Strategic Initiatives / Massachusetts Department of Higher Education

The Board of Higher Education is currently undertaking several Task Forces, short-term strategic initiatives, and externally funded programs. Filter through our work by DHE Focus Areas, Student Identities, Institution Level / Type, and Current Status.

FEATURED

Equity Toolkit

Access | Awareness | Civic Engagement | Diversity | Early College | Equity | Research & Evidence | Student Learning Outcomes | Success

The Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Toolkit ("The Toolkit") is a comprehensive website that provides resources to all institutions in the Commonwealth as a part of the Department of Higher Education's (DHE) goals and Equity Agenda to "dismantle barriers to success and work toward ensuring a just educational experience within which students thrive". Institutions vary in their progress to date in addressing racial equity issues; the Toolkit is meant to support all institutions as they continue the work to achieve racial equity.
FEATURED

Equity Strategic Framework

Equity | Participation | Readiness | Success

The DHE will develop a statewide strategic plan focused on equity, to be reflected in our policies, programs, and initiatives. The expectation is that, by doing so, the Massachusetts system of public higher education will enhance economic and social mobility for all citizens, but particularly for those that have historically been underserved and underrepresented, especially students of color, throughout all levels of education.
FEATURED

Early College Initiative

Access | Completion | Early College | Participation | Readiness

The purpose of the Early College Initiative is create and maintain partnerships connecting our state's districts and high schools with our state's colleges. in order to give thousands of Massachusetts students, especially first-generation college-goers, access to college completion and career success.
FEATURED

Campus Safety

Assessment | Diversity | Equity | Participation | Readiness | Research & Evidence

The DHE is responsible for implementing the 2021 Campus Sexual Assault Law, and issuing necessary regulations, policies and technical guidance that will help support and advance campus safety and violence prevention (CSVP) initiatives at public and private institutions of higher education (IHEs) in Massachusetts.
FEATURED

Improving Analytics Capacity

Fiscal Stewardship | Research & Evidence

DHE, collaborating with the Executive Office of Education and the Commonwealth’s public colleges and universities, is engaged in a wide-ranging effort to modernize data and analytics systems, improve analytic capabilities, and place data at the center of all policy discussions in public higher education.
FEATURED

Open Educational Resources (OER)

Access | Affordability | Completion | Equity | Retention

The Open Educational Resources (OER) initiative grew out of recommendations from the Commissioner’s OER Work Group and aims to expand OER use on campuses and provide advice and counsel to the DHE for statewide implementation.
FEATURED

Strategic Public Higher Education Financing

Affordability | Completion | Equity | Fiscal Stewardship | Success

Resulting from their Strategic Review Public of Higher Education Finance, the BHE has proposed a Framework for Strategic Public Higher Education Financing that seeks to modernize and strengthen the Commonwealth’s higher education financial planning process to ensure an equitable, affordable, and sustainable Massachusetts public higher education system for the long term.
100 Males to College

Equity | Participation | Readiness | Retention

100 Males to College was created in 2014 to increase college access, enrollment, retention, and success for low-income students and students of color, particularly young men, to positively impact their prospects for success in college and career.
Advancing a Massachusetts Culture of Assessment (AMCOA)

Assessment | Student Learning Outcomes

AMCOA advances assessment of student learning on public campuses amd strengthens campus assessment capabilities.
Bridges to College for Adult Learners

Access | Completion | Equity | Participation | Readiness | Retention

Bridges to College supports adult college transition services that increase the number of low-income, underrepresented, entry-level adult workers who enter and succeed in postsecondary education.
Civic Learning

Assessment | Civic Engagement

Massachusetts is the first state in the nation to make Civic Learning a goal for all undergraduates in public higher education and the first state in the nation to establish a shared goal of Civic Learning for K-12 and public higher education.
Commonwealth Dual Enrollment Partnership (CDEP)

Access | Dual Enrollment | Early College | Equity | Readiness

CDEP provides opportunities for Massachusetts high school students to take college-level courses for free or at a discounted price and earn credit toward high school completion and their future college degrees.
Economic & Workforce Development

Workforce Alignment

The Department of Higher Education supports and coordinates economic and workforce development initiatives across Massachusetts' 29 public college and university campuses to align training, certificate, and degree programs with the workforce needs of the Commonwealth's growth and emerging industry sectors.
Financial Assessment & Risk Monitoring

Consumer Protection | Fiscal Stewardship

The Massachusetts Board of Higher Education (BHE) is required by statute and regulation to annually assess the financial information of private institutions of higher education for the purpose of identifying and monitoring institutions at risk of imminent closure, and mitigating the impacts of closures on students, their families, faculty, staff, and the community.
GEAR UP

Participation | Readiness

Part of a national initiative to encourage more young people to have high expectations, stay in school, study hard and take the right courses to go to college, GEAR UP Massachusetts serves low-income priority students in five cohorts across seven of the Commonwealth’s most impoverished areas.
Go Higher!

