Office of Planning and Research

Resource Allocation and District Action Reports (RADAR)

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's Resource Allocation and District Action Reports (RADAR) project takes advantage of the state's student, educator, and finance data to provide school districts new analyses about their own use of people, time, and money, and allow comparisons to similar districts.

District personnel have to access three RADAR packages: Benchmarking, Special Education, and Class Size/Student Courses. As of summer 2017, the three report packages are available via the Department's Security Portal. Following an opportunity for districts to preview the reports, we plan to post the Benchmarking report package on the Department's public website on or around September 29, 2017.

The reports were developed over the course of more than one year with the advice and assistance of various district representatives. In addition to consulting with a wide variety of district leaders through statewide advisory groups, eight Massachusetts school districts participated in a yearlong pilot during the 2016-17 school year focused on using the reports to explore resource allocation decisions and reallocation possibilities.

Sample reports

View sample RADAR Benchmarking reports

Grant opportunity (October 16, 2017 deadline)

The Department is currently offering Massachusetts districts that have an interest in making substantial changes in resource allocation and directing more resources toward evidence-based improvement strategies a competitive opportunity to apply for grant funds to help support their efforts.

The main priority for the grant program is to help improve district resource allocation practices, specifically supporting districts to:

• Examine and question resource allocation in more depth, using data available in districts along with tools provided by the Department, particularly Resource Allocation and District Action Reports (RADAR)
• Make meaningful changes in resource allocation to support best practices and district improvement strategies
• Measure the impact of resource shifts on the desired outcomes. Grantees will be paired with an action research partner who will help gather data, measure impact, and report results.

The application for the new competitive, two-year Resource Reallocation to District Priorities grant (Fund Code 110) has been posted. Applications are due October 16, 2017.

For more information about the RADAR project, email radar@doe.mass.edu.