The Fordham Report 2006: How Well Are States Educating Our Neediest Children?
November 1, 2006
The Fordham Report 2006: How Well Are States Educating Our Neediest Children? appraises each state according to thirty indicators across three major categories: student achievement for low-income, African-American, and Hispanic students; achievement trends for these same groups over the last 10-15 years; and the state's track record in implementing bold education reforms. It finds that just eight states can claim even moderate success over the past 15 years at boosting the percentage of their poor or minority students who are at or above proficient in reading, math or science. In addition, most states making significant achievement gains--including California, Delaware, Florida, New York, Massachusetts, and Texas--are national leaders in education reform, indicating that solid standards, tough accountability, and greater school choice can yield better classroom results.
View the press release for this report
Contents
- Executive Summary
- Readers Guide
- Acknowledgments
- The Future of Education Reform
- Measuring Education Reform & Results--Achievement
- Measuring Education Reform & Results--Reform
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
- Appendix
Massachusetts
An Education Revolution
Massachusetts's place in American history is secure-forever linked to the American Revolution. Education watchers will link the state to a second uprising-the Standards and Accountability Revolution.
In the wake of an adequacy lawsuit, the state legislature in 1993 passed a sweeping law (the Education Reform Act) that increased state aid to local districts, required many local districts to spend more money per child, called for new accountability and test standards, and opened up the educational marketplace to charter schools.
In the thirteen years since, the state has enjoyed some notable successes with these reforms. The best known may well be its improved state curriculum standards, which are rated the very best in the nation. And the state exam, the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, or MCAS, has weathered the storms of criticism to keep its position as the one test that every student (beginning with the class of 2003) in the state must pass in order to get through high school.
Initial concerns that massive numbers of students wouldn't clear the bar have been proven unfounded. Just 14 percent of Boston's class of '03 failed to muster a passing score. That's significant progress, when one considers that the passing rate for Boston students taking the tenth-grade math assessment tripled between 1998 and 2004, from 25 percent to 74 percent, while the passing rate for English rose from 43 percent to 77 percent. "There's been a lot of data coming out about Boston showing a steady increase in performance," says Patricia Haddad, who chairs the state legislature's Joint Committee on Education. "Still, it leaves a lot to be desired. ‘Satisfied' is a very relative term."
What's left to resolve is the poor showing by the state's low-income and minority students. The state is making "moderate progress" with them. But in terms of achievement on the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress, too many of these students aren't hitting the mark.
The problem is particularly acute in Boston, not surprisingly, with its high concentration of poor and minority students. Though their scores on MCAS have been creeping up, they remain unacceptably low, while the dropout rates remain over 20 percent for all students in the city. Throughout the state, the gap in performance between white and Asian students, compared with African American and Hispanic students, meanwhile, is pronounced. "The debate about closing the achievement gap is as important and lively as ever," says Thomas Payzant, who stepped down in 2006 after 11 years as superintendent in Boston.
Efforts to close that gap have been stymied of late, however, a fact that's frustrating many in the state who care about education. Unions have so far blocked the Great Schools Campaign, backed by businesses and education and foundation leaders. The campaign seeks to address the commonwealth's 50 worst-performing schools, putting them in an administrative district under the aegis of the state department of education and offering them greater resources and more flexible rules.
Political opposition to the bill has been strengthened by tight budgetary conditions at the state and local levels. "The grand bargain in 1993 was that we bought reform with new money," says William Guenther, president of Mass Insight Education and a leader of the Great Schools Campaign. "In essence, we didn't buy any reform this year. In order to have reform, you almost have to have new funds. At the same time, you shouldn't offer new funds without attaching reform."
Charter schools are exerting some pressure on district schools. As is the case throughout the state, most charter schools in Boston outperform neighboring district schools on achievement tests. But in many districts, the number of charter schools that can operate is close to topping out. By law, no more than 9 percent of a district's spending each year can go to charters. Polls indicate that the public favors lifting the cap, and it has become an issue in the 2006 gubernatorial campaign.
In general, Marc Kenen, executive director of the Massachusetts Public Charter School Association says the law governing the state's 61 charter schools is "excellent." Charter schools get 100 percent of what districts get in per-pupil funding, while the application process and achievement requirements are clear.
Kenen also applauds the state's alternative-certification program. Teachers who enter the field from other backgrounds have to pass the Massachusetts state teachers' test within a year of starting employment, but are not obligated to go through the traditional education and certification process. "We get a tremendous amount of mid-career professionals who come into the charter schools from other sectors," he says.
To be sure, the state is still struggling to educate its poor and minority students to high levels. But the potential for reaching this goal is there. The state's high-flying curriculum standards, its solid charter school laws (made even stronger if the cap is removed), and its willingness to work with alternative teachers are all indicators of a system on the verge of a breakthrough. The question is, can the state continue its momentum?