Grant Funding

DESE provides financial resources to Broad/Comprehensive and Focused/Targeted Schools through a series of competitive and allocation grants.

Targeted Assistance Grant (TAG)

The Targeted Assistance Grant (TAG) is additional funding for select Massachusetts school districts to support priorities each district identifies as most pressing to facilitate school and district improvement. The TAG combines funds for state targeted assistance as well as federal school improvement funding for over 150 schools that meet at least one of the following priorities:

In the bottom 10 percentiles on the Massachusetts District and School Accountability System
Has a federal designation of CSI, TSI, or ATSI
Is identified as Underperforming on the Massachusetts District and School Accountability System

Districts can use TAG funds to support all schools, however, as per state and federal funding requirements, schools that meet the criteria above should directly benefit from TAG funding.

The TAG focuses on the development and implementation of district identified priorities, in alignment with ESSA mandates and Massachusetts' best practices as outlined in DESE's Educational Vision and the Coherence Guidebook.

Recipients of TAG funding should expect to engage in assistance activities with Department staff from the Center for School and District Partnership (CSDP) and the Statewide System of Support (SSoS), and in DESE-sponsored progress monitoring efforts. This includes discussions about TAG options and how they can assist in efforts toward the development of grant proposals if needed. Districts are encouraged to strategically align TAG expenditures with other key funding sources (e.g., SOA, ESSER, other federal Title funding).

Intensive Assistance Grants (IAG)

The Intensive Assistance Grant (IAG) is an updated model of the School Redesign Grant (SRG) that had been in place since 2010. IAG is a federally funded, competitive grant that supports schools that are persistently in the lowest percentiles on our state's accountability system. The purpose of this grant is to support the delivery of high-quality instruction for every student, in every classroom, every day.

An integral component of IAG involves implementing the district's identified instructional priority. With support from district leaders, identified schools will adapt the district's instructional priority to drive improvement. This priority is to be revisited each year to ensure it reflects the most important focus for improving educational outcomes for students.

FY26 Student Opportunity Act Evidence-Based Practice Grant (Fund Code 0117) — This grant has been awarded.

The purpose of this competitive grant is to further work toward closing persistent disparities in achievement among specific student groups, improve educational opportunities for all students, share best practices for improving instruction, and support efficiencies within and across school districts (Student Opportunity Act, 21^st Century Education Program, Section 16A ).

This competitive grant is designed to support districts that, over the course of three years, have demonstrated notable progress in closing persistent disparities through the strategic implementation of a selected evidence-based practice (EBP). The grant will support ongoing efforts in awarded districts to implement exemplary models in the areas of Early Literacy or Co-Teaching and Inclusion and advance their work in closing disparities in the learning experiences of their least well-served student group(s). This grant will support districts to continue to scale their work in these EBPs.

RFP for the application

Federal Grant Reporting

Last Updated: October 9, 2025