Virtual Education Space (VES) Update

We have reached a number of important milestones with the Virtual Education Space project.

The Virtual Education Space (VES) is the Commonwealth's educational intranet. It is a free resource for Massachusetts educators and students which provides a secure and personalized portal with a set of online tools and resources designed to support preK-12 standards based education. The primary objective of the VES system is to improve student learning by collaboratively designing and implementing an educational information management system that provides for the effective use and exchange of information among educators and school systems. VES is the system that brings together the Commonwealth's preK-12 stakeholders and enables them to communicate and collaborate in a safe and secure online environment that makes available the tools and information needed to be successful

The VES project has finalized its successful transition into the Department of Education. As part of this transition plan, Collaborative Consulting was awarded a contract to evaluate the VES project with respect to promoting statewide adoption of the VES tools and services. The purpose of the assessment was to establish high level strategies supported by recommendations, and a framework for implementation. That framework is currently being used to assist the VES team to set short and long-term VES project goals.

The Online MCAS Tutorial continues to provide high school students, grades 9-12, with unlimited access to the practice tests and skill building assignments by logging into VES. The programs are designed to assess, enrich and enhance the student's academic strengths and weaknesses in Math and English Language Arts. The tutorial program includes educational resources that have been aligned to state standards and state test objectives to ultimately improve the student's performance on the MCAS exams.

The Department is offering regional training sessions every Monday and Wednesday from March until the end of May to provide an overview of how the VES system can be used in classrooms, schools and districts, and to transfer the skills necessary to administer VES.

I would encourage you to take advantage of the resources and services that VES now provides. Should you have any questions regarding the VES project, please contact Jeff St. Germain at jstgermain@doe.mass.edu or (781)338-3015.

Sincerely,

David P. Driscoll
Commissioner of Education