MCAS Academic Support Programs: Final Evaluation Report
Prepared for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
June 2017
The Massachusetts state legislature funded the Academic Support grants annually to enhance academic support services to assist all eligible students in meeting the Commonwealth’s Competency Determination, a requirement for high school graduation. Academic Support services were informed by evidence-based practices, as defined by ESE, and data collected by individual sites. The Academic Support grants funded four types of school-year and summer grant programs: (1) Allocation grant program; (2) Work and Learning program; (3) Partnerships for Pathways to Success program; and (4) Collaborative Partnerships for Student Success (CPSS) program. The Allocation grant program was based on a formula that includes the number of high school students who scored at the “failing” level on their most recently available high school MCAS exam in English language arts (ELA), mathematics, and science and technology/engineering (STE). The other three grants were awarded through a competitive application process.
The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) engaged the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute as a third-party independent research organization to evaluate the programs funded by the Academic Support grants, with the objective of helping the state legislature and ESE to better understand program implementation, costs, benefits, and outcomes.
This report describes findings from all research activities conducted for the project, from January 2016 through June 2017.
