Education Reform:

Big Plans for Massachusetts Schools

Good performance overall, but needs improvement in some areas: that’s the Commonwealth’s report card when it comes to its educational system, according to Governor Deval Patrick. And now, the Governor is seeking to address some of the gaps through the Commonwealth Readiness Project, a 10-year strategic plan for revamping the state’s educational system.

Some of the areas where Massachusetts lags behind other states – and even other nations – are the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics, says Paul Reville, Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The state also has a persistent achievement gap and inadequate external supports, according to the Governor’s final report. College entrance and high school drop-out rates greatly differ by town, with clear distinctions between students from affluent communities and those who live in large urban districts, according to the Governor’s proposal. In fact, his final report shows huge discrepancies: in Lawrence, for example, only 13.8 percent of high school students graduated on time and planned to go to college; in Springfield, only 16.4 percent. Compare that with Newton’s 77.7 percent or Weston’s 90.6 percent.

“The Readiness Project is a reflection of the Governor’s conviction that as well as we’ve done in education in Massachusetts, we need to do much better to prepare students for the 21st century,” says Reville. Though the state has excelled – and even served as a leader in the nation – in many educational areas, Reville says there are some disturbing gaps.

The backbone of the proposed system is giving every student individualized attention and providing a program that’s specially tailored to a student’s needs and abilities. The current system often provides a “one-size-fits-all” approach, which Reville says doesn’t work. “It’s the equivalent of opening a hospital and giving everyone the same treatment” regardless of ailment, Reville describes. “We need a system to give support, understanding, and guidance, so that everyone is in the end ready for success.”

Reville estimates that the new program will take about twelve years to implement completely. Some of the proposed initiatives of the governor’s Readiness Project include:

• Designing more comprehensive teacher training programs and implementing continuing teacher education;
• Eventually offering universal pre-kindergarten and all-day kindergarten education;
• Increasing financial aid to college students from low-income families and providing increased opportunities for flexible higher education programs;
• Providing more individual attention based on student need and abilities; and
• Launching an Urban Schools Early Warning and Dropout Prevention Pilot program.

“We envision early education through some level of post-secondary college education for everyone,” says Reville, “and a much-improved process.” Reville says it’s also essential to provide an education that will make Massachusetts’ workforce more internationally competitive and prepare students for highly skilled, high-level jobs. That means better global awareness and more education about the culture, history, economy, and languages of other countries, he says.

Because the plan hasn’t been implemented, it’s hard to tell what effect it will truly have, what parts of it will be realized, or what the public’s opinion will be about the reforms. But not all parents are equally enthusiastic about the proposed ideas. “Parents who are already working and have their kids in daycare will now have to arrange their work schedule to accommodate for bus pick up or dropping off at school, then have to leave work to pick the child up and drop off at day care and return to work again,” points out Kelly, a Sudbury mom of three kids under three who declined to be identified by last name. “For what: so their pre-K-aged child can go to school two days a week to play with toys and have circle time? Who benefits from this? Who pays for this? We don't need something else added to our taxes.”

In fact, the cost issue resonates not only with parents and the public, but also with educators. One assistant superintendent pointed to the costs of implementing the Governor’s plan as his greatest reason to believe that the plan might fail. “The big part of our initial effort is to identify financial resources,” agrees Reville, as well as closing the achievement gaps that result from poverty. He says the administration plans to finance the new program through a combination of cost-savings in the current system and revenue-raising mechanisms. Though no specific sources of revenue have been identified at this time, Reville specifies there are no plans to increase property taxes in order to finance the new plan.

To Reville, reforming education in Massachusetts is urgently important. “I think we tend to be fairly cautious about education,” he says. Yet Reville says an educational system that was largely designed at the turn of the 20th century isn’t functioning well enough to take Massachusetts students into the 21st. “We tend to think that schools should look largely like the schools we went to, with maybe a computer or two more. We’ve got to break out of that and avoid complacency,” says Reville.

Ursula Furi-Perry, JD is a nationally published writer, college professor, and mother of two from Haverhill. Her book “50 Legal Careers for Non-Attorneys” will be published by American Bar Association Publishing in 2008. She can be reached at www.furiperry.com.