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Rich School, Poor school: High Scores Follow Money

Money may not buy you love, but it can buy your child a seat in a school where nearly everybody aces the MCAS.

Test scores released yesterday confirm the disparity, but some say it doesn't mean poor kids are dumber; they just need more help.

``(Low-income schools) need smaller class sizes and they have larger class sizes instead,'' said Norma Shapiro, president of the Council for Fair School Finance, which is suing the state seeking more education aid for poor communities.

Some of the poorest communities in the state had the highest failure rates on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exam, especially the key 10th grade test that is now a graduation requirement.

In Lawrence, which the 2000 Census ranks as the poorest city in the state, 53 percent of the class of 2005 haven't passed the math MCAS exam they need to graduate.

In Chelsea, where the $14,628 per capita income ranked it as the third-poorest community in Massachusetts, half of the class of 2005 needs to pass.

Boston University Education School Dean Douglas Sears, who oversees Chelsea's schools, said MCAS was the best tool for poor districts to use because it takes away the excuses that have undercut education for the underprivileged for generations.

``It's forced people to pay attention to what kids are doing,'' he said.

In Weston, the wealthiest community in Massachusetts according to the 2000 Census, only 2 percent of the class of 2005 hasn't passed, and half the failure is due to absence.

The second and fourth-wealthiest communities feed into the Dover-Sherborn Regional School District, where all members of the class of 2005 already have passed the MCAS exam required for graduation.

Even in Lexington, which ranks a scant 15th on the scale of wealthiest communities, just 2 percent of students haven't passed the 10th grade exam.

``I'm not even sure if you need to test those towns,'' Sears said. ``It's fine if you want to do it.''

Poorer communities may be less able to absorb cuts to their school, throwing up another road block to success.

Worcester Superintendent James Caradonia credited a state fund paying for MCAS remediation for helping to push his graduation rate to 89 percent last year.

Not only is that fund gone, his district absorbed a $14 million cut this year. ``It's not going to help. I don't know if it's going to hurt,'' he said.

And a lower budget next year will almost certainly mean rollbacks of gains.

``It would be bad news,'' he said. ``All we've got left is to cut teachers.''

Massachusetts has made some gains in closing the gap in a related area, between white and minority students, noted Education Commissioner David Driscoll.

``The good news for a while was all boats are rising,'' he said.

But that gap remains the nation's ``$64,000 question.''

``How in America do we level the playing field,'' he said. ``No one knows how to do it.''


— Kevin Rothstein
Rich school, poor school: High scores follow money
Boston Herald
2003-09-25
http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/mcas209252003.htm

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