Learning from the Experience of others

Abstract

AS THE YOUNGER of two children, I vividly remember day my brother was caught with and made to lie across our parents' bed to suffer consequences - three or four swats of the belt. I huddled outside door and added playing with matches to a mental list of behaviors I should avoid. I'm happy I took those mental notes. Today, as states consider behaviors they should and should not pursue to improve their education systems, it might be helpful if some of us sat outside door and took notes. After all, state after state has dedicated substantial thought, time, energy, and dollars to raising levels of student achievement, through passing individual bills and omnibus legislation that attempts to fix entire systems. The importance of omnibus bills should not be underestimated. Nor should these bills be confused with bills, which have acquired their name because lawmakers start hanging little extras onto some piece of legislation and so leave original bill buried in a mishmash of frequently unrelated pet provisions. Unlike Christmas tree bills, omnibus bills retain their focus on an issue such as education, but, instead of taking a piecemeal approach, they address whole system, including such items as funding, level of expectations for students, discipline, licensure, and governance. They launch systemwide changes. They are important. That is why, to help evaluate impact and implementation of such bills, a growing number of states have included provisions that require monitoring of these major reforms. These states are installing their own versions of sibling observers to huddle outside door and take notes on consequences of legislation, whether intended or unintended. One example is Massachusetts Education Reform Act (MERA), which was passed in 1993. It included a provision for a commission to oversee implementation of MERA, whose effects now seem to be hitting fan. This oversight commission, Massachusetts Education Reform Review Commission (MERRC), is supposed to provide objective, policy-relevant research and analysis to legislators and other key players in Massachusetts' education reform efforts. The commission's primary activity is funding independent research on various topics related to education reform. Its members include teachers, superintendents, principals, representatives of higher education (both private and public), parents, legislature, and school committees. The commission also aims to facilitate discussion between researchers and policy makers. In 1999 commission sponsored its first working conference of researchers and policy makers. The objective was to begin to develop strategies for stimulating additional research activity related to MERA. Last November, MERRC released a report titled How Massachusetts Schools Are Using MCAS [Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System] to Change Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment, and Resource Allocation, in which it reported results of a survey of school and district staff members and found following: * More than 90% reported that they receive results for students who are tested in their building; * 82% indicated that they were personally involved in analyzing their school's or district's MCAS results; and * more than 70% reported that their use of MCAS data affected instructional strategies they use in classroom. More recently, MERRC released its first annual report, and it is currently taking proposals from independent contractors to pursue several new aspects of research.1 For 2001 annual report, researchers visited 30 schools and interviewed superintendents, principals, teachers, and parents. Others, such as legislators, department of education personnel, and members of professional associations, were interviewed by phone. In all, researchers talked with more than 200 teachers, 90 superintendents, 100 principals, and 100 parents. …