John Monfredo: The Future of Education in Worcester Looks Bright

Saturday, October 26, 2013

John Monfredo, GoLocalWorcester Education Contributor

The future of Massachusetts' educational system looks bright due to the progress taking place in Worcester Public Schools.

School Superintendent Melinda Boone’s annual "State of the Schools Address" took place this week and it was peppered with passion and information to the public about the progress taking place in the Worcester Public Schools.

It was four years ago that I encouraged Dr. Boone to consider giving a State of the School address to the public as an attempt to make education a priority in our community. Dr. Boone did acknowledge that the goal of the address was to provide a report card to the City of Worcester about the progress our public schools, along with being transparent about our challenges and needs. The report was also designed to trigger ongoing dialogue within the community, thus embracing a common vision for our schools. Dr. Boone spoke about the increase in the graduation rate, the decrease in our dropout rate, the increase in our MCAS scores, how AP participation and the passing of AP courses has climbed. She also recognized the many schools in our system that have continued to make progress.

Specifically, Dr. Boone highlighted the following points:

12 schools made overall targets for narrowing the proficiency gaps
15 schools were on or above target for narrowing English Language Arts proficiency gaps
11 schools were on or above target for narrowing math proficiency gaps
15 schools were on or above target for narrowing science proficiency gaps
Of the 7 high schools in the district, 4 made their target for graduation rates, while 2 schools made targets for dropout.

Dr. Boone spoke about the increase in Level 1 and 2 schools and highlighted the following schools for their achievement:

Level 1 – 4 consecutive years: West Tatnuck, Worcester Arts Magnet School, and Worcester Technical High School
Level 1 – new this year: Lake View, Gates Lane, and Belmont Street.
Level 1/2 – past 3-4 years: Clark Street, Columbus Park, Flagg Street, Heard Street, May Street, Midland Street, Nelson Place, and University Park Campus School.
Level 2 – four consecutive years: Forest Grove Middle, Jacob Hiatt, Thorndyke Road, and Wawecus Road.

Dr. Boone creatively pieced the accomplishments around the reading of The Little Engine that Could stating that the Worcester Public Schools like the “little engine” is a district that could.

She also reminded the audience of the nay sayers in society who continue to malign public education about the many problems in education today… poor student achievement, high dropout rates, low graduation rates, ineffective teachers, too much focus on standards, not enough accountability, too much accountability, high poverty rates, loss of the middle class, drain on public funding and on and on.

To this Dr. Boone replied, “ Each of these issues has been debated over and over and over again for years. And unfortunately, the debates will continue. We are long on debates and rhetoric and too short on the will to engage in meaningful discourse about resolving the so-called “crisis” in public education.”

She went on to say that solutions are elusive… we would rather create ways to dismantle this system rather than rebuild it to the intended vision early creators of public education imagined. Dr. Boone stated that “there is no silver bullet” but education has changed, for improvements have taken place.

Dr. Boone was quick to point out that more work needs to be done to close the achievement gap and move all students to college and career ready. The system continues to have many challenges as the data shows that the Worcester Public Schools has over 80 languages spoken, English Language Learners make up over 34% of the student body, low income is 73% as compared to the State that reads 37%, our special education students’ compose 20% of the population, and the first language spoken at home that is not English is 44% for students.

Dr. Boone thanked the staff members in the school system, her team of administrators and the many partnerships within the community for their hard work in making public education a priority.

In a passionate plea Dr. Boone declared, “For as much as we celebrate, three times more remains to be accomplished! I won’t be satisfied until every child graduates college and career ready. We won’t be satisfied until dropouts are no longer…We won’t be satisfied until our graduates no longer have to take remedial courses when entering colleges and universities. We won’t be satisfied until the media gives due and appropriate credit to all that our public schools are accomplishing. We won’t be satisfied until the debate is about how we vigorously invest in the cornerstone of economic development, that being education…we won’t be satisfied until our business leaders say they don’t have to look beyond Worcester Public School graduates to complete their workforce. We won’t be satisfied until public education is celebrated for all that it is doing, has done, and will do to contribute to a thriving and healthy Worcester.”

Dr. Boone knows and recognizes that more needs to be done but has masterfully met the many challenges of leading an urban system to success.

Well done, Dr. Boone!

Related Slideshow: AP Opportunities at Worcester’s High Schools

According to ProPublica, studies have shown that students who take advanced classes have increased chances of attending and finishing college. However, with the number of advanced placement (AP) courses offered at Worcester's public high schools varying significantly, not every student is given the same chance. The slides, below, show the Worcester public high schools whose students have the most and least AP opportunities to help them get into - and graduate from - college.

The below data were collected from the Civil Rights Data Set, released by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Right, and refers to the 2009-10 school year. The data were analyzed by ProPublica.