Massachusetts is a leader in educational excellence, but not for all its students.

As a new report – “There Is No Excellence Without Equity: A Path Forward for Education in Massachusetts” — from the Massachusetts Education Equity Partnership (MEEP) explains, “for a long time now, our state’s high overall rankings have masked deep inequities in student learning experiences and outcomes.”

Strategies for Children is a MEEP member.

The disparities the report cites were bad before Covid hit, and many have been aggravated by the pandemic.

“In parts of Boston and cities like Chelsea, Brockton, and Springfield, where infection and death rates were highest, the pandemic inflicted new levels of trauma and anxiety on families already facing significant adversity,” the report says.

Among the report’s key data points are:

• a 20 percent decline in early childhood spots during the pandemic

• during the pandemic, “the percentage of Black and Latinx third graders reading on grade level dropped from 38% to 32% and 28%, respectively. The grade-level rate for White students stayed more or less steady at 61%,” and

• only 58% of ninth graders from low-income families passed all their classes in 2021, compared to 88% of their wealthier peers

As The Boston Globe notes, MEEP’s report  “comes two weeks after the National Assessment for Educational Progress, often called the ‘nation’s report card,’ reported that test scores nationwide fell further over the pandemic than they have in decades.”

“We must — and can — do better,” MEEP’s report says. “With billions in federal pandemic recovery and state Student Opportunity Act funding on the table, new state leadership on the way, and a greater public demand for change than we have seen in years, Massachusetts leaders have an opportunity to build on the state’s rich educational history and authentically partner with families and communities to plot a new course forward — one that puts education equity front and center.”

MEEP has a detailed vision of educational equity that includes affordable, high-quality early education and care; culturally responsible and rigorous elementary school learning experiences; equal access to postsecondary education; and support to help students attain their postsecondary degrees. 

To achieve this vision, the MEEP report calls for “inclusive, collaborative state leadership.” The report’s recommendations include: 

• securing enough “public funding for early education to ensure that families spend no more than the federally recommended 7% of their annual household income on child care”

• identifying and addressing “gaps in access to care, such as availability of care outside of the traditional 9-5 workday and in child care deserts”

• retaining and increasing “educator diversity’ and ensuring “that there is equitable demographic representation in leadership roles”

• revising “Massachusetts’ academic standards to build racially and culturally responsive knowledge”

• hiring “more college counselors in high school who reflect the students they serve,” and

• conducting “an external review to determine how Massachusetts colleges and universities can increase access for historically underserved students, including adult and part-time learners”

These equity gaps are troubling, but Massachusetts can take action.

A State House News article in CommonWealth Magazine makes this point, quoting Natasha Ushomirsky, the state director for Massachusetts at The Education Trust, who says, “We are in a moment right now of immense opportunity with substantial financial and community resources on the table to really do things differently.”

“What we need is the will and the leadership to really take advantage of this moment.”

Please share this report with your social and professional network. Social media graphics are available here. And please remind your legislators that, as MEEP points out, there is no excellence without equity.