New governor to face test on student achievement
Reforms needed, lawmakers say
The third in a series of articles on issues facing the next governor.
Thirteen years into a crusade to overhaul schools, the Bay State's students regularly are among the top in the nation on standardized tests.
But the new governor will inherit public school systems that appear to have hit a plateau. After years of improvement, the state's elementary school scores were flat or declined last year. Struggling cities from Lawrence to Holyoke still suffer low achievement. Even some of the wealthiest towns aren't excelling on state tests.
``It's a clear opportunity for leadership. Somebody needs to stand up and say it may appear that we're doing all right . . . but we've got a long way to go," said Paul Reville, president of the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy. ``We're asking for a quantum leap here."
Though much of the power sits with lawmakers and the state Board of Education, the governor can use a bully pulpit to push dramatic reforms, such as the 1993 law that poured billions of dollars into schools, set academic standards, and spawned standardized testing to measure student achievement. Over the past four years, the Democratic-run Legislature ignored many of Republican Governor Mitt Romney's ideas, including parent-training classes and merit pay for teachers based partly on how their students perform in school. Romney also sparred with teachers unions, which wield powerful influence on Beacon Hill.
The next governor must cut through partisan bickering to trigger new reforms, lawmakers and others say. The state has a solid starting point: More than half of its students are scoring at or above grade level on the English portion of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System. Depending on the grade level, about 40 percent to 60 percent of students hit that mark in math. In addition, about 95 percent are passing the 10th-grade English and math exams, which became a high school graduation requirement in 2003. The MCAS tests students in grades 3-8 and 10 in a variety of subjects.
But the next administration needs to figure out how to boost scores of black, Hispanic, and low-income students, who trail other groups -- and how to prod even wealthy cities and towns to excel.
In Boston, the state's largest school system, the gap in academic achievement is still wide between different racial and ethnic groups. Only 27 percent of black and Hispanic high school sophomores were at or above grade level on the state's English exam last year, compared with more than 60 percent of white and Asian students.
Meanwhile, in Weston, one of the most affluent towns in Massachusetts, fewer than half of the students scored at the advanced level, the highest, on the state's tests last year.
Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll said Massachusetts should worry that many schools are getting students to meet only minimum standards. The Bay State could suffer more outsourcing of jobs if schools don't provide well-educated workers, he said.
``We're not having enough kids graduating from high school at a high level," said Driscoll. ``It's going to be more and more of a problem. . . . We've got to take this issue seriously."
Driscoll is pushing reforms such as raising the passing score on the MCAS, expanding college-preparatory classes, and awarding certificates to excellent students.
The call for higher standards is likely to reignite the fight over money. Last year, families from many low-income cities and towns lost a lawsuit against the state demanding more money and resources for schools.
State officials argued that money alone wouldn't improve schools. But school systems remain skeptical as they rebound from several years of budget cuts. The Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents estimates schools need $1 billion more to do an adequate job teaching the state's more than 970,000 students, including training teachers and tutoring students, said executive director Tom Scott.
Thomas F. Birmingham, a Boston lawyer and former state Senate president from Chelsea who cosponsored the state Education Reform Act, said a huge cash infusion was a crucial reason that schools improved. He pointed out that the state hasn't restored the full $50 million a year it spent on MCAS tutoring for students who failed.
``If we're going to insist on high standards and high stakes, we can't just throw kids into the deep end of the pool," he said. ``If they sink we say tough, and if they swim we say great."
But state Representative Patricia A. Haddad, Democrat of Somerset and cochairwoman of the Legislature's joint education committee, said state leaders must insist on reforms, even if times are tight.
``I don't think we can say that if there's no new money, we can walk away from the problem," she said.
Besides dealing with educators' and parents' calls for more funding, the next governor will confront several hot-button issues:
Raising the MCAS score: The state Board of Education might raise the passing score on the 10th-grade English and math exams to proficient, which means that students understand challenging subject matter for their grade, starting with the Class of 2009. All students must pass the test to graduate from high school. Currently the state scores the exams at four levels: failing, needs improvement (which is the passing score now), proficient, and advanced. Students could still pass with the ``needs improvement" score if they pass classes to make up their deficiencies. Judging by last year's scores, a third of students statewide and more than half in cities such as Boston would have to take extra classes.
Achievement gap: Test scores have risen since 1998 for all groups, but black and Hispanic students still trail white and Asian students on the MCAS. Some officials say the persistent gap calls for drastic measures, such as giving superintendents more power to reassign teachers and hiring outside consultants to revamp schools. Others urge lawmakers to lift a cap on charter schools that is limiting the number of students who can attend from cities such as Boston.
Fixing failing schools: The federal No Child Left Behind law prescribes sanctions for failing schools, such as forcing them to pay for students to transfer elsewhere to state intervention. Massachusetts is considering hiring private consultants to improve schools and boosting state oversight.
But teachers unions contend the state instead should target money to lower class sizes, increase teacher pay, and provide more teaching materials.
``We really need a governor who's willing to focus on ways to help the schools . . . instead of a label and blame process," said Anne Wass, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association. ``To come in from the outside and say . . . `Here's what you do,' and kind of ram it down their throat, human nature will tell you it will not work."
Romney has urged state education officials to find new ways to make schools better, saying the state cannot simply spend more money to do the same thing.
Preschool: Romney vetoed a popular bill to expand preschool statewide in favor of a smaller pilot program. Haddad, the state representative, vowed to re-file the legislation next year. She said students, especially those from low-income or non-English-speaking families, need the early boost to succeed later.
Romney's office said he vetoed the bill because the cost could exceed $1 billion a year for taxpayers, and he wanted to see the results of the pilot program first.
Maria Sacchetti can be reached at msacchetti@globe.com. 