Commissioner's Update
June 26, 2006

Dear Superintendents, and Leaders of Charter Schools and Collaboratives:

In this Update I have two announcements and four items recently posted at www.doe.mass.edu for your review.

Competency Determination (CD) Update for the Classes of 2006 and 2007

I am pleased to announce that 95 percent of students in the Class of 2006 and 91 percent of students in the Class of 2007 have earned their Competency Determinations. These and other statewide and local results are included in the Progress Report on Students Attaining the Competency Determination Statewide and by School and District: Classes of 2006 and 2007. This report is now available on our website at www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/results.html.

Microsoft Software Donation

This month Microsoft announced a software donation believed to be the largest ever made to Massachusetts educational institutions. The gift will provide Massachusetts public high schools and universities with full access to the resources of the Microsoft Developer Network Academic Alliance. This program offers a suite of Microsoft's latest software development tools, including Visual Studio, .NET and the MSDN Library reference. To learn more about how your schools can participate in this exciting opportunity please contact Microsoft Corporation at mamsdnaa@microsoft.com.

Postings at www.doe.mass.edu:

1. Preliminary 2006 MCAS Grade 10 Multiple-Choice Results
   
2. Technology Professional Development Opportunity
   
3. Final FY06 Charter School Tuition and Reimbursements
   
4. FY06 School Choice Tuition, June 2006
   

Congratulations to you all on another successful school year. I hope you will all find some time to relax this summer before gearing up for the fall.

Thank you again for the great work that you do for the children of the Commonwealth.

Sincerely,

David P. Driscoll
Commissioner of Education