Research and evaluation is an area of expertise located within the Office of Planning and Research (OPR). The mission of this group is to improve the use of data and research findings to improve programming and policy decision-making within the department and in schools and districts, including DESE's Educational Vision . DESE has defined a research agenda related to the agency's goals and strategies so that we can improve their implementation and measure their outcomes.
Provide data, evaluation, and research support and resources for districts and schools to:
Develop data tools and training on those to support educators in working with students:
Provide access to reports on work conducted by DESE including program evaluations, education policy briefs, legislative reports, board reports, and other in the Reports Library
Identify the evaluation and research priorities for the department by reviewing our Research Agenda
Support researchers to address DESE priorities with DESE data here: For Researchers.
Researchers interested in working with Massachusetts data should contact OPR for more information.
Last Updated: October 20, 2023