This year's report examines the critical role community plays in education. Integrating learning that takes place inside and outside of school has always been a powerful strategy to support student success, but it gained special relevance this year, as school closures made family and community members integral parts of students' daily learning.…

Each year, the Rennie Center collects a set of key indicators in the Data Dashboard to provide context on the status of education in the Commonwealth. This data is collected from the MA Department of Early Education and Care; MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education; MA Department of Higher Education; U.S. Census Bureau; U.S. Department…

The Year 2 Preschool Expansion Grant (PEG) implementation study focuses on the second year of supports and outcomes for teachers, classroom quality, and supports for families. Overall, compared to its first year of implementation, the PEG programs in Year 2 (which was the 2016-17 school year) appear to have made progress towards delivering the key…

School districts on the leading edge of the Birth through Third Grade movement have demonstrated unprecedented success raising the achievement of low-income students by developing coherent strategies focused on the early years of learning and development. These communities are not merely improving preschool. Rather, they are building aligned,…

As part of the federal Preschool Development Grant Program in late 2014, the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) was awarded a Preschool Expansion Grant (referred to as the Massachusetts PEG program) to expand high-quality early childhood education to four-year-old children from low-income families. The Massachusetts PEG…

Over the past year, many national leaders have committed to reform education and reshape America's school system. With this goal in mind, the Obama administration created a competitive grant program entitled Race to the Top (RTTT), which was passed by Congress as a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). RTTT features two grant…

Support for publicly funded pre-kindergarten has increased tremendously in recent years as parents, educators and policy makers have come to recognize the many benefits of high-quality early education. As of 2008, 38 states and the District of Columbia invest in pre-k programs, and many school districts are doing so on their own with local and…

This report briefly describes and evaluates a program designed to provide medical and public health consultation to Project Head Start in Massachusetts. The program consisted of teams of community medical and public health professionals made available to Head Start programs for planning and implementation of health programs, and education and…

This report recounts that many impressive projects in Massachusetts Learn and Serve America school-based sites have been observed. The term "project" is used in the report to refer to community service learning (CSL) as it is incorporated into classroom instruction. In general, the report notes, the projects ranged from simple to…

This brief is based on the 61-page report of the same name. This paper, commissioned by the Brookings Institution, studies the emergence of the mixed delivery model, in which pre-kindergarten is delivered in community-based settings and schools. It describes findings of a state survey CLASP conducted to understand the policy choices,…

DURING THE PERIOD UNDER REVIEW, ABCD WAS ENGAGED IN PROGRAM ELABORATION AND IMPLEMENTATION, ESPECIALLY IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE BOSTON YOUTH OPPORTUNITIES PROJECT. IT HAS ATTEMPTED TO MOVE FROM HOPES AND IDEAS TO TANGIBLE OPERATIONS, TO INSURE THAT CHANGE TAKES PLACE AND TO DESIGN PROGRAMS WITH SUFFICIENT CLARITY SO THAT THEIR USEFULNESS CAN BE…

Seventeen Massachusetts programs involving schools and communities working together to support the educational success of linguistic minorities are described. The programs represent a cross-section of efforts in the state serving a variety of language groups. Program focuses include: (1) supplemental support and resources for Cambodian students;…

Designed to improve Massachusetts' children's healthy development and success in school, this plan discusses high quality early care and education programs that are responsive to the needs and preferences of families, and that provide parenting education and family literacy and support. The goal of the plan is to create a coordinated system of…

The Brookline Early Education Project (BEEP) has been initiated by the Public Schools of Brookline, Massachusetts to help parents provide an optimum learning environment for their children throughout the preschool years. Enrollment in BEEP begins at birth and the project provides educational and diagnostic services, including pediatric care. Each…

This report is a guide to ESEA Title III programs in Massachusetts. Forty-six programs are described; these programs concern, among many other topics, curriculum development, bilingual education, inservice teacher training, interdisciplinary programs, individualized instruction, learning and behavior problems, and environmental study. In addition…