Study faults state efforts to fix ailing schools

Massachusetts knows which schools are failing, but it's not doing enough to fix them, according to a new report by a Boston educational group.

Last year, for example, the state declared that 376 schools needed to boost their test scores, but only tried to fix 16 of the worst cases. The state said 132 school districts were low-performing, but only 17 came under state review, according to a report that will be released today by MassINC's Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy.

''You're going around pointing the finger at schools across the Commonwealth but what are you doing to help?" said S. Paul Reville, executive director of the Rennie Center.

Lawmakers need to make it a priority to train teachers and principals so they can improve struggling schools, a long-neglected part of the state's education reform, the report said. The center said the state should spend at least $44 million next year to follow the report's recommendations, a more modest proposal than ideas recently touted by a coalition of business leaders and educators.

The report comes two months after the Supreme Judicial Court stunned educators by ruling against families from 19 low-income school systems that sought more money for low-performing schools.

Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll said yesterday through a spokeswoman that the department could use more help to intervene in the most severe cases but not in every school listed in need of improvement. He said many schools are able to tackle improvement on their own.

Senate Education Committee chairman Robert A. Antonioni said he will push for the state to take a more aggressive role in helping failing schools, such as suggesting successful reading programs. Schools could have a variety of remedies to choose from, he said, but the state should take a leading role since it pays the lion's share of the budget in many low-income school systems.

The Rennie Center report, based on research and interviews with 55 people, including 14 school superintendents, principals and Department of Education staff, said the state needs a more thorough approach.

The report said the state should train teachers in areas where they're struggling, develop methods to track the test scores of individual students over time, and boost the state Department of Education's ability to intervene in failing schools.

Springfield Superintendent Joseph Burke, who has had low-performing schools reviewed by the state, said the Education Department needs more experienced staffers to help failing schools.

''I'm skeptical of it because I'm not sure that they have the horses to do it," he said. ''Sometimes it's been helpful and sometimes it hasn't been."

Governor Mitt Romney has pledged to channel more money, for specific programs, to struggling schools.

''Everyone's in agreement that we need to do more," said Ann Reale, a senior Romney adviser. ''The question is how much more and how quickly? And that's where we're going to have to have some serious debate on education reform."

Earlier this year Mass Insight Education led a coalition of business leaders and superintendents in asking the state to consider spending $400 million to $600 million a year, about 10 percent of the current education budget, on programs to help schools, such as full-day kindergarten or a longer school day.

William Guenther, president of Mass Insight Education, said if the state can't begin such efforts now, it should at least devise a five-year plan to turn around failing schools and help all students reach the highest levels on the MCAS.

''We get an A for education reform," said Guenther. ''We get a D for interventions."

Maria Sacchetti can be reached at msacchetti@globe.com.