MCAS, AYP and the Governor
What does it mean when more than half the schools in Massachusetts fail to make adequate yearly progress (AYP) as the Globe reported yesterday? How about when schools in Acton, Billerica, Dracut and Wilmington join the list, as noted in The Sun? Perhaps it means all the schools are terrible and should be punished, as some would have us think; or maybe it means the standards are unrealistic—that most schools will fall short inevitably given our current system of measurement. The federal No Child Left Behind Act requires all students achieve proficiency by 2014. For example, if a school is at 85 percent proficiency today, each year three percent more students must achieve proficiency to reach 100 percent in five years. If the three percent isn’t reached for two consecutive years, the school has not made AYP. Subgroups (race, English learners, special education) must also make required progress, depending on their starting points, to get to 100 percent proficiency by 2014. Not only is this goal a difficult, moving target, each year different kids are tested and compared, and individual student progress is not tracked.
Consider these results in light of Governor Patrick’s recent education proposals, one of which is to lift the cap on charter schools. Aside from the fact that his plan does nothing to remedy charter-school funding inequities, more than half the state’s charter schools also have not made AYP for two consecutive years even though they have the advantages of “choosiness” regarding students and union-free staffing. In his plan to increase their number, the governor claims: “Only charter school operators with successful track records will be allowed to open or expand…and they must make meaningful efforts to attract, enroll, and retain low-income students, students scoring sub-proficient on the MCAS, English Language Learners, special-education students…” etc (my bold). As a school board member in an urban district where everyone is welcome, not due to “meaningful efforts” but because it’s the law, the language requiring charter schools make an effort to accept the same challenge is just too namby-pamby for me.
More on Patrick’s other plan, Readiness Schools, and Lowell student improvement in later posts.