Site Accessibility

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (MA DESE) is committed to achieving meaningful accessibility to this site for all users, including users with disabilities. We follow specific Commonwealth enterprise standards designed to meet the needs of citizens with disabilities. The Commonwealth enterprise standards are generally based on standards used by the Federal government for technology accessibility for people with disabilities, and web content accessibility guidelines developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). This resource clearinghouse web site is regularly tested using leading web accessibility technologies and reviewed by site administrators to verify that the site is compliant with applicable standards. For more information about website accessibility, visit the Section 508, Federal Access Board, or W3C Guidelines websites.

Some documents on this site are produced in Portable Document Format (PDF). We make every effort to ensure that files are produced using the latest version of Adobe Acrobat (file conversion software for PDFs) which is the most accessible technology currently available for these types of files. In order to improve viewing of these files, please download the latest free version of Adobe Reader. However, because this technology does not always work for all users, we try to provide alternative accessible formats whenever possible for MA DESE and partner-produced resources, most commonly through a text or an HTML file.

If any file format prevents you from accessing the information, please contact us for assistance. Please note the nature of your accessibility concern, the format in which you prefer to receive the material, the web page address of the requested material, and the best way to contact you. We always welcome questions about this accessibility statement and comments on how to improve the site's accessibility. Please use our Contact page to reach us.

Links To External Resources

This site is designed to point MA DESE staff and district and school users to helpful resources related to school improvement. It includes resources and files produced by MA DESE staff or contracted partners. It also includes links to external resources. MA DESE staff evaluate all resources added to the clearinghouse. Resources created by MA DESE staff must meet our clearinghouse inclusion criteria and MA DESE accessibility standards. We also review all external resources for quality and accessibility.

Reference in this website to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of our users, and does not constitute endorsement or recommendation by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education except for special cases. For example, our Priority Partners are selected by MA DESE using a rigorous application process.

This clearinghouse may, at our discretion, link to sites owned, operated, or sponsored by the following entities:

State, federal, and local government entities;
Private, nonprofit entities
Research organizations
Technical assistance providers (Priority Partners)
Other educational resource sites or clearinghouses

We will not link to websites that:

Are owned and operated by a commercial venture for the sole purpose of sales and or marketing;
Are associated with political or advocacy groups for a political party, organization, or candidate running for office;
Promote or exhibit hate, bias, discrimination, pornography; libelous or otherwise defamatory content;
Promote any religion or religious viewpoint;
Are individual or personal home pages.

Non-Discrimination

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, an affirmative action employer, is committed to ensuring that all of its programs and facilities are accessible to all members of the public. We do not discriminate on the basis of age, color, disability, national origin, race, religion, sex, gender identity or sexual orientation. Inquiries concerning the Department's compliance with Title IX and other civil rights laws may be directed to the Human Resources Director, 75 Pleasant Street, Malden, MA 02148, phone: 781-338-6105. Grievances relating to employment at the Department will be resolved pursuant to the procedure contained in the Department's "Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action Plan." Other grievances will be referred to the Commissioner of Education for resolution.

Information about the federal civil rights laws that apply to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and other educational institutions is available on the website of the Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education at Office for Civil Rights. Inquiries about Title IX and other federal civil rights laws may be directed to the Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education, 33 Arch Street, Suite 900, Boston, MA 02110-1491 (phone number: 617-223-9662).

Privacy

Your privacy with respect to the use of this website results from a partnership between the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (MA DESE) and you, the user. At this web site, we do our best to protect your privacy to the maximum extent possible. This policy informs you of the information that we collect from you at this site and what we do with it. Based on this information, you can make an informed choice about your use of this site. You can maximize the benefits of your privacy partnership with us by making informed choices about whether to share personally identifiable information with us through this site. The policy that follows applies to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's website and does not apply to other sites operated by the Commonwealth, which have their own policies.

Personally Identifiable Information: We use the term "personally identifiable information" to mean any information that could reasonably be used to identify you. This includes your name, address, e-mail address, Social Security number, birth date, bank account information, credit card information, or any combination of information that could be used for identification purposes.

