Welcome to the website of the Office of Educational Quality and Accountability (EQA).

Important Notice

Effective January 1, 2008, all school system reviews by the EQA ended, and the Massachusetts State Legislature asked EQA to conclude its activities by June 30, 2008 when a successor entity will be established. During this transition period, all EQA follow-up activities will be handled by a skeleton crew working at the Hopkinton Operations Center. Therefore, all inquiries should be made to the Hopkinton Operations Center at (508) 435-5126.

Who We Are

The Office was created by the Massachusetts Legislature in July of 2000, to provide independent and objective programmatic and financial audits of the 350-plus school districts which serve the cities and towns of Massachusetts. The agency is the accountability component of the Education Reform Act of 1993, and was envisioned in that legislation. We work under the direction of a five-person citizen council, appointed by the Governor, known as the Educational Management Audit Council (EMAC). Since our first district visit in the spring of 2002, our team of experienced educational administrators has examined over 150 school districts, some more than once.

EQA Examination Process

We call our process an ‘examination’ because we closely review six essential components of educational management to determine the quality of our schools and school systems. Our determinations of a district’s success at improving student performance are based on the standards of effective management and efficient financial control. These are the six accountability standards:

• Leadership, Governance and Communication;
• Curriculum and Instruction;
• Assessment and Program Evaluation;
• Human Resource Management and Professional Development;
• Access, Participation, and Student Academic Support;
• Financial Asset Management Effectiveness and Efficiency.

Our state standards for student achievement are some of the highest and most visionary in the nation. As you know, the Commonwealth uses the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) test to measure student progress in the core areas of English language arts, mathematics, and science and technology. Using the results of the MCAS, the EQA has developed standards for the school systems that serve our children. We are data driven and standards based.

You are invited to enter our website and explore the people, processes, standards, and products we have developed that have resulted in one of the most respected educational accountability agencies in the United States. Whether you are an educator, parent, business person, or citizen, we hope you will find our work and reports to be of interest. If you have any questions about educational quality and accountability for school districts, please contact us.