In July, Massachusetts schools were directed to prepare plans for three scenarios for fall 2020: entirely in-classroom teaching, entirely remote teaching, and a combined teaching model. Governor Baker said on July 27 that schools should anticipate needing to "pivot" from one scenario to another in response to local pandemic data. By August 21, around 30% of Massachusetts' 289 school districts had announced they would be teaching completely remotely to start the school year. State universities in Bridgewater, Fitchburg, Framingham, Salem, Westfield, and Worcester announced in June that they would be bringing students on-campus to attend classes. Private colleges in the state chose various models for the fall school semester. Some, including Berklee College of Music, College of the Holy Cross, and Smith College, decided to hold courses entirely remotely; others opted to offer a combination of online and in-person classes, such as Boston College, Brandeis University, and Roxbury Community College. Some colleges invited only some students to return to campus, such as MIT which only allowed seniors on-campus and Harvard University which only allowed freshmen and students who had been specially invited for academic reasons. By early September, several Massachusetts universities had received media attention when students disregarded social distancing rules imposed by the schools, and some schools in the state experienced outbreaks.
