Using the MCAS

Student academic performance, including how students do on MCAS tests, is influenced by two broad sets of factors: school factors and non-school factors. The first entail what happens in school, and thus what is within the control of the school district itself. The second entails conditions outside the schools, such as the demographic profile of the students and the community. As we look at a given district's average score on an MCAS test, we have to be able to discern how much of the score is tied to school factors, and how much of the score is explained by non-school factors.

School factors relate to what happens in the classroom. Questions about school factors might include:

• How well do the school design and the curriculum promote learning for all?
• Are teachers top-notch professionals who have both the skills and commitment to teach all students? Are professional development activities rigorously aligned with efforts to increase student achievement?
• Is there strong, solid leadership in the school?
• Are there high expectations for all to learn?
• Are parents full partners in their children's education?
• Are there adequate resources to do the job?

Non-school factors consist largely of the overlapping demographic conditions of family life and community life. Questions about non-school factors might include:

• How wealthy is a district? What is the average household income?
• How educated are its residents? How many have college degrees?
• Do residents understand English, the primary language of learning?
• How many poor people live in the district?
• How much value does the community place on quality education?

Non-school factors reflect demography, the background characteristics of the community and its residents. Researchers ranging from James Coleman in the 1960s to James Comer on the 1990s have identified demography as a powerful factor in student achievement. In reports on school effectiveness evaluating the first two years of MCAS assessments, demography was found to account for 85% of the difference in MCAS scores among school districts in Massachusetts. It is difficult to understand how well a school system is educating its students unless we can somehow account for the role demography plays in shaping educational outcomes.

As we all know, students in advantaged districts tend to get higher standardized test scores than students in disadvantaged districts. Thus, if a district's students get a high average score on an MCAS or other standardized tests, the test score by itself does not tell us how much of the score is explained by school factors and how much is explained by non-school factors. A high score might be tied more to advantaged demography than to what actually happens in the district's schools.