Education reform has miles to go
The Boston Globe
By Paul Reville and Mark Roosevelt
May 5, 2003
The 10-year anniversary of the Education Reform Act of 1993 is a good time for a short celebration of the progress we have made, and an ideal time for an examination of what needs to be accomplished if our goal of excellence for all is to be realized. The act changed the education landscape so much that it is difficult to remember what it was like before it passed. For the first time we have state standards -- for both funding and learning. Through the foundation budget, Massachusetts now guarantees that a reasonable sum of money will be spent on every child's education. And through the curriculum standards and MCAS testing, the state now requires that every child be educated to a reasonably high standard. The key is ''every child.'' Every child from every community now counts. That is the most notable achievement of the act.
The state's political leadership deserves credit for having kept the formula intact and for having honored the act's mammoth funding commitment over the last 10 years. They also deserve credit for setting some of the nation's highest learning standards, developing high quality assessments, providing generous funding for remedial education and standing firm on the high stakes graduation requirement which makes the standards matter.
While MCAS has been very controversial, it has sparked much-needed change, especially in our most troubled school systems. The great success of the Class of 2003 (91 percent have now passed) demonstrates the effectiveness of the strategy.
Much has been accomplished, but much remains to be done if we are to ensure that every child gets the education that he or she deserves. For the present, we must set our sights on closing the achievement gap and ultimately on raising our expectations for all students. Here are some steps to consider:
First, do a better job of holding adults responsible for providing students
quality opportunities to learn.
The federal ''No Child Left Behind'' legislation and the state law require
that the Commonwealth intervene in schools and school districts that are
not making sufficient progress at improving student achievement. We need
to design these interventions, build state capacity to implement them, and
focus the interventions on increasing a district's capacity to improve teaching
and learning.
Improve the quality of teaching by placing much greater
emphasis on professional development.
By asking every teacher to educate all students to a high level, we have
fundamentally altered the teaching profession. Now, we need to provide teachers
the training and support they need to meet this ambitious goal. This means
breaking down the isolation of teaching by opening up the classroom so that
teachers can collaborate and observe effective practice. Professional development,
integrated into the daily routine, should focus on standards, student work,
and strategies for improved teaching.
Invest in research and data. It is critical that we assess
what is working in successful schools and offer that knowledge to schools
that need it.
Teachers need ready access to individual student assessment data so that
they can assess the strengths and weaknesses of their teaching and make modifications
accordingly.
Take a fresh look at the entire school calendar.
The old school day and year are not sufficient for the task at hand. Universal
access to early childhood education is a must, as are quality after-school
programs. And the school year needs to be lengthened, especially in communities
with the greatest challenges. Since it may take more than four years for some
high school students to attain proficiency, we also need to design a system
of continuing education pathways that provide the additional instruction that
some will need.
Dramatically improve labor-management relations.
This means teachers must be enlisted as full partners in improving their instructional
practice, and management and labor need to put improved student learning at
the very center of their working relationships. Collective bargaining should
guarantee due process rights, but must not be so inflexible as to obstruct
or prohibit practices that will improve teaching and learning. Enlightened
union leaders know that we can no longer afford such obstacles to school improvement.
Managers, on the other hand, will have to relinquish certain leadership functions,
sharing prerogatives such as instructional leadership with outstanding teachers.
Much of what needs to be done costs money and will have to be implemented over a number of years, as was the funding formula in the 1993 law. And much will meet with great resistance. As battle-scarred veterans of the education policy wars, we know that the status quo has formidable defenses.
We believe that standards-based education reform is the second great revolution in education in America. In years past, Massachusetts led the way in establishing the right of every child to access public education. We must now lead the nation in making sure that every child acquires the knowledge and skills necessary to fully participate in our complex economy, culture, and democracy.
We are proud to have been involved in the creation of the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993. We are also proud of the progress to date, but let us be the first to acknowledge that we have miles to go if we are to make good on the promise of equity and excellence for all.
Paul Reville, the former executive director of the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education, is executive director of the Center for Education Research and Policy at MassINC and a lecturer at Harvard Graduate School of Education. Mark Roosevelt, the former chairman of the Legislature's Joint Committee on Education where he co-authored the Education Reform Act of 1993, is managing director of the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education.