State school role urged
Achievement is high priority
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Clive McFarlane
April 22, 2005
The state must assume a bigger leadership role in helping schools and districts raise student achievement, according to a report released today by a leading education research group.
“Reaching Capacity: A Blueprint for the State Role in Improving Low Performing Schools and Districts” was slated for release today by the Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy at MassINC.
It comes at a time of increasing skepticism among educators over the ability of schools to meet the higher standards being demanded by state and federal education policy-makers.
Several states on Wednesday, for example, filed a lawsuit against the federal government, asking for relief from implementing unfounded federal education mandates that are not funded.
Meanwhile, more than 383 Massachusetts schools have been identified for improvement, corrective actions or restructuring.
The number of state schools falling into these categories will only increase under current state and federal accountability systems, according to S. Paul Reville, executive director of the Rennie Center and author of the report.
“Since the state is setting the standards, it has an obligation to provide the support and establish the priorities that districts need to meet those goals,” Mr. Reville said.
The state’s heavy investment into standards and assessments, however, has not been matched by a commensurate investment in developing the capacity of teachers and educational leaders at the school, district and state levels, to meet the challenges of educating all students to a higher standard, Mr. Reville said.
More specifically, in Massachusetts and nationally, there is limited knowledge about how to educate poor and diverse students well, the report said.
“Yet, this is the challenge that stands as the unfinished business of education reform in the commonwealth, and this is the challenge that remains in completing an equitable and enforceable accountability system in which all students have equal opportunities to learn,” the report said.
The report asked that $57 million be spent, including $43 million by the state, to implement the set of a recommendations focused on building leadership, and providing training and technical support at the district level.
Among other things, the report pointed out that the DOE currently employs 510 people to oversee a system of just under 1 million students. In contrast, in 1980, prior to education reform, DOE had 990 employees, 623 of whom were state employees.
Over the past three years, the number of federally-funded positions at DOE has grown to exceed the number of state-funded positions (from a ratio of 238 state employees/208 federal employees in fiscal 2002 to a ratio of 223 state/287 federal in fiscal 2004).
Mr. Reville said the shrinking number of state employees is of concern because the state has less discretion over the direction of federal employees’ work.
Beyond strengthening the staff at the DOE, the report recommends increasing state guidance on curriculum and professional development options, beginning with low-performing schools; helping teachers use data to change their practice, especially in low-performing schools; developing a value-added system of assessment for Massachusetts; and sponsoring urban leadership training for aspiring and current administrators.
In addition, the report asks the state to create incentives to strengthen leadership at the local level, to include allowing school leaders full control of personnel functions, differential pay for teachers and administrators, and temporarily suspending certain collective bargaining agreements in chronically under-performing districts.
“Building this capacity is of urgent importance,” Mr. Reville said. “If we hope to close the achievement gap, districts are going to need help. Whatever we are doing is not good enough at this point. Since the state sets the standards, it has a role of providing support.”
Heidi Perlman, spokeswoman for the Department of Education, said that in general the report makes some valid points.
“It is clear that we need to look at our capacity to gauge what we are doing right now,” she said.
“The commissioner’s one caution is that he does not want people to take from this that the state is the answer, that the state can solve all the problems. The state should not be in the business of running every school in the state.
“But the reality is the reality. Our staff has been significantly decreased, and at the moment we only have the ability to deal directly with the most severe cases of schools that are underperforming.”
