马萨诸塞州一半的高中不遵守州推荐的毕业要求

【中美创新时报2024 年 10 月 15 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）根据一份新报告，马萨诸塞州一半的公立高中不要求学生完成州推荐的大学及以后的成功课程才能毕业。《波士顿环球报》记者Deanna Pan 对此作了下述报道。

MassCore 是该州推荐的为高中生上大学做准备的学习计划，其中包括英语、数学和科学等课程。这份报告由“学术公平之声”于周四发布，该组织是一个由教育改革非营利组织和倡导者组成的联盟，他们支持保留 MCAS 考试作为客观衡量学生进步的工具。报告发现，该州一半学校的毕业要求达到或超过了 MassCore 标准，而另一半则没有达到，导致“不同高中学生的学习体验存在很大差异”。

“你所看到的只是我们各个学区对学生高中毕业和为未来做好准备的要求有着截然不同的解释，”联盟成员、教育顾问、波士顿学校基金会前首席战略官 Kerry Donahue 说道，“学区之间的差异导致了学生之间的不公平。”

马萨诸塞州是两个不要求高中生完成某些课程才能毕业的州之一，佛蒙特州也是其中之一。该州小学和中学教育部只要求学生通过 MCAS 考试即可获得文凭。根据州法律，所有高中都必须开设体育和公民教育课程，但学生不必通过这些课程。马萨诸塞州各学区可以制定自己的毕业必修课程清单。

这意味着，如果选民在今年 11 月通过问题 2（一项投票倡议，将取消要求高中生通过 10 年级 MCAS 考试才能获得文凭的要求），马萨诸塞州将不再有统一的毕业标准。

发起投票运动以终止 MCAS 毕业要求的马萨诸塞州教师协会主席 Max Page 表示，马萨诸塞州的学校已经拥有“全国最高的学术标准”，指的是该州的综合课程框架。该州最大的教师工会表示，要求高中生通过 MCAS 不公平地惩罚了残疾学生或英语不流利的学生。

“正如我们的竞选口号所说，我们相信高标准，”Page 说，“我们反对高风险测试。”

但多纳休表示，缺乏明确一致的毕业标准使传统上被边缘化的学生（如英语学习者和第一代大学生）处于不利地位。

“对于英语学习者来说，他们正在适应一个新的体系。他们的家人可能不会说英语，他们可能不熟悉马萨诸塞州大学的要求，”她说。“作为一个州，我们可以更好地奠定基础。”

MassCore 于 2007 年由小学和中学教育委员会采用，与该州大学系统的入学要求一致，州官员认为它比 MCAS 更能反映学生的大学准备情况。MassCore 标准包括四年的英语、数学和体育教育；三年的科学和社会研究；两年的世界语言；一年的艺术；以及五门选修课。

先前的研究表明，完成 MassCore 的波士顿学生比未完成的学生更有可能获得高等教育学位。 2021 年，波士顿学校委员会改变了毕业政策，要求学生从 2026 届开始完成 MassCore。

报告指出，由于 MassCore 完成率不包含在州问责公式中，因此不参与的学区不会受到任何影响。此外，州教育机构仅从学区收集有关完成州规定课程的高中毕业生人数的自我报告数据。报告认为，这些数据有限且具有误导性，因为许多学区不跟踪 MassCore 的参与情况，并且与成绩单记录相比，高估了完成推荐课程的学生人数。

该报告不依赖自我报告的数据，而是根据公开文件分析马萨诸塞州公立高中 2023 年和 2024 年的毕业要求，以确定其要求是否符合 MassCore 标准。其样本涵盖了该州 79% 的高中，包括替代学校、特许学校和职业学校，这些学校总共为 92% 以上的中学生提供服务。

报告不仅发现一半的高中缺乏符合 MassCore 推荐学习计划的毕业要求，而且与低收入学生比例较大的学校相比，学生较富裕的学校不太可能要求 MassCore。分析还研究了学校规模，发现与规模较小的学校相比，拥有 1,500 名或以上学生的超大型学校不太可能要求 MassCore。

“有些学区让我们感到意外，”撰写该报告的独立教育政策顾问 Jill Souza Norton 表示，“因为当你看到他们的高中毕业率、大学入学率和完成率时，你会猜想他们要求采用 MassCore，但结果发现他们没有达到要求。”

该报告没有调查为什么有些学区选择采用 MassCore，而其他学区不采用，并建议进行更多研究以了解影响当地关于 MassCore 决策的因素。Norton 说，她采访过的一些学区负责人指出，在聘请某些科目的教师方面存在挑战。学区也可能不愿意实施 MassCore，因为他们买不起课程材料或没有设施。

Donahue 说，一套与课程挂钩的共同毕业要求将确保所有学生都为上大学或就业做好准备。

“这减少了出现差异的可能性，”她说。 “在我们州，差异通常与学校的资源水平有关，因为我们州的社区实际上是按收入进行划分的。”

题图：毕业班学生在波士顿白体育场举行的 Jeremiah E. Burke 高中 2023 届毕业典礼前排队参加游行。Craig F. Walker/Globe 工作人员

附原英文报道：

Half of all Mass. high schools don’t abide by state recommended graduation requirements

By Deanna Pan Globe Staff,Updated October 14, 2024  

Graduating seniors line up for the procession before the Jeremiah E. Burke High School class of 2023 graduation ceremony at White Stadium in Boston.Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff

Half of all public high schools in Massachusetts do not require students to complete the state-recommended coursework for success in college and beyond in order to graduate, according to a new report.

