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.
District/Charter Membership
- Full member convening calendar, spring Educator Career Fair access, and Act-readiness briefings — organization-wide
- Three Educator Equity Leadership Conference registrations included
- Participation across leadership, HR, and equity teams
- Four-part Educator Diversity Act webinar series
- 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
- Four-part Educator Diversity Act webinar series
- Listed as a MEEA Pipeline Partner
- Direct connection to member districts' hiring and program needs
Ascending Leaders of Color
Promoted into leadership. Too often left isolated.
More educators of color are being promoted into leadership, and too often left isolated in exactly the roles where isolation costs the most. The ALOC Fellowship is nine months of structure: a Friday–Saturday launch retreat on October 23 and 24, four cohort convenings, four months of one-on-one coaching, registration at the Educator Equity Leadership Conference on October 30, and a June capstone. Five days out of district across the entire year.
- Newly appointed — administrators learning the role in public.
- Holding the work without the license — educators carrying full administrative responsibility on provisional or temporary licensure, or none. A licensure pathway runs alongside the core year.
- Tenured without the authority — long-serving leaders whose responsibility has outgrown their position: no budget authority, no evaluation authority, no seat at the leadership table.
Alliance membership is a separate annual investment. Districts that hold membership pay the member rate on Fellowship seats and on everything else the Alliance offers. Sponsored placements are available as Trust Fund and foundation support allows.
Applications close Friday, October 16, 2026.
Two doors, no gate. A leader may apply directly, or be nominated by a direct supervisor and/or superintendent. Neither is a selection process. The cohort seats twelve to fifteen; applications beyond that are held for the next cohort rather than declined.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| District/Charter 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.
Second Tuesdays, October through June.
Full membership meetings and Educator Diversity Act briefing webinars alternate month to month — members hold one standing block all year; only the month determines which series meets.
Membership Meetings
| Session | Date | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Meeting 1 | Tue, Oct 13, 2026 | 3:30–4:30 PM |
| Meeting 2 | Tue, Dec 8, 2026 | 3:30–5:00 PM |
| Meeting 3 | Tue, Feb 9, 2027 | 3:30–5:00 PM |
| Meeting 4 | Tue, Apr 13, 2027 | 3:30–5:00 PM |
| Meeting 5 | Tue, Jun 8, 2027 | 3:30–5:00 PM |
October's opening session runs sixty minutes — the year ahead and team introductions; the rest run the full ninety.
Educator Diversity Act Webinar Series
| Session | Date | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Webinar 1 | Tue, Nov 10, 2026 | 3:30–4:30 PM |
| Webinar 2 | Tue, Jan 12, 2027 | 3:30–4:30 PM |
| Webinar 3 | Tue, Mar 9, 2027 | 3:30–4:30 PM |
| Webinar 4 | Tue, May 11, 2027 | 3:30–4:30 PM |
Sixty-minute virtual briefings on the status of the Educator Diversity Act and what it asks of districts.
Signature Events
| Event | Date | Location | Access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual Conference | Fri, Oct 30, 2026 | Stonehill College, Easton | Three seats per member district; open to all by paid registration |
| Educator Career Fair | March 2027 — date TBD | Location TBD | Included in membership; open to all by paid registration |
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.
Three registrations included with district membership · ALOC Fellows included
*Prices shown before Eventbrite service fees
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 advisory board of leaders from across the Commonwealth's education community — bringing district, human resources, teacher preparation, and leadership development perspectives to the Alliance's work.
Co-Founder & CEO, Cynergi Healing Center
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