Massachusetts
Inclusive Concurrent Enrollment Initiative
FY24 Legislative Report
Prepared by the Department of Higher Education
Noe Ortega, Ph.D., Commissioner
© 2024 Department of Higher Education
September 6, 2024
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Massachusetts Inclusive Concurrent Enrollment Initiative
FY24 Legislative Report
© 2024 Department of Higher Education
Permission is hereby granted to copy any or all parts of this document for non-commercial
educational purposes. Please credit the “Department of Higher Education.”
Department of Higher Education
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
One Ashburton Place, Suite 1401
Boston MA 02108
Phone: (617) 944-6950
Fax: (617) 727-0955
http://www.mass.edu
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Contents
Letter from the Commissioner…………………………………………………………………….4
Purpose of the Report...................................................................................................................... 5
History of the Massachusetts Inclusive Concurrent Enrollment Initiative ..................................... 6
Participating Institutions ................................................................................................................. 7
Residence Life ................................................................................................................................ 8
Participating School Districts ......................................................................................................... 8
Classes & Pedagogy ........................................................................................................................ 9
Credit & Audit ............................................................................................................................ 9
Student Employment Outcomes ..................................................................................................... 9
Systems-Change Outcomes .......................................................................................................... 10
Public Awareness Results ......................................................................................................... 10
Program Administration Results............................................................................................... 10
Technical Assistance and Professional Development Results .................................................. 10
Research and Evaluation Results.............................................................................................. 10
Program Staffing ........................................................................................................................... 10
Appendix A: FY2024 Budget Language .................................................................................. 11
Appendix C: Advisory Board Membership .............................................................................. 16
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Letter from the Commissioner
September 6, 2024
Members of the General Court:
I am pleased to submit the enclosed report.
The Department of Higher Education has continued to expand this network of grant-funded
partnerships between schools and public colleges and universities offering inclusive concurrent
enrollment programs for students with severe disabilities between the ages of 18 and 22.
As we celebrate the program’s 16th year in operation, we are proud of the 18 participating
partnerships established to date which now serve over 300 students per year. DHE is pleased to
support students with intellectual disabilities as they participate in both credit and non-credit
courses alongside their non-disabled peers; develop self-determination and self-advocacy skills;
improve academic, social, and functional skills; and participate in career planning, vocational skill-
building activities, and community-based integrated competitive employment opportunities.
If you have any questions about the program or this report, please feel free to contact Alex Demou,
Director of Constituent Services and Legislative Affairs, at ademou@dhe.mass.edu.
Sincerely,
Noe Ortega, PhD
Commissioner, Department of Higher Education
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Purpose of the Report
The Department of Higher Education is pleased to submit “Massachusetts Inclusive Concurrent
Enrollment Initiative: FY24 Legislative Report;” pursuant to Chapter 28 of the Acts of 2023, line
item 7066-9600 (see full text in Appendix A):
The purpose of this grant program is to build partnerships between high schools in public school
districts and the state’s public institutions of higher education (IHEs) to develop inclusive
concurrent enrollment programs for students with severe disabilities between the ages of 18 and
22. FY24 marked the 16th year of this program. Data used for this report are compiled from the
Massachusetts Inclusive Concurrent Enrollment Initiative (MAICEI) program and reports
submitted by MAICEI partners. Unless otherwise specified, the data reported is for the 2022-23
academic year.
This report provides information about the growth of the initiative, its impact on participating
students, and identifies emerging opportunities and challenges relative to inclusive post-secondary
education in the Commonwealth.
Led by a full-time MAICEI program coordinator, and with sustained investment from annual state
appropriation, the MAICEI program has been able to evolve to meet the changing needs of
students. Concurrently, MAICEI program partners continue to explore scalable implementation
models and interagency collaborations that will sustainably help young people develop strong life
skills, including the successful transition into post-secondary learning environments and
community-based employment opportunities.
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History of the Massachusetts Inclusive Concurrent Enrollment Initiative
The Legislature passed budget language in 2007 supporting the development of a network of grant-
funded partnerships between public colleges and universities and school districts to plan,
implement, and sustain authentically inclusive academic, social, and career development
experiences on college campuses. The Massachusetts Inclusive Concurrent Enrollment Initiative
provides access and supports to success in academic, social, and career development experiences
for eligible students with intellectual disabilities alongside their non-disabled peers enrolled in the
Commonwealth’s public two- and four-year colleges and universities.
