MCAS and Federal Standards: What it Means for Dedham

Last month, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education voted to replace the state's math and English public school standards, or what are more commonly known in the commonwealth as the Frameworks, with national standards, known as the Common Core, endorsed by the Obama administration. This endorsement enables the state to apply for $250 million in aid.

There are many who oppose adopting the standards. The current Frameworks for math and science have served to place Massachusetts students in first place in national assessment testing and are extremely detailed and comprehensive. Some opponents have said that the state's curriculum will be weakened and the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System or MCAS tests might be abandoned.

These examinations are a requirement for graduation and have been cited as improving student achievement since the ground-breaking education reform law that was passed in 1993.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles Baker is amongst those against adoption of the national standards. "My opposition to this decision is about ensuring that Massachusetts determines what is good for Massachusetts, not some combination of other states and the federal government," Baker said publicly.

On the other hand, Lt. Governor Timothy Murray, a Democrat, has said in the press that the state's own Frameworks will be strengthened by adopting the national standards by raising expectations for students. He also acknowledged that receiving federal funds was part of the administration's decision to support the switch.

According to Cynthia Kelly, assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction and assessment for the Dedham Public Schools, adopting the state standards will not conflict with the state's Frameworks.

"Massachusetts has been recognized for having higher standards when compared with many other states," she wrote in an e-mail to Dedham Patch. She has no date planned for Dedham's implementation of the new standards.

The Thomas B. Fordham Institute created a report on the Massachusetts Frameworks and found them to be "one of the strongest sets of academic standards in use in U.S. public schools. …The supplement (which was developed in 2004) rounds out a rigorous, specific, and clear set of expectations for teachers and students."

It rated the Frameworks with a nine out of 10 for Clarity and Specificity and Content and Rigor with the national standards scoring a B+. A 2010 draft is currently under review.

With such an accolade for the Massachusetts Frameworks, I see no need to implement the Common Core when clearly the state has a superior set of standards already in place. Although the implementation of the MCAS has some in the education field feeling as if they are teaching to the test, the combination of the Frameworks and the MCAS have served to improve education across the state and in Dedham and do not require any revision in the process at this time.

The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will now meet with a panel of educators to determine the overlap in the two standards and to determine where the current Massachusetts standards are stronger than the national standards.