Payzant submits MCAS position paper to School Committee

The purpose of this memorandum is to provide the School Committee with a framework for discussion of issues regarding MCAS. Since its conception, MCAS has been viewed as a work in progress for the State Board of Education and the Commissioner of Education who have controlled the implementation while being receptive to improvements.

While I do not believe that this is the time to eliminate MCAS as a graduation standard, I do believe that it is necessary and valuable for Boston to discuss ways to make best use of this assessment in service of our long-range goal of educational success for all of our students.

Background
With the publication of "Focus on Children" in August 1996, the Boston Public Schools acknowledged its commitment to standards-based reform and outlined the essential components of the reform effort to "improve teaching and learning to enable all students to achieve high standards of performance." The key components include clear expectations for what students should learn aligned to the state curriculum frameworks; a strong curriculum; assessments aligned to the standards and curriculum; professional development to improve instruction; a whole-school improvement strategy focused on student achievement and clear accountability; a broad-based literacy effort; and increased use of technology to support effective teaching and learning.

In our continuing discussion of MCAS, we must re-affirm our commitment to accelerate our standards-based reform efforts so that we can enable all students to achieve high standards of performance.

Why is Standards-Based Reform so Important?
Standards-based reform is a vehicle to ensure that Boston's students have the knowledge and skills necessary to access opportunity beyond high school. Examining the relationship between our strong economy and the middling performance of students throughout the United States, Marc Tucker, President of the National Center on Education and the Economy, explains, "It's not that schools are doing worse than in the '40s or '50s or '60s