The Student Opportunity Act calls for every district and charter school in the Commonwealth to develop 3-year plans that identify key disparities in student learning opportunities and outcomes for the student groups they serve and describe how they will utilize evidence-based approaches and strategies to address those disparities. Plans covering the years FY25–FY27 were due to DESE on April 1, 2024. The SOA legislation requires DESE to post districts' SOA plans on its website; individual districts are also required to post their plans on their district web sites.
Note: SOA Plans from charter schools are due August 1 and will be available in GEM$ until later in the calendar year.
Before reading individual district plans, we strongly encourage you to read the brief overview of the Student Opportunity Act and the purpose of SOA Plans on pages 4–5 of the FY24 Student Opportunity Act Plans — Summary Report This report also provides a useful descriptive summary of what districts across the Commonwealth are prioritizing in the SOA plans they will be implementing between FY25–FY27.
The Instructions for Accessing a District's SOA Plan in GEMS document provides step-by-step directions for locating individual district SOA plans for FY25–FY27, which are now available in DESE's Grants for Education Management System (GEM$).
Well over 90 percent of districts' SOA Plans are publicly available in GEM$. There are two key reasons why a district's plan is not available in GEM$.
The Student Opportunity Act Dashboard is a searchable database that allows users to view individual districts' 3-year SOA plans covering FY22–FY24. The dashboard integrates information from districts' original plans, submitted in January 2020, amendments submitted in April 2022, and progress reports submitted in April 2023.
Due to slight variations in the plan template used by charter schools, their plans appear in a separate dashboard.
Please choose the appropriate link below:
This Guide to the FY23 SOA Dashboard provides more specific details about data presented in each section of the dashboard.
Note: Districts' and charter schools' original 3-year gap-closing plans (SOA Plans) can be accessed on the Districts' Original 3-year Gap-Closing Plans page.
Last Updated: August 19, 2024
General Inquiries SOAplans@mass.gov
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education 135 Santilli Highway, Everett, MA 02149
Voice: (781) 338-3000 TTY: (800) 439-2370
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