New Mass Insight Report Commemorates 20 Years of Education Reform in Massachusetts

BOSTON, June 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Mass Insight Education, a non-profit leader in developing school district strategies and academic programming, today released a summative report reviewing student achievement during the twenty years since the passage of the 1993 Education Reform Act in Massachusetts, which set to transform public education across the state. The anniversary report highlights the significant progress the state has made as a result of the landmark legislation and also provides a call to action to address the challenges that remain - specifically in raising student achievement for underserved populations and in increasing college success rates for all Massachusetts students. The report was developed as part of an education panel discussion and forum held at the Massachusetts State House on May 9 with panelists Jane Swift (former Massachusetts Governor); Matthew Malone (MA Secretary of Education); Mitchell Chester (MA Commissioner of Education); Tripp Jones (Managing Partner, New Profit); and Jim Peyser (Partner, NewSchools Venture Fund) as a catalyst to shape the next era of education reform.

Mass Insight Education, which contributed to education reform through its policy and research work in the early 1990s, researched data on student performance over the past two decades during the often controversial implementation of education reform policies including system changes, new investments, standards and accountability, and the growth of charter schools. With an emphasis on longitudinal data and student performance metrics, the report's findings include:

• Statewide scores in Grade 10 MCAS in ELA, math, and science increased but students from low-income families continue to lag behind the state average by 11 percentage points, 16 percentage points and 21 percentage points respectively. (graph)
• The statewide high school graduation rate increased 6 percentage points from 2006-2012 yet students from underserved populations continue to fall below the state average - 10 percentage points lower for African Americans and nearly 20 percentage points lower for Hispanics. (graph)
• Statewide Advanced Placement (AP*) math, science, and English qualifying scores
  increased by 44 percent from 2008-2012, but the number of African American and Hispanic students' qualifying scores are nearly 5 times lower than the state average. (graph)

Mass Insight also collected data on post-secondary student outcomes including persistence rates while in college and college graduation rates within six years. In 2010, Massachusetts partnered with Complete College America to focus on the college success rate, which in 2008 was only 57.8 percent. In the report, Mass Insight recommends that the new metric in education reform should be centered around increased college graduation rates, aligning with the state's commitment to College Success.

"We've done an incredible job in making our K-12 students first in the nation, but to be globally competitive we need to expand our focus to include College Success," said William Guenther, CEO and Founder of Mass Insight. "We need to invest in proven programs that provide our students the academic skills not only to enroll in college, but to succeed and graduate college fully-prepared for the workforce."

Mass Insight's 20 Year Anniversary Report: Education Reform In Massachusetts 1993-2013 is available for download at http://www.massinsight.org/news/318/

*Advanced Placement, AP and College Board are registered trademarks of the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this product.

Contact: Thomas DeSantes, 617-778-1537

SOURCE Mass Insight