This post was published as the "Superintendent's Corner" column for the Winter 2018 edition of the Shrewsbury School Journal.
Did you
know that Massachusetts is considered to be the top state in the nation for
public education?
Consider
the following facts, which are provided by the Department of Elementary & Secondary
Education as part of its “Leading the Nation” campaign and by the national
publication Education Week:
- Statewide,
our students are #1 in the U.S. in reading and math on the National
Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), “The Nation’s Report Card”; for
2015, the most recent released test results, was the sixth straight
administration (2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, and 2015) in which
Massachusetts students scored first or statistically tied for first place
on the NAEP math and reading fourth and eighth grade tests.
- #1
in the world in reading on the PISA international assessment (2016): If
Massachusetts were a nation, it would share the top spot in reading with
eight other nations worldwide. In science, the state's students and those from
10 nations came in second, trailing only students from Singapore. In math,
11 other nations were ahead of the Commonwealth.
- #1
in Advanced Placement success in the country (2017) in terms of the
percentage of the class of 2016 that scored a 3 or higher on an Advanced
Placement exam. In addition, the Commonwealth had the highest five- and
ten-year growth in the percentage of graduates who scored a 3 or higher.
- Massachusetts'
four-year graduation rate has increased each of the last 10 years, and the
dropout rate has decreased during the same period of time.
- Massachusetts
again earned the overall #1 ranking in Education Week’s overall national
assessment of states’ public education quality, including #1 rankings in
the study’s “Chance-for-Success Index” and for “K-12 Achievement”.
Much has
been written about why Massachusetts public schools have excelled in comparison
to peers across the U.S., and this story begins with the 1993 Education Reform
Act, now 25 years old. This legislation resulted in significantly more
state and local financial investment in public schools, established rigorous
learning standards across multiple subjects, required state assessments to
measure student performance against those standards, and promoted the
professionalization of teaching. Additionally, unlike what often happens
with “education reform” initiatives, these efforts were sustained over a long
period, with the understanding that significant improvement takes time.
Here in
Shrewsbury, our students and educators have made many contributions over the
years to Massachusetts’ overall success, and given our schools’ relative
achievement to others across the state, it is clear that our schools are among
the strongest in the nation. However, we have not “rested on our
laurels,” and over the past few years we have been working hard to identify how
we can continue to shape our students’ educational experiences so that we are
not only providing them with the academic, communication, collaboration,
creativity, and critical thinking skills that will enable them to be successful
in a rapidly-changing economy, but also the social and emotional competencies
that will empower our students to be focused and resilient individuals who
contribute positively to the welfare of their community and society.
Thanks to recent initiatives such as the district’s “Innovation in Learning Study Group” and our “Portrait of a Graduate Working Group,” along with a strategic planning initiative this past fall that included significant input from the community, we have created a compelling shared vision and an ambitious but achievable set of strategic priorities and goals for the Shrewsbury Public Schools, which build on our past successes while preparing students for their future. I invite you to explore our website at http://schools.shrewsburyma.gov/ to learn more about how we are meeting our mission to “provide the skills and knowledge for the 21st century” to our students, and, in so doing, achieving our motto’s aspiration of “empowering learners.” There, you will find this inspirational one-minute video that our own SHS Television Production students created that was selected in a statewide contest to be shown at the “Leading the Nation” kickoff event at the State House! When you watch it, I believe that you will feel a great sense of pride in our schools, which I am confident will continue to help “lead the nation” in providing educational opportunities for our students in the years ahead.
