Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

The Massachusetts Secretary of Education was in Northampton this week — doing a lot of listening as students and teachers talked school funding. They made their case for reform as costs continue to rise and state dollars come up short in the region’s more rural districts.

For middle school students in Massachusetts, getting into certain trade schools is easier said than done. It can end up being a highly-competitive process, leaving all but high-performing students at a disadvantage, advocates for admissions reform say. The state’s education department is looking to change that, though not everyone’s happy with what has been approved.

Coursework will be key for Massachusetts high schoolers looking to graduate, according to education officials, following a vote this week as the state continues to determine new graduation standards – months after residents voted to stop using MCAS test passage as a means to earn a high school diploma.

The Massachusetts secretary of education gave updates this week on the agency’s commissioner search, as well as Holyoke’s exit from receivership and how the state is handling pressure from the Trump administration.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in Massachusetts could soon have a new commissioner. State education officials are recommending the outgoing head of Chicago Public Schools to lead DESE.

From ultimatums to scrapping diversity initiatives to pledges to eliminate the Education Department altogether, the Trump administration has put educators across the Northeast on edge. With federal funding on the line, leaders in Massachusetts say they're working closely with the state attorney general and remaining vigilant.

Massachusetts education leaders convened this week at Holyoke High School — whose district is months away from a potential exit from state control.

Local option for mask-wearing in schools will remain, state officials announce

Officials in the largest school district in western Massachusetts say newly released data shows years of efforts to get kids to stay in school and…

The public schools in Holyoke, Massachusetts opened this morning to begin the first full academic year under state receivership. While a district…