dese

After a five-month search that drew two dozen applicants, Massachusetts college and university overseers chose former Pennsylvania Education Secretary Noe Ortega as their pick to be the Bay State’s next higher education commissioner. The Board of Higher Education selected Ortega, who is also a former University of Michigan official and spent almost a decade working in Texas, from a...

There is no longer a statewide mask mandate or testing requirement for schools, which ended in the spring.

Monday is the first day of school for thousands of students in Massachusetts, as school districts across the state prepare for another academic year to get underway while co-existing with COVID-19. As children in Worcester, Lawrence, Fitchburg and several other districts head back to the classroom Monday, there is a number of changes in COVID-19 protocols in schools that parents…

Boston Public Schools has completed some of the first steps toward completing its state supervised improvement plan. Monday was the first deadline the school district had to meet, and a new report from the district shows that it managed to do it. The report shows a number of initiatives still in the works, and others that are already done. That…

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Department of Public Health issued the latest guidance Monday for K-12 schools and districts across the state.

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Department of Public Health issued the latest guidance Monday for K-12 schools and districts across the state.

After scathing reports from state education leaders, Boston Public Schools say they are on track to meet improvement mandates for the coming school year. The city and school district reached an agreement with the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on a plan back in June to avoid a state of receivership. Changes to special education services, student transportation…

At the 11th hour, the city of Boston and Boston Public Schools reached an agreement with Massachusetts education officials on a plan to improve longstanding issues in the district and avoid officially being labeled underperforming. In a report released last month, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) said Boston Public Schools is struggling to operate on a…

The city of Boston and Boston Public Schools have reached an agreement with the state on a plan to improve longstanding issues in the district. In a report released last month, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education said Boston Public Schools is struggling to operate on a basic level and is not addressing “systemic barriers” to equitable education,…

Massachusetts’ education commissioner is set to recommend that Boston Public Schools be declared an “underperforming district” based on multiple “serious deficiencies,” the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education said Friday. A DESE spokesperson said officials from the agency, Boston Public Schools and the city were unable to come to an agreement, so DESE Commissioner Jeffrey Riley will recommend to the…

Starting this fall, the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education says it will suspend its COVID testing program.

The DESE report says “the district has failed to effectively serve its most vulnerable students, carry out basic operational functions, and address systemic barriers to providing an equitable, quality education”

As the state’s elementary and secondary education commissioner prepares to review the Boston Public Schools, Mayor Michelle Wu on Tuesday said she “firmly” opposes the idea of putting the district under receivership. Two years after the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education announced a memorandum of understanding with Boston aimed at addressing what DESE called “persistent challenges” identified in...

Massachusetts’ K-12 public school mask mandate has been extended through February, Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley announced Monday. The move comes as Massachusetts is in the middle of a major coronavirus surge. The mandate had previously been set to expire on Friday, Jan. 15. Education officials say masking, testing and vaccinations have made school environments safe,…

As COVID-19 case counts continue to rise across Massachusetts, including its schools, a decision about whether to extend the mask mandate in public schools will be announced next week, Education Commissioner Jeff Riley told local school officials. A Department of Elementary and Secondary Education spokeswoman confirmed Thursday morning that Riley informed school superintendents of his plans during a phone call…

With COVID-19 cases surging across Massachusetts, some parents are struggling with whether sending their kids back to school is the right decision and whether everyone who’s symptomatic has been tested before heading back to class.

The Massachusetts Teachers Association is calling for schools to close on Monday so teachers and staff can use the day for COVID testing, the union said in a statement Friday. The MTA urged for a delayed start after the state’s plan to send testing kits for schools to distribute to students and staff experienced significant delays. The vendor the...

The Massachusetts Teachers Association is calling for schools to stay closed on Monday so teachers and staff can use the day for COVID testing

Massachusetts’ plan to send out 200,000 at-home COVID-19 test to teachers and school staff members hit a snag Thursday night. The vendor the state had been counting on for the tests will not be available by Friday, a spokesperson with the Executive Office of Education said, citing national supply chain constraints. “DESE quickly developed an alternative plan, and will make…

Every Massachusetts school teacher and staff member is getting rapid COVID-19 tests to use before returning to school after the upcoming holiday break, state school officials said Wednesday. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is sending 200,000 of the tests to districts, which is enough that each staff member can get two of the rapid antigen tests. The employees…