Each year Massachusetts students sit to take a standardized test called the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) in several subject areas including math. These test takers include students in traditional public district schools as well as public charter schools across the state. As one would expect, students come from a variety of demographic, socio-economic and ethnic groups. Results from the 2009 math MCAS test for 3rd through 8th grade reveal an interesting relationship. A higher perecentage of lower income students in a district results in fewer students scoring proficient or better on the math MCAS test.
This relationship will probably not surprise many, especially those in the field of education. It seems there is general acceptance that lower income communities produce students that do not achieve as much as their more affluent counter parts. However, this perception of lowered expectations has been refuted by many of the charter schools in Massachusetts that serve these same lower income communities. These public charter school students have to sit for the same math MCAS test but their results do not reflect the same relationship between income level and proficiency rate.
What insight does this provide parents, policy makers and reformist? Clearly the role of charter schools as an alternative to district schools within lower income communities needs to be supported. These charter schools, not bound by this unhealthy relationship, may have created cultures of achievement similar to that experienced in more affluent communities. Creating an environment where academic achievement is expected and is the norm may motivate students to strive and become more engaged in the learning process.
On the other hand, public district schools that have a long history of under achievement may be burdened with a culture of low expectations that may have infected both the student body as well as the teaching staff.
Although the positives and negatives of the charter movement are in constant debate in school districts across the country, the results of the Massachusetts Math standardized testing (MCAS) for public charter schools demonstrate that the relationship between income and Math scores can be broken.
Why is this always about ‘expectations’? Maybe it’s about programs, practices, and methods. It might also have something to do with the way charter schools filter their demographics. As ’schools of choice’ they tend to have a more involved parent body. If we just stop requiring children to go to school at all, I’m sure the test scores for those that do go will rise.