FYI from BSF, 09.15.23
It seems really early to be giving out report cards, but next week schools and districts will be getting their first one in four years.
The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education will meet on Tuesday, and also release updated student assessment data and designations for schools and school districts for the first time since 2019. Meeting agenda/materials here.
In the past, this annual round of data and decisions has played a central policy and political role in Massachusetts education. This was born through a succession of four laws over two decades - the Massachusetts Education Reform Act (1993), No Child Left Behind (the federal education reauthorization in 2002), An Act Relative to the Achievement Gap (2010), and the Every Students Succeeds Act (the federal reauthorization in 2015).
The terms, targets, and manner of degree have shifted over time, but the theory of action is pretty consistent: Create uniform academic standards. Assess student performance. If schools or school systems have consistently low performance or achievement gaps, intervene.
Over time, the Commonwealth has designated 65 schools and 3 school districts as underperforming. With this designation came significant resources and authority to change school programming, leadership, and staffing. After initial excitement, the results are mixed. Some schools “exited.” Some schools closed. Many schools and school districts still have state oversight. Federal grants for “turnaround” schools across the country follow a similar pattern.
New work more or less stopped here in 2016; no Massachusetts school or school system has been designated underperforming since then. Although the pandemic created a necessary pause to the state’s accountability system, the reality is that the system was already in pause mode. In pre-pandemic 2019, there were many schools that were on the cusp of intervention in, including 42 in Boston.
There has been much discussion over the past three years about what we should or should not “bring back” to schools.
We will see what the state thinks about this on Tuesday.
Notes in the Margin
Boston School Committee was back in-person on Wednesday (with remote comment and participation available). Full materials here. Perhaps in response to comments by Commissioner Riley in June, a considerable portion of the back-to-school presentation on Wednesday addressed work towards the “systemic improvement plan.” There was a lengthy presentation on facilities and the creation of rubric. Full presentation and calendar below (although, note tomorrow's session is postponed due to weather).
Inside the new Brookline High School building.
The scandal of the missing $14M in the Brockton Schools budget continues. A potential whisteblower has come forward asserting he, well, blew the whistle on enrollment decline and unsustainable staffing.
September has featured more school cancellations due to weather than many recent winter months. Leominster schools were closed until Thursday after torrential rain earlier this week.
Mayor Wu comments on the ballot question to eliminate the MCAS graduation requirement.
Governor Healey celebrated the continuation of universal free school meals, one of many pandemic responses that addressed child poverty. The failure to continue this and other measures across the country contributed to child poverty doubling in America in the past year.
There have been quick, sweeping changes in reading instruction. Is math next?
A quick primer on how a school district (Palo Alto) dramatically changed early literacy outcomes. The start of this work in New York City has been more bumpy.
A detailed, sobering account of the academic impacts of interrupted schooling.
An independent study of KIPP charter schools shows an elimination of college completion gaps for its Black and Latino students. The updated College Access Index shows which schools are - and are not - expanding low-income student enrollment. The leader who is responsible for lending $1.6T in student loan debt asserts higher education is “broken.”
As Boston reflects on a half century of busing, 11 AM on Sunday has lost its notorious designation as the most segregated hour in American life. What is now? ~8 AM-3 PM, weekdays, September through June.
Policy shifts in Sweden reflect debate in European countries about the efficacy of technology in classrooms.
Other Matters
We received a lot of questions about widespread attendance issues in schools. Here is a helpful primer for any parent/caregiver.
