Background
Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993
The Massachusetts Education Reform Act (MERA) was passed in 1993 and prompted a wide overhaul of the Massachusetts education system over a period of seven years. Changes were developed for programming, financials, and organization of the education system in Massachusetts (2).
Programming
One of the largest adjustments was the development and implementation of state wide frameworks. Prior to 1993, only history and physical education were legal requirements in education (3). These frameworks create state wide goals for all grade levels, creating a common core of academic subjects (2). Another significant change was the establishment of a minimum number of hours students must be in school, requiring at least 990 hours of core academic subject study in secondary schools (3).
The Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) was developed to be used as a standardized tool to identify individuals and schools that need attention in specific subjects (3). In addition to the state standards and MCAS, graduation requirements were developed reinforce these new frameworks. MERA states that all students need to pass specific MCAS testing to receive their diploma, in addition to the local requirements of the district (3).
Fiscal
A new budget format was adopted that created a "foundation budget". The goal of this new budget plan was to bring every school to a standard minimum level of spending (3). Overall the average foundation budget was brought to about $5,500 per student (3). State aid was calculated to ensure that each of the districts had enough money for each school to meet their foundation level, and every district reached their goal in the initial seven year phase (1).
Organization
MERA placed a focus on ensuring that all educators were held to high standards, introducing a testing certification system. Starting in 1998, all teachers were required to pass a knowledge of content test and a communications/literacy test (3).
Site based management was pushed, mandating that each school creates a council consisting of principals, teachers, parents, community members, and at least once student that are all representative of the demographics of the community (2). The Act also redistributed some of the power away from the school committee and to superintendents and principles, providing them with more control over hiring and expulsions (2). Next, an accountability system was developed to provide support and planning for intervention in under performing schools (3). If a district is categorized as under performing, then it can be taken into receivership granting them emergency loans, and government assistance (1).
MERA developed a new organization of where students could attend schools, creating charter schools. These schools are considered independent of public schools and operate with 5 year grants from the Board of Education. These schools are open to all students and must meet the frameworks standards, however they have more freedom for flexibility in methods of teaching (1,3).
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was introduced on December 10, 2015, replacing the No Child Left Behind Law of 2001, laying out clearer standards and providing more flexibility (4). The ESSA was implemented with the goal to increase the equity in disadvantaged communities, as well as hold schools accountable for meeting national and state standards. (4)
The ESSA created requirements for each state to meet in these four general categories:
Each state needs to measure their performance in reading, math and science. States are granted the flexibility to determine the method through which students are assessed and can develop their own testing programs. The information gathered from the assessments must be shared with parents along with information about how to interpret the scores. (5)
Each state needs to develop an accessible and understandable "State Report Card" which is available online including information on reading, math, and science. These report cards need to provide data on graduation rate, suspensions, demographics, teacher qualifications, and a variety of other topics. (5)
Each State needs to develop methods to increase transparency to better involve parents and the community in the education of the students. This process of integrating the community into the school culture involves required reporting of per pupil expenditures, listing lowest performing schools, and providing information about supports and improvements in these schools. (5)
Each state needs to be given more flexibility in funding which can be directed towards technical, vocational, or magnet schools. Providing states with more funding and control over where it goes, creates more opportunities for districts to create more diverse learning opportunities. (5)
Overall, the ESSA gave states more power in the educational system programming and organization while creating clear guidelines to increase opportunities for disadvantaged communities to prepare students to succeed after high school. (4)
Every Student Succeeds Act (2015)
References:
Mitchell D. Chester, Ed. D. "Building on 20 Years of Massachusetts Education Reform". Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. November 2014.
Anthony, Patricia G.; Rossman, Gretchen B. "The Massachusetts Education Reform Act: What Is It and Will It Work?". 1994.
Goulet, John. “Overview of the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993.” WPI Teacher Preparation Program, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 2011, users.wpi.edu/~goulet/teacher_prep/teacher_prep.htm.