Currently, 18 MAICEI programs are providing fully inclusive services and supports to 221
eighteen to twenty-two-year-old Massachusetts students with severe disabilities who have been
unable to achieve the competency determination necessary to pass the Massachusetts
Comprehensive Assessment System exam. Since 2007, over 2,500 students have participated in
MAICEI programs, and since 2016 when the first residence life program was established, 30
students have been able to live in residence halls in integrated settings. Students also:
● discern their own preferences, interests, needs, and strengths through Person-Centered
Planning;
● become advocates for their own choices and decisions around academic, social, and work
activities;
● acquire career and life skills by taking inclusive college credit and non-credit bearing
courses that relate to their career goals and other areas of interest;
● access student support services, as other college students would;
● experience living on campus in the residence halls; and
● experience integrated competitive employment opportunities.
Pursuant to legislative budget language (see Appendix A), DHE developed guidelines to ensure
that the grant program promotes civic engagement and mentoring of faculty in public institutions
of higher education and supports college success, work success, participation in student life of the
college community and provision of a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive
environment; provided further, that the department of higher education shall develop strategies
and procedures to help sustain and replicate the existing inclusive concurrent enrollment programs
initiated through the grant program including:
1. providing funds to retain employment specialists;
2. assisting students in meeting integrated competitive employment and other transition-
related goals;
3. adopting procedures and funding mechanisms to ensure that new partnerships of public
institutions of higher education and school districts providing inclusive concurrent
enrollment programs fully utilize the models and expertise developed in existing
partnerships;
4. conducting evaluations and research to further identify student outcomes and best
practices;
5. and developing a mechanism to encourage existing and new partnerships to expand the
capacity to respond to individual parents that request an opportunity for their children to
participate in the inclusive concurrent enrollment initiative.
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To support MAICEI initiatives in FY24, DHE administered three types of grants for program
development, quality assurance and accountability, and sustainability:
● one-year planning grants for both residence life and non-residence life opportunities of up
to $100,000 per grant;
● five-year non-residence life implementation grants of up to $200,000 per grant; and
● grants designed to support the design and implementation of residence1 life experiences for
program participants.
In addition, DHE also coordinated the MAICEI state advisory committee, fostered program
partnerships, developed informational resources, contributed to the design of system-wide
evaluation strategies, and helped organize professional development opportunities informed by
practitioner research and studies conducted through UMass Boston’s Institute for Community
Inclusion.
Participating Institutions
MAICEI maintains an active presence on 18 of the 29 public institutions of higher education in
Massachusetts. For academic year 2022 - 2023, there were ten community college campuses with
MAICEI programs, six state universities, and two UMass campuses. These include the following:
Campuses:
Bridgewater State University
Bristol Community College
Bunker Hill Community College
Cape Cod Community College
Fitchburg State University
Framingham State University
Holyoke Community College*
Massachusetts College of Art & Design
Massasoit Community College
Mass Bay Community College*
Middlesex Community College
Northern Essex Community College
Roxbury Community College
Salem State University
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The first residential life implementation grant was awarded to Bridgewater State University for Academic Year
2016-2017. The second residential life implementation grant was awarded to Salem State University for Academic
Year 2022 – 2023.
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Westfield State University
UMass Amherst
UMass Boston
*These campuses did not receive FY24 funds because they have established self-sustaining programs
Residence Life
In FY16, Bridgewater State University was awarded a first-phase implementation grant to organize
and create the administrative and training infrastructure to support residence life opportunities on
that campus starting in Fall 2016. Five students were served through their residence life program
for the 2017-2018 academic year, eight students were served for the 2018-2019 academic year,
nine students were served for the 2019-2020 academic year, ten during the 2021 – 2022 academic
year, and nine during the 2022 -2023 academic year. Salem State University was awarded funding
for a residence life program and during the 2021 – 2022 academic year, 4 students were living on
campus during that time and there were 4 students living on campus during the 2022 - 2023
academic year. The Department of Higher Education has awarded an additional six planning grants
for campuses wishing to accept MAICEI students.
Sustainability.
