Education & Education Policy in Massachusetts

  In reaction to the report, A Nation at Risk, which discussed the decline of the United States’ public education system, Massachusetts drafted and passed the Massachusetts Education Reform Act (MERA) in 1993. In it, the Act focused on several areas: establishing high expectations for students (now notably seen in the Candidate Assessment of Performance for teacher candidates), creating assessments that would collect data on districts statewide (now notably seen in the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System), holding school districts accountable, and outlining a financial aid system for resources. Eight years later, President George W. Bush proposes and a year later signs into law the No Child Left Behind Act with bipartisan support. The Act outlined a requirement of all states and their respective school districts to administer a nationwide standardized test in order to establish financial aid for lower-performing (which has been linked to underfunded) districts. It also recommended professional development for teachers (now notably seen in Initial to Professional License transition and Professional License renewal in Massachusetts). In December of 2015, No Child Left Behind Act was replaced with the Every Student Succeeds Act. This shifted power from the national level back to the state level, in which states would have to decide which districts would need additional support to improve the educational outcome of their students. It also identified four areas of accountability: growth within language arts and math, English language proficiency, growth from elementary school to middle school, and number of students graduating high school, and required an additional indicator of school quality. Within the state of Massachusetts, that fifth indicator is chronic absenteeism.

   Among many other acts and laws passed, the state of Massachusetts has dictated an educational reform that has allowed it to maintain its status as one of the top states for education. These acts highlight the important role of teachers: to become licensed in the state, teacher candidates must meet a strict set of requirements outlined in the Candidate Assessment of Performance (CAP), more specifically creating and maintaining high expectations for students, being extremely knowledgeable in their subject, and meeting diverse needs. To maintain their Professional license or to upgrade from Initial to Professional, teachers must continually take professional development in the form of additional classes, degrees and/or certifications. However, these acts also highlight a desire for a hands-off approach; many teachers dislike the idea of teaching towards a test—as a teacher, it is our job to teach for passion, not a test. Constant statewide testing can disrupt a classroom, and along with holidays, snow days, drills, and unexpected interruptions, they can disrupt a student’s learning. Overall, these three acts highlight the necessity to see the next generation of children pursue and achieve higher goals than we did, and our ancestors did, and the ancestors before them did.