school leaders doing this work across the Commonwealth, in one room — with leadership voices from across Massachusetts and DESE representation on the program.
Who attends: superintendents and district leadership teams, school leaders, HR and DEIB leaders, and higher education partners.
What to expect: a statewide convening built around the Educator Diversity Act year ahead — plenary voices, working sessions on plan readiness and pipeline building, and the founding class of the Alliance, together for the first time.
Founding member districts receive registration details first. Colleges, universities, and pathway organizations interested in a presence at the conference are invited to explore Pipeline Partner membership.
The people behind the Alliance.
Founder & Executive Director
Thirty years in every seat at the table.
Claire Galloway-Jones brings three decades of Massachusetts K–12 leadership to the Alliance: teacher, METCO director, cabinet-level equity executive, coach to school and district leaders, and past president of the METCO Directors' Association and the Massachusetts Partnership for Diversity in Education. A participant in DESE's Influence 100 program and an advisor to DESE's Partners in Progress Leadership Conference, she brings to this work something no title confers: lived experience.
She is a METCO alumna and a descendant of Sarah C. Roberts and Benjamin F. Roberts — the child plaintiff and father who filed Roberts v. City of Boston in 1849, the first school desegregation lawsuit in American history. MEEA is that cause's next chapter.
Guided by Massachusetts education leaders.
MEEA is advised by a founding board of leaders from across the Commonwealth's education community — bringing district, governance, and higher education perspectives to the Alliance's work. Board introductions are coming this fall.
Grounded in Massachusetts' own commitments.
"We stand as advocates to dismantle barriers and practices and develop policies to create pathways to excellence and maximized potential for all students."
— Executive Office of Education, Core Values: Advance Equity and Inclusion"Develop and sustain a workforce that is diverse, culturally responsive, and committed to continuous improvement so that all students have equitable access to effective educators."
— DESE Educational Vision, Strategic Objective 3