Title I, Part A
Support for schools serving students from low-income families.
View funding source ↗Massachusetts · Schools & districts
High-dosage tutoring for Massachusetts schools.
Live, small-group virtual tutoring in K–12 math and ELA. Connect Massachusetts’s early literacy, grade-level mathematics, and targeted intervention priorities with focused instruction and a practical plan for your students.
Cignition is not on the current DESE early-literacy or mathematics Master Service Agreement provider lists. Other local plans require separate review.
A closer look at Massachusetts
Your state’s priorities.
Your students’ next steps.
What Massachusetts is prioritizing
State priorities.
Focused support.
A stronger start in reading. Mathematics support that reinforces classroom learning. Instruction shaped by student evidence. Build tutoring around the priorities Massachusetts schools are putting into practice.
Explore Massachusetts funding ↓
Official sources checked November 9, 2026
01Early literacy. Prepare for the Student Literacy Act.
Massachusetts’s emphasis
Massachusetts’s Student Literacy Act strengthens K–3 reading instruction. Its high-quality curriculum requirement begins in 2027–28. The law also reinforces reading screening at least twice a year and a timely instructional response and family communication when students are significantly below benchmark.
The Cignition connection
Use the school’s screening information, classroom materials, and reading goals to identify the skills that need more instruction and practice. Review proposed foundational-skills lessons with the literacy team so tutoring complements the core program. Additional tutoring does not replace the school’s required curriculum or screening responsibilities.
02High-dosage mathematics. Reinforce grade-level instruction.
Massachusetts’s emphasis
DESE places high-dosage math tutoring within MTSS, with consistent tutors, small groups, recurring sessions, and instruction informed by student data. Its guidance emphasizes connecting tutoring topics to current classroom units and providing onsite support for students working with virtual tutors.
The Cignition connection
Begin with the mathematics students are learning in class. Review the proposed tasks, prerequisite support, group composition, and protected session time. Use visual models, purposeful questions, and student explanations to build understanding while maintaining access to grade-level learning.
Explore Massachusetts’s high-dosage math tutoring guidance ↗
03MTSS. Match the support to the need.
Massachusetts’s emphasis
Massachusetts’s multi-tiered system of support brings together academic, behavioral, and social-emotional supports. Strong core instruction, assessment, and responsive intervention work as connected parts of the school’s approach to student success.
The Cignition connection
Agree on the instructional goal, the evidence used to form groups, and how the team will review progress. Plan attendance routines, local support for joining virtual sessions, and communication with teachers and families alongside the instructional work.
Our curriculum. Your instructional goals.
From a learning target
to student thinking.
Start with the skill your students need next. Connect the learning goal, the task, and the explanation that shows how a student is thinking.
The Massachusetts connection · A closer look at instruction
From a learning need to the work students do.
Massachusetts’s emphasis on early literacy, mathematics support, and student evidence provides context for reviewing this sample. Examine how a learner connects sounds and print, responds to prompts, and practices a foundational reading skill.
Compare the task and prerequisites with your classroom sequence and student work.
Explore a sample lesson
Elementary literacy
ELA · K–5 sample. Open the student lesson to examine the tasks for yourself.
Open the elementary literacy sample ↗
What should we look for?
Consider how a learner connects sounds and print, responds to prompts, and practices a foundational reading skill. Which responses would help your team decide what the student understands and what to teach next?
How would this connect with our curriculum?
Compare the learning goal, task, language, and prerequisites with your classroom materials. Your school’s learning sequence and the students’ starting points guide that discussion.
How should we use this example?
This grade-band sample illustrates selected instruction. It has not been customized for Massachusetts and is not a comprehensive state standards alignment. For a specific alignment question, share the standard and classroom materials with our team.
Inside a school partnership
A shared plan.
People to keep
it moving.
Cignition brings live virtual instruction, purpose-built lessons, a dedicated program manager, and participation and learning information. For example, a Massachusetts school could consider supplemental reading instruction under a separately authorized local plan with its own provider and material rules. Your school provides protected time, technology, and local support. This is a planning illustration; service eligibility and the agreed scope shape any partnership.
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Turn the instructional need into a workable plan.
Your school team
Identify the students and reading or math goals, share classroom and screening information, and protect recurring time. Your team names an onsite contact and checks devices, connectivity, and the proposed use of school funds.
The Cignition team
Your program manager coordinates planning with your school. Cignition prepares tutor assignments, small groups, instructional materials, and launch arrangements around your Massachusetts school’s early literacy, mathematics support, and student evidence.
Keep the session focused and students connected.
Your school team
Help students join on time, maintain a supervised learning space, and support participation or connection issues. Classroom teachers continue core instruction; tutoring provides additional targeted learning time.
The Cignition team
Experienced, carefully vetted tutors lead live virtual instruction using Cignition’s purpose-built curriculum, questions, models, and discussion. They respond to student work and record attendance, participation, and learning information.
Use the information. Keep the conversation going.
Your school team
Share classroom observations and school assessment context, review participation with your onsite contact, and identify questions about student learning or the routine.
The Cignition team
Your program manager shares participation and learning information and coordinates follow-up. Cignition’s instructional and implementation teams use that information with your school to consider grouping, learning targets, or scheduling adjustments.
Massachusetts funding landscape
Understand the investment.
Find a relevant pathway.
Start with the district’s actual allocation and approved instructional plan. Title I, state and local education budgets, and existing 21st CCLC awards have different requirements. DESE’s sponsored tutoring and approved-provider agreements are separate programs and should not be treated as automatic funding or approval for Cignition.
Selected federal funding for Massachusetts
FY 2026 · Published statewide awards
Title II, Part A
Educator effectiveness and instructional capacity.
View funding source ↗Title III, Part A
English-language acquisition and support for English learners.
