About $2B In Fed Education Funds Remain in Mass.

Michael P. Norton

Tue, 11/01/2022 - 12:00

Only about a third of the $2.9 billion in education funding authorized by the federal government since COVID-19 hit has been spent in Massachusetts, leaving "a lot of money on the table," according to a top state education official. During an EdImpact Research Consortium briefing Tuesday morning, Matt Deninger, chief strategy and resource officer at DESE, said EESSER funding for Massachusetts was authorized in three tranches: about $200 million at the start of the pandemic in March 2020, $739 million in December 2020, and $1.66 billion more in April 2021.

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Rethinking Grading

March 28, 2024

Schools have assessed student learning and growth with essentially the same grading system for more than a century. Since this system was created, the field has learned so much more about the way students learn, the systemic inequities embedded in the design of traditional grading and assessment, and what type of learning leads to success in life. Grading should be aligned with what we know about the learning process, child and adolescent development, and the demands of career, college, and community life. But traditional grading is so deeply ingrained in our culture, that making changes to this system can seem like an insurmountable task. That’s why we partnered with DESE and reDesign to support five unique high schools as they interrogate their traditional grading practices and make shifts toward new systems that better measure student learning and growth.