Access | Participation | Readiness

Go Higher! is a campaign by the Department of Higher Education, in partnership with Massachusetts' 29 public colleges and universities, to raise awareness of the growing number of outstanding programs and opportunities available to students at our public institutions.
Higher Education Innovation Fund

Equity

Formerly known as PIF, the Innovation Fund supports competitve grants to campuses and consortia, as well as certain systemwide initiatives, to make progress on goals articulated by the BHE.
Improving Teacher Quality Grants

Early Learning | PreK-12 Educators

The DHE administered funding from the Title II: Part A of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 for several professional development partnerships through the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Improving Teacher Quality State Grant Program.
Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS)

For the past 20 years the MCAS has played an important role in the Commonwealth’s achievement gains.
Massachusetts Inclusive Concurrent Enrollment Initiative (MAICEI)

Access | Awareness | Completion | Participation | Readiness | Success

MAICEI offers grants to college-school partnerships to support eligible public high school students with intellectual disabilities, ages 18–22, to increase their academic and career success by being included in a college or university community of learners.
MassTeach

Affordability | Completion | Diversity | Equity | PreK-12 Educators | STEM | Transfer

MassTeach is a program designed to recruit and support more STEM teachers who start their college careers at a community college.
MassTransfer Foundational Learning Outcomes

Assessment | Student Learning Outcomes | Transfer

These learning outcomes for fundational courses ensure that students develop the same knowledge and skills that will be required when they transfer to or continue to matriculate within a four year institution.
MassTransfer Pathways

Completion | Retention | Transfer

MassTransfer is a collaboration between the Commonwealth's community colleges, state universities and the University of Massachusetts. MassTransfer policies seek to recognize the time and effort of students by ensuring their credits transfer between public institutions.
Partnership to Advance Collaboration and Efficiency (PACE)

Fiscal Stewardship

PACE is a collaborative initiative of Massachusetts’ nine state universities and 15 community colleges designed to promote cost savings and operational efficiencies, increase productivity and improve service delivery.
SSA Summer Transfer Academy

Access | Completion | Diversity | Equity | Readiness | Retention | STEM | Transfer | Workforce Alignment

STEM Starter Academy has been supporting community college STEM students earn degrees and certificates since 2014. The Department of Higher Education wants to continue to support community college students in their education as they pursue bachelor’s degrees at one of our public 4-year institutions.
STEM Nexus

STEM

Under the guidance of the Massachusetts STEM Advisory Council, the STEM Nexus portal is devoted to directing users to information about STEM educational and workforce programs, policies, and resources, all in an effort to strengthen the pipeline of STEM-skilled residents.
STEM Starter Academy (SSA)

Access | Completion | Diversity | Equity | Readiness | Retention | STEM | Transfer | Workforce Alignment

The goal of SSA is to recruit, ready, retain and graduate a diverse body of community college students earning STEM certificates and degrees and transferring to 4-year STEM programs or entering the workforce. The UMass Donahue Institute (UMDI) serves as the external evaluator to determine SSA impacts and student outcomes.
Student Hunger and Homelessness

Access | Affordability | Completion | Hunger & Homelessness | Retention

Research shows that many students in Massachusetts experience hunger and/or homelessness. In 2019, twelve public campuses joined innovative, state-funded pilot programs to address housing insecurity. Most individual campuses operate food pantries and offer non-academic support services to meet student needs.
Student Learning Outcomes

Assessment | Student Learning Outcomes

Massachusetts is part of a national effort to develop student learning assessment tools that capture the complexity of college learning better than a single standardized test, and allows for comparisons between public campuses in the state and similiar institutions in other states.
Task Force on Statewide Assessment

Assessment | Student Learning Outcomes

The Task Force on Statewide Assessment provides broad oversight for statewide assessment in Massachusetts.
Transforming Develpmental Education

Completion | Equity | Participation | Readiness | STEM

The DHE and public higher ed system are working together to transform developmental education and have adopted a three-pronged approach to reduce remediate and increase student success: (1) Implementation of mathematics pathways; (2) Support through the co-requisite model; (3) Use of multiple measures.
Training Resources and Internship Program (TRAIN)

Workforce Alignment

The Training Resources and Internship Network (TRAIN) grant program is designed to support long-term unemployed, under-employed and new entrant adult workers who seek to enter/reenter the workforce and address this workforce shortage.
VALUE Institute

Assessment | Student Learning Outcomes

A steering committee represents Massachusetts in the Multi-State Collaborative, a consortium within the VALUE Institute, to develop multi-state program of assessment.

Meetings & Events

Strategic Initiatives

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Equity Toolkit

Equity Strategic Framework

Early College Initiative

Campus Safety

Improving Analytics Capacity

Open Educational Resources (OER)

Strategic Public Higher Education Financing

100 Males to College

Advancing a Massachusetts Culture of Assessment (AMCOA)

Bridges to College for Adult Learners

Civic Learning

Commonwealth Dual Enrollment Partnership (CDEP)

Economic & Workforce Development

Financial Assessment & Risk Monitoring

GEAR UP

Go Higher!

Higher Education Innovation Fund

Improving Teacher Quality Grants

Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS)

Massachusetts Inclusive Concurrent Enrollment Initiative (MAICEI)

MassTeach

MassTransfer Foundational Learning Outcomes

MassTransfer Pathways

Partnership to Advance Collaboration and Efficiency (PACE)

SSA Summer Transfer Academy

STEM Nexus

STEM Starter Academy (SSA)

Student Hunger and Homelessness

Student Learning Outcomes

Task Force on Statewide Assessment

Transforming Develpmental Education

Training Resources and Internship Program (TRAIN)

VALUE Institute