The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education’s decision to adopt weaker national standards known as “Common Core” cuts students’ instruction in classic literature and poetry in half.
With its adoption of Common Core, Massachusetts has chosen to hit the reset button on nearly two decades of unparalleled student achievement.
Because of the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education’s decision to adopt weaker national standards known as “Common Core,” students will learn less than half as much classic literature and poetry than they did under Massachusetts’ previous standards.
But with its adoption of Common Core, Massachusetts has chosen to hit the reset button on nearly two decades of unparalleled student achievement.
But with its adoption of Common Core, Massachusetts has chosen to hit the reset button on nearly two decades of unparalleled student achievement.
The so-called Common Core State Standards in English and math were almost entirely developed inside the Beltway by a small group of D.C.-based education trade organizations.
“Testimony to the Joint Education Committee” was provided in May 2011.
Special interest groups opposed to charter schools and highstakes testing have hijacked the state’s once-independent board of education and stand poised to water down the MCAS tests and the accountability system they support.
The purpose of Pioneer’s policy brief is to spell out the successful standards-based reforms that have made Massachusetts the highest performing K-12 state in the country, and to suggest how the BESE and the 21st Century Skills Task Force can strengthen the state’s nationally recognized curriculum frameworks, student assessments, educator licensure regulations, and teacher subject area tests.
Considering this record of low student achievement and the deep pockets of chronic under-performance, the Patrick Administration’s Readiness Project and Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) are right to call for a long, hard look at the state’s achievement gaps, education accountability, targeted assistance, and policymaking.
This study, produced by Pioneer Institute’s Center for School Reform, analyzes school district performance assessment data reported by the Massachusetts Office of Educational Quality and Accountability (EQA). This agency audits school districts regularly to evaluate their progress in implementing the reforms articulated by the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993 (MERA).
This study, produced by Pioneer Institute’s Center for School Reform, analyzes school district performance assessment data reported by the Massachusetts Office of Educational Quality and Accountability (EQA). This agency regularly audits school districts to evaluate their progress in implementing the reforms articulated by the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993 (MERA).