Policy Update: Massachusetts: An Eye on Performance

Vital Statistics
247	Public school districts
1,840	Public schools
954,000	K-12 enrollment
22.1%	Minority students
16%	Children in poverty
17%	Students with disabilities
$7.2 billion	Annual K-12 expenditures (all revenue sources)

The exams for would-be educators and for K-12 students came as part of the final phases of implementation for the state's education reform law. That law--especially its academic standards and the new tests--stayed in the headlines in 1998 and served as fodder for political campaigns across the state. It was a central feature of the governor's race, in which acting Gov. Paul Cellucci, a Republican, beat state Attorney General Scott Harshbarger, a Democrat, in November.

The Education Reform Act of 1993 is a $5 billion plan that, when fully in place in 2000, will have doubled state spending on schools. It set a minimum per-student spending level for the state's districts and set rigorous academic standards in seven core subjects. The law also led to the creation of high-stakes tests based on those standards for students in grades 4, 8, and 10.

Results from the first round of the tests, the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, or MCAS, came out in November and showed that, of the four scoring categories--"failing," "needs improvement," "proficient," and "advanced"--a majority of the state's test-takers scored in the failing and needs-improvement categories.

Reaction to the scores was mixed, but state officials said the results sealed their commitment to the reform plan. "Make no mistake, the status quo is not OK," Cellucci said in a news release. "There is no turning back here. We must show perseverance and continue to demand more out of our schools so we get more from our students."

The reform plan tightens accountability for schools, with the MCAS scores serving as one of several factors the state will consider when gauging their progress. The state board will vote on details of the plan later this month.

The Education Reform Act also provides for the creation of 50 charter schools, all of which participate in MCAS. Some 34 state charter schools are up and running, and three more are scheduled to open in the fall.

One of the biggest battles in the Bay State this year will center around the quality of the state's teaching force and--thanks to growing enrollments and teacher retirements--the pressing need for thousands of new teachers in the coming decade. And, given the challenges of the education reform plan, state leaders have emphasized that Massachusetts' teaching corps will need to be amply qualified.

Concerns over teacher quality flared up in April of last year when results from the state's licensing exams, which measure literacy skills and competency in specialized teaching areas, showed that a whopping 59 percent of prospective teachers had failed. On the second go-around, in August, 47 percent of would-be teachers flunked; on the third, 45 percent failed.

From newspaper editorials to the campaign trail, reaction to the poor showings came fast and furious.

Cellucci, who has since called for the testing of all the state's teachers and the firing of those who fail, has laid much of the blame for the failing scores on the quality of the test-takers and the state's teacher education programs.

The scores were a shock, acting state Commissioner of Education David P. Driscoll says.

"It became clear that we weren't attracting the strongest candidates" to teaching, he says, adding that the state expects to lose 40 percent of its teachers to retirement in the next decade. "We had to do something to make the profession more appealing" to students, recent college graduates, and qualified teachers considering retirement, he says.

What Driscoll came up with was a new program for teacher recruitment and training, which he announced last September. Known as the "12-62" plan because it's geared toward shepherding prospective teachers from grade school through retirement, the initiative includes scholarships, signing bonuses of up to $20,000, loan-forgiveness packages, and professional-development and mentoring programs.

Teacher colleges also shared in the blame for the high failure rate of prospective teachers. State officials, including Stanley Z. Koplik, the chancellor of higher education, have proposed several changes to tighten standards, including raising admission standards for state education colleges and shutting down programs in which more than 20 percent of students fail the test for two consecutive years, beginning in 2000.

Some college officials, meanwhile, have questioned the test's quality and methodology; other critics have raised concerns over the fairness of its scoring system. National Evaluation Systems, the Amherst, Mass.-based company that devised the test, has designed similar teacher tests for eight other states.

Alabama stopped using its NES-designed teacher-certification test after a lawsuit filed by minority candidates against the state was settled out of court in 1989.

Even while supporting the test for prospective teachers, teachers' unions have blamed the state's handling of the matter for what they claim is the lowest morale in memory among Massachusetts teachers and school administrators.

"Low teacher morale is emanating from the way the test has been handled," says Stephen E. Gorrie, the president of the 83,000-member Massachusetts Teachers Association, a National Education Association affiliate. "The state flip-flopped on whether the [first] test would count. It didn't pass out study guides, and it blamed and bashed teachers when the fairly high failure rate" was posted, he says.

Driscoll, the acting state chief, says morale among the current teaching force is a concern. "That's why we're putting in programs that will enhance the work of current teachers," he says. "The plan addresses veteran teachers' plight as well as the 'bonus babies.' "

Like the teaching force, the Massachusetts school board came under scrutiny over the past year. The nine-member panel was criticized as providing poor, wavering, sometimes slow leadership of the education reform drive.

Frank W. Haydu III, who preceded Driscoll as the acting commissioner, surprised everyone last July when, frustrated with what he has since characterized as the state school board's autocratic and divisive leadership, he abruptly resigned.

"It's a dysfunctional, adversarial board, and my assessment at times was that Boston University was running the system," Haydu, a financial investor, said in a recent interview. Including the board's chairman, BU Chancellor John R. Silber, there are three Boston University officials on the school board, and several other professors and officials have been appointed to education advisory panels. "With seven of the nine board members higher education or research types, [board members] have no idea where different stakeholders [in the school system] are coming from. ...There needs to be a broader board."

Harshbarger, the Democratic gubernatorial contender, had promised that, if elected, he would name himself the chairman of the state board. In contrast, Cellucci has stood squarely behind the board's leadership. The governor, who appoints all board members and names its chair, has made no mention of plans to replace Silber or any other members of the board.