2024 Condition of Education in the Commonwealth

Tuesday, January 30, 2024 - 8:30 AM

Omni Parker House Hotel, Boston

On January 30, 2024, we held our annual summit on the state of education in Massachusetts, bringing together education leaders, policymakers, and practitioners to talk about how we can rethink our education system and reimagine when, where, and how learning happens. The event featured a keynote address from Massachusetts Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler and a panel discussion with all three state education commissioners—Early Education and Care Commissioner Amy Kershaw, Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeffrey C. Riley, and Higher Education Commissioner Noe Ortega.

The event was part of our Condition of Education Week, which also included the release of our new Data Dashboard, Data Story, Action Guide, and Community Conversation.

SPEAKERS

Secretary Patrick Tutwiler
Massachusetts Executive Office of Education

Commissioner Amy Kershaw
Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care

Commissioner Jeffrey C. Riley
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Commissioner Noe Ortega
Massachusetts Department of Higher Education

Dr. Chad d'Entremont
Executive Director, The Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy

Alexis Lian
Director of Policy, The Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy

Blog

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.