Information Voluntarily Provided by You: This site collects voluntary information from you only through forms you may fill out while accessing this site; for example, the Contact Us form or an event registration form. This information is only used to fulfill requests or send notifications related to an upcoming event, and only when you request such information. These emails and online forms do contain personally identifiable information.

Information Automatically Collected and Stored by this Site: The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education does indefinitely collect and store your Internet Protocol (" IP") address. An " IP Address" is a series of numbers that identifies each computer and machine connected to the Internet. The IP address enables a server on a computer network to send you the file that you have requested on the Internet. The IP address disclosed to us may identify the computer from which you are accessing the Internet, or a server owned by your Internet Service Provider. Because it is machine-specific, rather than person-specific, an IP address is not, in and of itself, personally identifiable information. The IP address provides information about the date and time of your visit, whether a file you have requested exists, and how many " bytes" of information were transmitted to you over the Web from this site. The IP address does not identify you as an individual. We use your IP address to assess the frequency of visits to this site and the popularity of its various pages and functions. We will not attempt to match any personally identifiable information that you provide to us with your IP address, unless there are reasonable grounds to believe that doing so would provide information that is relevant and material to a criminal investigation.

Additionally, this site uses session " cookies". Cookies are small files that a web server places on your computer. A cookie file contains a unique identification code that is used to identify your session at a particular website. The web server uses these cookies to maintain information identifying your session as you move from page to page. The cookies do not identify you as an individual and expire when your session has ended. Although you can prevent web sites from placing cookies on your computer by using your browser's preference menu, disabling cookies may affect your ability to view or interact with some websites. If you set your browser to not accept cookies, you will still be able to use the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's public website.

Dissemination of Your Personally Identifiable Information: We do not sell any personally identifiable information collected through this Web site. Once you voluntarily submit personally identifiable information to us through e-mail or an online form however, its dissemination is governed by the Public Records Law, the Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 66A (Fair Information Practices Act), Executive Order 504, and other applicable laws and regulations. For this reason, part or all of the information you send us may be provided to a member of the public in response to a request for public records. In addition, the information that you voluntarily submit will be disclosed only to MA DESE employees or officials with a " need to know" for purposes of fulfilling their job responsibilities. They will only use the information to answer your questions, respond to any requests for assistance, and fulfill the Commonwealth's legal obligations. Where appropriate, we may provide the information submitted by you to the person or company that is the subject of your inquiry, or to a government agency responsible for the matters referred to in your communication.

Your Access and Opportunity to Correct: The Public Records Law and the Fair Information Practices Act provide you certain rights regarding information about you that is in our records. To learn more about the circumstances under which you can get and correct this information, please click on the above references to these laws.

Security: This website does not encrypt incoming email, so you should not send information that you consider highly sensitive through it. We use standard security measures to ensure that your personally identifiable information is not lost, misused, altered, or unintentionally destroyed. This site is hosted on the Squarespace platform which uses industry-standard security technologies including a technology called 'Secure Sockets Layer', (SSL). SSL technology protects data transferred over the Internet by encrypting information so it cannot be accessed or changed. You can confirm that you are on a SSL protected page. Check to make sure the URL begins with "https" rather than "http" and/or look for a padlock icon on the bottom left or bottom right of your browser. There may be cases where your browser reports insecure items, the padlock is not displayed or is displayed with a red slash. This happens because the page also contains items which do not need to be encrypted such as images, or style sheets. Nevertheless, if the URL begins with "https" you can be assured that sensitive information such as your account and credit card numbers remain encrypted and secure even though the padlock icon disappears.

Special Protections against Misuse of Personally Identifiable Information within Commonwealth Offices: In 1999, then Governor Cellucci issued Executive Order 412, which enhanced the privacy protection given to any information about you as a named individual held by the Executive Department of state government. Executive Order 412 limits the collection and dissemination of personally identifiable information within the Executive Department. This site complies with Executive Order 412, so all of the personally identifiable information that you submit to this site is given the privacy protections set forth in Executive Order 412.

Policy Changes: We will post changes to this policy at least 30 days before they take effect. Any information we collect under the current privacy policy will remain subject to the terms of this policy. After any changes take effect, all new information we collect, if any, will be subject to the new policy.