What is relative to education now in Massachusetts?
Natick Bulletin & Tab
Mary Kate Dubuss
May 13, 2005
How does a teacher really know how much a student learns in their class? Regulated tests like MCAS offer a window to assess each student, but it the way each educator analyzes those results that make long-term impacts in a student's education. Thanks to technology like TestWhiz, software that helps teachers explore data from tests like the MCAS, understanding an individual's learning habits is easier than ever before.
But any educator will tell you the state still has a long way to go to make sure each one of its students will be considered "proficient," as is mandated by the No Child Left Behind law, by 2014
A new study entitled "Reaching Capacity: A Blueprint for the State Role in Improving Low Performing Schools and Districts," released by the Rennie Center for Education Research at MassINC last month, offers a litany of suggestions school districts and the state Department of Education (DOE) could adopt to facilitate further progress in the classroom.
"The report was not surprising, these are things we know," said Dr. Karen LeDuc, Natick's assistant superintendent for curriculum and assessment. "The report hits on key components of making sure Education Reform continues."
"We've come a long way [since the Massachusetts Education Reform Act was passed in 1993] but there are persistent achievement gaps," said S. Paul Reville, the executive director of the Rennie Center, at the study's release last month at the Massachusetts State House.
LeDuc said the report's findings, which name professional development, data assessment, leadership and strategic planning and more time spent on learning, are on the mark. Each of the four categories are concepts this district is focused on, she said.
Another suggestion made by Reville and his team is each district needs to build capacity, creating a base of expertise at the local level.
LeDuc agrees. In Natick, capacity, which she considers "the ability to move toward a common goal," is another priority.
The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law now requires each school in the country to make significant progress - referred to as adequate yearly progress - between now and 2014.
Thanks to sufficient funding and innovative programs, Natick now has the tools to teach and assess all of its students, said Leduc.
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Thanks to tools like the developmental reading assessment, classroom observations and running records of each student's progress, educators in Natick can feel confident their students understand their lessons.
"We're at Heartbreak Hill," said Christy Slavic at a recent School Committee meeting, referring to district's progress with creating benchmark assessments in Natick.
"TestWhiz is good stuff, very helpful analysis," said LeDuc.
But as more grades are tested each year on the MCAS and additional subjects are added, additional software programs - some Natick has access to through the membership in The Education Collaborative - will become necessary to manage students' progress.
"We pay to belong [to TEC] but it is money well spent," said LeDuc.
Equally important is leadership, said LeDuc.
"Principals now have to be instructional leaders," she said.
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"Assessment is key, monitoring where individuals are," she said. "Data becomes key."
"It isn't enough to get MCAS results six months later," Reville said.
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