Some things we have read through recently...

Testing

In the blur of education events this past three months, a sensible, but significant decision was made - students did not take the MCAS this year. Last time Boston did not administer the MCAS and report results? His first game with the Sox.

Testing in schools can attract negative attention to controversy. Even racial controversy.

Nevertheless, the nearly unanimous consensus is annual student testing is a good thing.

Several Massachusetts policies are often cited given MA’s national reputation for public education. Increased and redistributive funding, often invested in teachers. Rigorous standards and curriculum frameworks. And the MCAS.

Two different perspectives on MCAS were released on Wednesday this week.

Educational Opportunity in Massachusetts is a research-practice partnership between researchers at Brown and Harvard Universities and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and Massachusetts Department of Higher Education.

The research team connected MCAS performance to high school and college graduation rates and to the student’s current adult earnings, if living in Massachusetts.

They released a report: summary here. Whole thing.

It is a jam-packed report with lots of interesting findings and questions. It confirms some of what we already knew with the already available data - Massachusetts students have shown strong performance and improvement, but there are pernicious achievement gaps by race and class. That part of the report got quick, significant attention.

Sadly, we already have a lot of ways to measure inequity in Massachusetts education. For instance, this. Or this. Or this. Or this.

Though there may be a contention that this reflects demography - higher income students do better on standardized tests, get more exclusive college admissions, access to higher-paying jobs, etc. - another data point appears to rebut that.

Massachusetts school districts have this data, and can track to the student and school level. But few have shared publicly. MCAS performance may or may not be correlated with positive life outcomes. This is complex research, first of its kind in Massachusetts, that warrants additional study.

A few hours after this report was released on Wednesday, the Massachusetts Teachers Association released a plan for Reopening and Reimagining Our Public Schools. This document also referenced the MCAS.

No research was provided or cited.

Notes in the Margin

Reflection on history and race in schools on Juneteenth.

There are continued calls to remove police from Boston schools.

Regulations were loosened to reopen day care centers and camps: these will be monitored as all eyes look toward September.

More and more teacher layoffs or reduction are being considered…except in Boston, where the revised city budget maintained an $80M/7% increase in funding to BPS.

Some interesting data from school superintendents and their opinions on schools reopening. Epidemiologists weighed in, too.

Think piece asserting remote learning didn’t work. Many reasons could drive this, from family employment status and language barriers, but one survey makes a simple point - many schools and districts stopped trying to teach.

Want more numbers? The NCES released its (very comprehensive, helpful) annual Condition of Education report.