Thursday, June 6, 2013

Advances in student achievement since the passage of the 1993 Education Reform Act in Massachusetts


Mass Insight Education has 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.

  • 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.


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

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