FYI from BSF, 09.29.23
Achievement and opportunity gaps are not new; the pandemic and post-pandemic effects on those gaps are new.
In the broader discussion of the 2023 MCAS assessments claiming momentum towards recovery or recovery efforts falling short, there has been little public discussion of what lies underneath, and even drives these narratives. Digging into the subgroups, you find the two competing narratives complete each other.
Across Massachusetts, there is academic recovery. For some kids.
Since its inception, MCAS results have reflected racial achievement gaps. What is striking over the past four years is that those gaps have actually accelerated. Two examples from Boston:
This is also the case with English Learners.
The Opportunity Index (OI) is a metric created by BPS to determine the concentration of a school’s high needs population. There is an inescapable correlation between a school’s OI score and how many of its students met expectations on the MCAS last year. Grades 3-8 again:
The inequitable impacts of the pandemic are well-documented. But as the interrupted schooling of 2020 and 2021 moves farther into our past, gaps persist, even widen. Bold, ambitious ideas are easy to describe, but very hard to actually do, leaving one of the most obvious and practical interventions on the table.
Attendance.
Back to scatterplots. The higher rates of chronic absenteeism at a school, the less likely students met expectations on the MCAS in Boston last year.
Even with the district’s enrollment contracting by 10%, Boston’s low-income students missed 221,867 more days of school last year than they did in 2019. That is more than one million instructional hours. The equivalent of no child in the town of North Adams attending school for a year.
So, it is not a surprise that 2023 attendance data mirrors 2023 achievement data. Groups with better attendance have recovered more quickly.
There has been a major disruption in the norms of school attendance, affecting students of all backgrounds in all communities. There is no shortage of potential interventions, some that require very little cost.
We can have wonderful plans and resources to support children in schools. There are schools that have shown the ability to narrow or even close gaps.
But kids need to be there for it to work.
Notes in the Margin
Boston School Committee met on Wednesday. Materials here, including a lengthy update on inclusion. Superintendent Skipper reflected on her first year.
Continued coverage of forum and events leading up to the 50th anniversary of Boston school desegregation.
Expanding paid parental leave for Massachusetts teachers.
Are new Massachusetts charter schools on the horizon?
Receiving new Massachusetts students from migrant families, at the school level.
In a highly politicized environment around MCAS, attention is given to possible revisions of the test (and Governor Healey’s comments on those possible revisions).
Inside two areas of schooling that often get little attention: residential schools and home schooling.
This week in the education culture wars: New Hampshire edition, meet one of the Johnny Appleseeds of book challenges, and banning book bans.
A primer on teacher demographics and student outcomes.
Already talking about 2025, Secretary Cardona and the Biden Administration rolled out post affirmative action guidelines for colleges and universities.