Catching dropouts
Second in an occasional series on issues that are important in the race for governor.
IN LATE summer or early fall, just when the gubernatorial race should be heating up, state education officials are scheduled to release detailed data on high school dropout rates in Massachusetts as part of a wider effort of the National Governors Association. Twenty percent is a conservative estimate statewide but the rates in some urban areas could easily double that figure.
Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, the Republican candidate, has the most to lose from any bad news on education that might be linked to the current administration. But she also offers the boldest solutions, including raising the mandatory attendance age from 16 to 18 while initiating a new network of vocational and night schools. It's the right focus. Massachusetts is no place for dropouts, as evidenced by a recent Northeastern University labor study that ranked Boston 44th out of the 50 largest cities in the United States for a dropout's employment chances.
What few sparks flew during a recent debate among the Democratic candidates for governor focused on levels of support for independent charter schools that operate free of the union and central office rules that often stifle innovation. Candidate Chris Gabrieli is the strongest proponent of charter schools and Deval Patrick is the weakest. But Attorney General Thomas Reilly, who favors lifting the cap on charter schools in struggling school districts, may have staked out the fertile ground in the middle. The next governor should give priority to charter schools that specialize in closing the achievement gap between minority and white students or educating special-needs students, non-native English speakers, and other students at risk of dropping out. That strategy carries the added benefit of soothing district officials who complain that they lose both funding and a disproportionate share of regular education students to charter schools.
A nagging question followed former Boston school superintendent Thomas Payzant out the door last month, one that the next governor will need to answer if the state is ever to reach its requirements for academic proficiency under the federal No Child Left Behind law: Why wasn't student achievement greater given Payzant's relentless efforts and strong financial and political support? Similar questions can be heard around the state where only 52 percent of 10th-grade students statewide and 24 percent in poor communities achieved proficiency in math and English on the 2005 Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exam.
Part of the solution might be found in a $6.5 million line item in the state budget for several middle schools in Cambridge, Fall River, Malden, Worcester, and Boston that have agreed to extend the school day or school year. Forward-looking administrators and teachers-union officials in these districts recognize that the traditional 6.5-hour school day and 180-day school year may not be enough time for many young people to succeed. What good, after all, are higher standards if there's not enough time to reach them?
Gabrieli didn't write the book on this subject, but he did publish it under the imprint of the nonprofit Massachusetts 2020 school reform organization, which he founded in 2000. ``Time for a Change: The Promise of Extended-Time Schools for Promoting Student Achievement" argues convincingly that the school schedule is an unproductive vestige of the 19th-century agrarian economy. The idea also resonates with Patrick, whose education platform takes aim at a system where ``the school day is still markedly shorter than the work day."
The best test of that theory could take place this fall at the Kuss middle school in Fall River, which was taken over by the state in 2004 due to chronically poor performance. Instead of the usual 2:30 p.m. dismissal time, all Kuss students will attend school until 4:15 p.m. four days each week. About half of that additional time will be spent in remediation classes to improve MCAS scores, according to principal Nancy Mullen, and half will be spent in enrichment classes, where students can get out of the building and work on engaging projects while forming closer relationships with their teachers.
Independent candidate Christy Mihos supports a two-tiered high school diploma system, similar to one briefly advanced by New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang, that would provide MCAS-certified diplomas as well as local diplomas for students who haven't passed MCAS. The Mihos proposal is an ill-advised retreat. James Peyser, chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Education, argues convincingly that a passing grade of 220 on the MCAS test is not sufficient preparation for higher education. The next bar to reach is 240, which indicates a solid understanding of challenging material. Though 220 will remain the passing score, state education officials offer an ambitious plan that will require students who score in the 220-238 range to take special courses aimed at helping them over the 240 mark.
That goal is within reach only if the next governor hastens to bring marginal school districts into the mainstream.
