Ready for more educational choices
PRIOR TO release of the Readiness Project, his administration's 10-year strategic plan for public education in Massachusetts, Governor Deval Patrick declared, "Everything is on the table because our future is at stake."
Everything, that is, except the kind of educational choice that transformed his own life.
Patrick earned a scholarship from A Better Chance, an organization that provides educational opportunities to young people of color. The scholarship transported him from the south side of Chicago to Milton Academy and put him on a trajectory that led to Harvard, the corporate world, and ultimately the corner office.
More recently, his daughter attended a private school. But the Readiness Project includes precious little that would give other families the same opportunity.
That's especially unfortunate for the nearly 100,000 children trapped in the state's lowest-performing schools. For these students, most of whom live in cities, the promise of education reform remains unfulfilled.
It doesn't have to be that way. Worcester's University Park Campus School - a public school of choice - was recently named the top urban high school in Massachusetts. English is not the first language of more than three-quarters of the University Park students, and 73 percent qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
A little over 3,000 students participate in the Metco program, which allows students in Boston and Springfield to attend suburban schools. It has a 15,000-student, five-year waiting list.
Between 2001 and 2007, MCAS scores increased by more than 40 percent at the Commonwealth's regional vocational-technical schools. This year, MCAS pass rates and graduation rates for vocational-technical students outpaced state averages. But again, virtually every school has a lengthy waiting list.
More than 20,000 students are waiting for spots in Massachusetts charter public schools. Statewide, charters outperform the districts from which their students come, and the gap is widest in such cities as Boston, Springfield, and Lawrence.
In a 2006 gubernatorial campaign debate, candidate Patrick said he would fix the formula by which charter schools are funded and lift the cap that limits or prevents their growth in the Commonwealth's cities. Not only is the Readiness Project silent on charters, but the administration has even floated the possibility of freezing them in districts that embrace newly proposed "readiness schools."
Perhaps the best example of the transformative impact of choice comes from Washington, D.C. Fully one-quarter of the District's students attend charter schools, and some parents there can use opportunity scholarships at various public and private schools. Similar programs are prohibited in Massachusetts as a result of 19th-century amendments to the state constitution that grew out of anti-Catholic bigotry.
Michelle Rhee, the D.C. school chancellor, is introducing reforms like merit pay and eliminating barriers to student achievement such as outdated seniority rules. Even the local teachers union is working collaboratively with Rhee.
None of these changes would be possible without the competitive pressure created by choice. Just as important, it serves as a catalyst for parental involvement - particularly in urban areas - by giving families power over their children's education.
But the closest the Readiness Project comes to meaningful choice is readiness schools, which appear to be little more than a watered-down version of charter schools.
Patrick is right: the Commonwealth's future and the lives of thousands of urban children are indeed at stake. The surest way to make that future bright for all Massachusetts students is to give them access to the same opportunity that changed his life.
Charles Chieppo is a senior fellow at Pioneer Institute. Jamie Gass is director of the Center for School Reform at the institute.