View funding source ↗21st Century Community Learning Centers
Academic enrichment during non-school hours.
View funding source ↗Read the MASSACHUSETTS row and Fiscal Year 2026 column in each federal award table. These are statewide allocations, not unspent local funds or a dedicated tutoring budget. Title II generally supports educator capacity. Confirm your district’s allocation, allowable use, and available balance before planning an expense.
Massachusetts funding pathways
Funding reviewed November 10, 2026Additional instructional support.
Begin with the school’s plan.
Ongoing formula funding · Approved district program required
Who / what it supports
Massachusetts’s FY2027 Title I-A program supports eligible academic, instructional, and student-support services. Districts receive funds after DESE reviews and approves their applications. Schoolwide and targeted-assistance requirements determine the services and students that may be supported.
Where tutoring could fit
Review proposed math or reading instruction against the needs assessment and approved Title I program. Confirm student eligibility, staffing, evidence requirements, supplement-not-supplant rules, virtual delivery arrangements, and required service records.
Practical next step: Ask the district’s federal-program and business teams to verify its approved award, available balance, allowable costs, and purchasing process. The statewide total above is not the amount available to an individual school.
Explore Massachusetts’s current Title I-A guidance ↗Plan around local priorities.
Verify the approved budget.
FY2027 Chapter 70 aid · Local spending decisions
Who / what it supports
Chapter 70 provides state education aid to Massachusetts school districts. The final FY2027 aid calculations continue implementation of the Student Opportunity Act, including increased foundation-budget support for English learners and students from low-income families.
Where tutoring could fit
A district can evaluate additional math or reading instruction within its approved education budget and improvement priorities. Chapter 70 is a general education funding stream, not a dedicated tutoring grant, provider approval, or guarantee of funds available for a new service.
Practical next step: Bring instructional, finance, and purchasing leads together to confirm the local appropriation, available balance, service scope, and required approvals. Review how the proposed program fits the district’s goals and spending obligations.
Explore Massachusetts’s final FY2027 Chapter 70 aid ↗Learning beyond school.
Work with an active grantee.
FY2027 FC 0645 · Approved awards through August 31, 2027
Who / what it supports
Massachusetts’s FY2027 FC 0645 continuation program supports existing grantees providing academic enrichment during the school year and summer. Programs combine engaging learning with broader student and family opportunities rather than operating as tutoring-only services.
Where tutoring could fit
An active grantee can review focused math or reading instruction within its approved program. Confirm the participating students, program hours, contracted-service costs, remote tutor delivery, onsite supervision, and how sessions connect with the broader learning experience.
Practical next step: Verify the executed FY2027 continuation award, current program period, available funds, and any required budget or program amendment. This route concerns existing approved awards, not a new grant application or automatic provider eligibility.
Explore Massachusetts’s current 21st CCLC continuation guidance ↗Massachusetts · Program fit & purchasing
Start with fit.
Plan the details.
Boston Public Schools. Cignition is an approved literacy tutoring vendor under the district’s procurement EV00013961, with a renewed term through August 31, 2027. Boston schools should confirm the current service scope and obtain the required purchase order before services begin. This is a district purchasing pathway, separate from DESE’s statewide provider agreements.
DESE’s early literacy and mathematics Master Service Agreements apply to named approved providers. Cignition is not on the current published lists reviewed for this page. A school considering Cignition should work with its purchasing team on an appropriate local process and confirm the selected funding source’s conditions.
Confirm state and local staffing requirements, background checks, student-data protections, onsite support for virtual sessions, and required approvals. For a grant-funded extended-learning program, include the fiscal lead and verify the approved award, budget, service hours, and delivery model before committing funds.
Review Massachusetts’s math tutoring and provider guidance ↗
A few useful questions
What would you like to work through?
Start here, then bring the questions specific to your students and school.
How would tutoring support the Student Literacy Act?
Start with the school’s reading goals, screening information, and core curriculum. Review proposed lessons and the assigned tutors’ qualifications with your literacy team. Additional instruction can complement classroom work; it does not replace required core curriculum, screening, family notification, or the school’s instructional response.
Can we use DESE’s sponsored tutoring program to select Cignition?
DESE’s sponsored early literacy initiative uses approved providers, and its mathematics Master Service Agreement also names eligible vendors. Cignition is not on the current published lists reviewed here. Do not assume those programs fund Cignition; discuss a separate, locally authorized service and funding plan with the district.
Can Title I funding support a tutoring program?
It may support eligible academic services within an approved district program. Ask the federal-program team to confirm student eligibility, instructional purpose, staffing, allowable costs, available funds, and purchasing requirements. The proposed tutoring arrangement must fit the approved schoolwide or targeted-assistance program.
Could tutoring fit within an existing after-school award?
An active 21st CCLC grantee can review tutoring as one part of its broader academic enrichment program. Confirm the current award, participating students, service hours, remaining funds, delivery arrangements, and any amendment required. A program award does not automatically authorize a provider or a virtual service model.
Can we review examples of your curriculum?
Yes. The Content Library includes existing math and ELA grade-band samples. Review the instructional approach, then discuss the Massachusetts curriculum frameworks and local learning sequence your school needs. These samples illustrate instruction; they do not establish a comprehensive or reviewed Massachusetts alignment crosswalk.
What if I’m looking for help for my own child?
This page focuses on school and district partnerships. For tutoring arranged directly by a family, explore Cignition’s family plans and discuss your child’s learning goals, grade level, and scheduling needs.
Your school’s next step
Let’s plan around
your students.
Planning around early literacy, mathematics support, and student evidence? Request curriculum examples, implementation details, evidence, or funding information for your Massachusetts school before deciding whether to book a call.
On our contact page, choose “Another question” for an information request or “School or district tutoring” to explore a program.