Report: State not equipped to help schools
Herald News
Will Richmond
April 22, 2005
The Rennie Center for Educational Research and Policy at MassINC is releasing its report, "Reaching Capacity: A Blueprint for the State Role in Improving Low Performing Schools and Districts," at the Statehouse today before education officials and legislators.
The report was developed based on research derived from interviews with superintendents and principals in struggling urban districts, interviews with state-level education employees and a review of how other states and countries deal with the issue."This has been a long-standing issue, the matter of education reform and the capacity of the state to level intervention," Reville said.
To increase the state’s ability to help these schools, the Rennie Center found that a focus on curriculum and professional development, leadership and assessment and data is needed.
To significantly address those three intervention areas, the report calls for the state to spend an estimated $43.75 million, $14.35 million of which would be new funding. The report also calls for improvements to the infrastructure of the Department of Education and the Office of Educational Quality and Accountability.
Because the two departments have reduced staffs in recent years, the report finds "the state does not currently have adequate knowledge or staffing capacity to support schools and districts with their improvement efforts."
The report also calls on the state to make use of external turnaround partners, a move that has already been approved by the Fall River School Committee.
As the first district in the state to turn to an external partner, Fall River’s partnership with America’s Choice will be closely examined by The Rennie Center, Reville said.
The report also found that the state needs to develop more timely reporting of test data, including the annual MCAS exam, to show teachers whether they should move on to new topics or spend more time on them.
"We need to go beyond just MCAS data," Reville said. "We need to provide real-time, overnight data to teachers so they can shift their lessons accordingly."
While other organizations have recently thrown their hat into the ring regarding education reform in the commonwealth, Reville said this report is intended to act as a starting point for state agencies such as the Department of Education and school districts.
"Our focus is narrower," Reville said. "We talk exclusively about the state intervening with low-performing schools and districts."