The Massachusetts Preschool Expansion Grant (PEG) model supported and expanded high-quality preschool in high-needs communities. PEG required shared governance between local school districts and Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care-licensed community-based programs. The 48 PEG classrooms provided free prekindergarten for…

Calls for universal preschool programs have become commonplace, reinforced by President Obama's call for "high-quality preschool for all" in 2013. Any program that could cost state and federal taxpayers $50 billion per year warrants a closer look at the evidence on its effectiveness. This report reviews the major evaluations of preschool…

The Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) program, authorized by Congress in 2011, is designed to improve the quality of early learning and development programs for children from birth through age 5. This discretionary grant program is administered jointly by the U.S. Departments of Education (ED) and Health and Human Services…

This Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) annual performance report for the year 2015 describes Massachusetts' accomplishments, lessons learned, challenges, and strategies Massachusetts will implement to address those challenges. Massachusetts continued to make great progress implementing its 2012-2015 Early Learning Plan,…

Funding from the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) grant has allowed Massachusetts an unprecedented opportunity to accelerate early childhood education so that the states' children have access to high quality early education that will put them on an early path to school success and productive citizenship. The Massachusetts…

This Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) annual performance report for the year 2014 describes Massachusetts' accomplishments, lessons learned, challenges, and strategies Massachusetts will implement to address those challenges. Massachusetts continues to make progress implementing its 2012-2015 Early Learning Plan, developed to…

The U.S. Department of Education's Policy to Performance project was funded in 2009 to build the capacity of state adult basic education (ABE) staff to develop and implement policies and practices that would support an ABE transition system. Policy to Performance states were selected though a competitive process. State adult education directors…

In 2009, the U.S. Department of Education distributed $2,500,000 via a competitive grant program, the Technical Assistance for Student Assignment Plans, to 11 school districts. The grants and their local effects provide an opportunity to examine the new politics of diversity in public education. Participants cited a wide range of conceptions of…

Purpose/Objective: This case study identified common elements of three diverse New England school districts that were real-world models of improving school meals. Methods: School districts that had greater than 1,000 students, [greater than or equal to]3 schools, and [greater than or equal to]40% of students who qualified for free- or…

The "Touching Hearts, Touching Minds" initiative was funded through a 2003 United States Department of Agriculture Special Projects grant to revitalize nutrition education and services in the Massachusetts Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Program. The 30 nutrition education materials and…

The State-specific summary report serves as an assessment of Massachusetts' annual Race to the Top implementation. The Year 4 report for Phase 2 grantees highlights successes and accomplishments, identifies challenges, and provides lessons learned from implementation from approximately September 2013 through September 2014. In Year 4,…

This State-specific summary report serves as an assessment of Massachusetts' Year 3 Race to the Top implementation. The Year 3 report for Phase 1 and Phase 2 grantees highlights successes and accomplishments, identifies challenges, and provides lessons learned from implementation from approximately September 2012 through September 2013. In School…

Over the past three years, the authors' team at Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) has been researching a professional development program in science, "Foundations of Science Literacy" ("FSL"), for preschool lead and assistant Head Start teachers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Year 1 was a pilot year, so it is the…

"VideoPaper Builder" (VPB) was originally funded in 2001 through the National Science Foundation's "Bridging Research and Practice" program in recognition of the software's promise to articulate the relevance and facilitate the dissemination of educational research to practicing teachers. After four years and two subsequent…

The "Local Technology Plan Guidelines" serve as the basis for the Department's annual technology data collection. This report takes a look at the data submitted by 344 school districts, examining the progress Massachusetts school districts are making in meeting the recommended guidelines. In doing so, it will gauge the degree to which…