Most partnerships are funded through MAICEI grants, which enable institutions to stand up initial
programming. In FY23, Holyoke Community College and Mass Bay Community College,
completed the grant-supported planning and implementation cycle, and are now partnering with
school districts to offer MAICEI programming on their campuses without MAICEI funding. All
campuses participate in a planning year before they begin accepting students into their programs.
Westfield State University and Bridgewater State University are finalizing their transitions to self-
sustaining models, meaning they are no longer utilizing grant funds but continuing to provide
student supports. Students with IEPs may receive transportation and other supportive services
under the terms of their IEP, supported by K-12 funding streams.
As part of the grant application procedure, applicants must include proposals for the study and
development of transition plans to achieve self-sustaining status. Program sustainability continues
to be a driving force behind campus program innovations.
Participating School Districts
The number of partners a college campus program may have is generally decided in the initial
grant-making phase. Campuses are required to identify at least two school districts that have both
a need for MAICEI services and students who could take advantage of the program. As MAICEI
programs are heavily dependent on collaboration between campus and school district partners,
strong leadership at both institutions is needed to ensure that each campus program serves its
students as effectively as possible.
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School district participation has increased significantly; the program has seen growth from 39
active districts participating in FY11 to 150 in FY242.
Student participants in MAICEI take a wide variety of classes in different fields and disciplines.
In Fall 2022 alone, MAICEI students took 269 discrete classes ranging in topics from Introduction
to Marketing to Computer Science Principles. Most popular are visual and performing arts classes,
which accounted for nearly 40% of all classes taken.
Although all types of pedagogical styles are represented in class selection, students most frequently
selected courses featuring small group learning environments (e.g., Introduction to Business,
Critical Thinking, and Human Growth & Development) and applied learning classes (e.g.,
Wellness Programming, Design Fundamentals, and Human Biology) which link academic work
closely to practice.
Credit & Audit
MAICEI students have the option of taking any class for credit or on an audit basis, just like their
non-disabled peers, subject to the content of their IEP. Variability across campuses is common;
some campuses have more students taking classes for credit than others. However, because all
MAICEI students are eligible for student services offered to all students at participating colleges
and universities, many MAICEI program students use in-class learning resources (peer tutoring,
writing/math center supports, etc.) regardless of whether they are taking a class for credit or on an
audit basis.
Student Employment Outcomes
Securing and retaining long-term employment is a stated goal of many MAICEI students and
career development is a key objective of the program. This goal shapes much of the person-
centered planning process, including course selection, credit/audit choices, and supplemental soft-
skills training. Educational coaches, typically hired by the school district partners in each program,
are vital to the process of aligning program and campus resources with student needs. Equally
important are the career development resources which the college or university provides. The
Department has undertaken work with the Institute of Community Inclusion at UMass Boston and
is developing a data collection system with a focus on post-program employment data. This work
will allow the Department to provide more detailed data on factors that may contribute to
employment rates.
However, more analysis is necessary to better understand which factors may contribute overall to
employment rates. Continued emphasis on post-program employment data collection and analysis
in the new MAICEI evaluation system will help provide more context. 10% of MAICEI
participants were employed prior to entering the MAICEI program, compared to a 48% rate of
participation in community competitive employment while engaged in the program. Data show
38% of MAICEI students in their last semester of participation had employment lined up
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District partner data was not collected in FY20/FY21 due to the pandemic.
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immediately after leaving the MAICEI program. As such, participation in MAICEI was associated
with higher rates of employment for students both during and after the program as compared to
prior to entering the program. A goal of the program moving forward is to increase the employment
rate for departing students to the level for students during MAICEI.
Systems-Change Outcomes
Program Staffing
Each of the MAICEI grant-funded programs use similar staffing structures, including a program
coordinator, half-time or full-time employment specialist, and supplemental support, if needed, for
education coaches. The primary costs of educational coaches are paid for by school districts.
Educational coaches are crucial to the success of the program and its students and have the most
day-to-day contact with MAICEI students. They also carry a wide range of responsibilities,
including implementing IEP goals and/or participation plan recommendations issued by a referring
adult serving agency (i.e., MRC and DDS), and aligning student goals with available state
resources. For district partnerships, districts most often provide students with an educational coach.
However, when students no longer receive district services, e.g., by aging out, institutions must
identify their own funds to provide an educational coach.
Several campuses have instituted peer mentoring and coaching strategies in addition to and in