Educating a 21st Century Workforce

MBAE, committed to a quality education for every child, continues to believe that the education reform compact - high standards for achievement, accountability to measure and guide progress, and equitable funding to help all students achieve - is a proven foundation for success. MBAE's priorities reflect the concerns of the business community that the Commonwealth's public schools need substantial reform to produce quality graduates capable of leading a 21st century democracy and economy.

2008 Advocacy Priorities

All Students Graduating College and Career Ready
MBAE has been the voice of the business community in driving systemic, statewide reform to raise graduation rates and ensure that all students acquire the skills and knowledge essential for college and career success.

• 21st Century Skills
  The skills and knowledge that our students must possess to compete in a global economy are changing rapidly, yet state academic standards do not reflect these real-world demands of postsecondary education and work. MBAE has been a leader of statewide efforts to address this concern and has convened business leaders to develop an actionable plan to ensure students acquire the 21st Century skills they need.
• College and Career Readiness - MassCore
  To focus attention on the critical connection between education and our region's economic health, MBAE engaged business leaders in the development of the recently approved MassCore curriculum as an important step toward performance-based assessment of college and career readiness.
• Raise Graduation Rates
  MBAE supports S.290 as a comprehensive approach to dropout prevention that recognizes the importance of setting goals and using data to inform solutions. The bill's provisions for collecting and analyzing graduation rate data will enable resources to be directed where these will be most effective. Educators know the early indicators of dropout risk and have approaches that have proven successful to serve students in this category. Now, we need a systematic action plan to act on this knowledge.

Accountability
MBAE considers the establishment of accountability for school and district performance by the Education Reform Act of 1993 an essential part of improving student achievement and justifying increased state expenditures for education. As we raise the bar to proficiency for all students, we must continue to have a statewide assessment system that is ambitious yet fair. Any retreat from the MCAS requirement at this time would be a disservice to our students and an impediment to the continuous improvement of our schools.

• Preserve an independent system for measuring the management and operational systems essential to facilitating quality teaching and learning.
  MBAE supports the continued mandate and funding for a state-level review process that examines the entire school district structure that governs, funds, and supports individual schools and students.
• Expand state capacity to assist districts to strengthen management and leadership statewide and to improve low-performing districts.
  We must hold adults accountable for meeting high performance standards, just as we set high expectations for students. Currently, our accountability diagnoses problems but there is very little capacity to assist these districts in addressing their areas of weakness and adopting the effective practices of other districts.
• Increase use of value-added assessments to evaluate student and teacher performance.
  MBAE supports development and use of value-added assessments, as an important tool for administrators, teachers, and others in determining what programs and approaches have the greatest impact on student learning.

Educator Excellence
Reaching the goals of raising standards and achievement will not be accomplished without changes in how we operate our school management and human resource systems. MBAE believes that the 1993 Education Reform Act should be expanded to remove assistant principals and district program directors from collective bargaining in all districts. While the initial focus of education reform was on students, it is time to focus on the adult role in raising achievement by providing the resources for success and holding educators accountable for results.

• Enact H. 451/S. 284, legislation to improve teacher preparation, professional development, and evaluation.
  The comprehensive system outlined in this bill would improve student achievement by strengthening the most significant variable in productive schools - teaching and leadership skills - through systemic changes in teacher recruitment, training, professional development, evaluation and leadership.
• Eliminate Racial and Socio-Economic Disparities in Student Educational Opportunities and Achievement
  Raising the quality of teaching and learning at underperforming schools continues to be the highest priority in education reform. Intervention policies must be flexible and tailored to the specific school situation, taking variations in communities, leadership, curriculum and teaching, resources, students, demographics, and other factors into account. Substantial investment should be made in turnaround schools in return for substantial changes. MBAE believes that work to improve governance and hold adults accountable for achievement will have a significant impact on closing the student achievement gap. This goal is still at the forefront of our work.

Conclusion

MBAE remains dedicated to the principles of the Education Reform Act of 1993. We know what has worked, and what has not, since the Act was passed. Now is the time to put this experience to work for the future. MBAE remains committed to making quality K-12 education for every child in the Commonwealth a reality.