MassCore is the state’s recommended program of study for preparing high schoolers for college, which includes courses in English, math, and science, among others. The report, published on Thursday by Voices for Academic Equity — a coalition of education reform nonprofits and advocates who support keeping the MCAS exams in place as a tool for objectively measuring student progress — found that half of the state’s schools’ graduation requirements either meet or exceed the MassCore standards while half do not, resulting, “in wide variation in students’ learning experiences across high schools.”

“What you see is just wildly different interpretations across our school districts of what you know should be required for a student to graduate from high school and be set up for their future,” said coalition member Kerry Donahue, an education consultant and former chief strategy officer of the Boston Schools Fund, “and thatthe difference from district to district then results in inequities from student to student.”

Massachusetts is one of two states, including Vermont, that do not require high schoolers to complete certain coursework to graduate. The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education only requires students to pass their MCAS tests to earn their diploma. Under state law, all high schools must offer physical education and civics classes, but students don’t have to pass them. Districts in Massachusetts are allowed to come up with their own required course lists for graduation.

That means if voters pass Question 2 — a ballot initiative that would eliminate requiring high schoolers to pass their 10th grade MCAS exams to earn their diploma — this November, there will be no uniform graduation standards in Massachusetts.

Max Page, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, which launched the ballot campaign to end the MCAS graduation requirement, said Massachusetts schools already have “the highest academic standards in the country,” referring to the state’s comprehensive curriculum frameworks. The state’s largest teachers union has said requiring high schoolers to pass the MCAS unfairly punishes students with disabilities or who are not fluent in English.

“We believe, as our campaign slogan says, in high standards,” Page said, “and we are against high-stakes testing.”

But Donahue said the lack of clear and consistent graduation standards puts traditionally marginalized students, such as English learners and first-generation college students, at a disadvantage.

“For students that are English learners, they’re navigating a new system. Their families may not speak English, and they may not be familiar with the requirements of colleges in Massachusetts,” she said. “As a state, we could do a better job setting a foundation.”

MassCore was adopted by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in 2007 and is aligned with the admission requirements at the state’s university system and is regarded by state officials as a better indicator of college readiness than the MCAS. MassCore standards include four years of English, math, and physical education; three years of science and social studies; two years of world languages; one year of the arts; and five electives.

Previous research has shown Boston students who completed MassCore had better odds of earning a postsecondary degree than those who did not. In 2021, the Boston School Committee changed its graduation policy to require students to complete MassCore, starting with the class of 2026.

Because MassCore completion rates are not considered in the state’s accountability formula, the report notes, there are no consequences for districts that do not participate. Moreover, the state’s education agency only collects self-reported data from districts about the number of high school graduates who have completed the state’s prescribed set of courses. These data are limited and misleading, the report argues, because many districts don’t track MassCore participation and overestimate the number of students who have completed the recommended course list, when compared with transcript records.

Instead of relying on self-reported data, the report analyzes the 2023 and 2024 graduation requirements of Massachusetts’ public high schools, based on publicly available documents, to determine whether their requirements aligned with MassCore standards. Its sample encompasses 79 percent of the state’s high schools, including alternative, charter, and vocational schools, which collectively serve more 92 percent of secondary students.

Not only did the report find that half of all high schools lack graduation requirements that meet MassCore’s recommended program of study, schools with wealthier student bodies are less likely to require MassCore than schools with a greater proportion of low-income students. The analysis also looked at school size, and found that extra-large schools with 1,500 students or more were less likely to require MassCore compared with smaller schools.

“Some of the districts were a surprise to us,” said Jill Souza Norton, an independent education policy adviser, who wrote the report “because when you look at their high school graduation rates and their college enrollment and completion rates, you would guess that they are requiring MassCore, but it turns out that they are falling short.”

The report does not investigate why some districts choose to adopt MassCore and others don’t, and recommends more research for understanding the factors influencing local decisions about MassCore. Norton said some superintendents with whom she’s spoken have pointed to challenges with hiring teachers for certain subjects. Districts may also be reluctant to implement MassCore because they can’t afford the curriculum materials or they don’t have the facilities.

Donahue said a common set of graduation requirements tied to coursework would ensure all students are prepared for college or a career.

“It reduces the chance that there’s going to be variation,” she said. “And usually in our state, variation is tied to the level of resources [in schools] because of the way that communities are really segregated by income here in our state.”