District/School Administration Administration
The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education

MassCore Continuing Discussion

The purpose of this memorandum is to continue the Board's discussion of MassCore and, based upon your feedback, make modifications if necessary. I then plan to bring MassCore back for a vote in November.

MassCore is intended to help our state's high school graduates arrive at college or the workplace well prepared and reduce the number of students taking remedial courses in college. MassCore recommends a comprehensive set of subject area courses and units as well as other learning opportunities students should complete before graduating from high school. In proposing MassCore to the Board, I am keenly aware that with increased national and international competition, more will be expected of our high school students in the future. Simply stated, our high school students must be prepared to compete with students across the globe. The development of MassCore has been informed by the Education Trust and Achieve along with research conducted by the United States Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The research findings are similar - the single best predictor of success in college is the courses students take in high school.

Spring 2006-2007 Background

In spring 2006, Chancellor Patricia Plummer and I convened an advisory committee to recommend a program of studies that most, if not all, students would take in high school. The committee was comprised of representatives from public and private higher education including college admissions officials, business and industry representatives, superintendents, middle and high school administrators, high school guidance counselors, and students. Regional focus groups and meetings with the mathematics and science state advisory committees were conducted to advise the Department in the development of the MassCore draft.

In March 2007, the Board was provided with a draft of MassCore that included four units of English and mathematics, three units of lab-based science, three units of history and social science, and two units of the same foreign language and six units of additional core courses. The recommended program of studies included a list of additional learning opportunities that students could take in high school to enhance their college and career readiness. At that meeting, I reported on a high school survey conducted by Department staff to ascertain the percentage of students in the Class of 2006 who had completed the "courses and units in the draft MassCore program of studies." Seventy-nine high schools completed the survey (23%) and, based upon the results, about 70% of the graduates in the Class of 2006 completed the proposed high school program of studies. In the urban high schools responding to the survey (15), approximately 45% of the graduates completed the proposed program of studies. This contrasts to 80% in suburban high schools. While the survey sample was less than 25% of the high schools in Massachusetts, the results point to a significant course-taking gap between students in urban and suburban high schools.

At the April Board of Education meeting, Michael Cohen, President of Achieve, provided the Board with a national perspective on state graduation requirements as well as an update on a number of initiatives as part of our state's participation in the American Diploma Project (ADP) Network. Mr. Cohen gave a brief overview of various state approaches to help increase high school student expectations and college and career-readiness rates and he stated his support of our state's approach.

At the June meeting, Board members were provided with a summary of comments the Department has received since MassCore was sent out for public comment. During the public comment period, the Department received more feedback on MassCore (over 2,000 comments) than on any previous issue.

Actions Since Spring

Since the June Board meeting, I have met with representatives from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Massachusetts Association of Vocational Administrators (MAVA), and the CARE for Youth Coalition. CARE for Youth is a statewide coalition that supports comprehensive health education. The Massachusetts Cultural Council advocated for including the Arts in MassCore. Similarly, the CARE for Youth Coalition promoted Health as a core subject. We also heard from the Board's advisory councils on the Arts and Health with similar recommendations. MAVA requested that additional consideration be given in MassCore to the unique mission of career and technical education. Approximately 14% of the state's high school students are enrolled in a career and technical education program of study. In addition to meeting with the three organizations, Chancellor Plummer and I reconvened the MassCore committee on September 28. The purpose of the meeting was to review the public comment and high school survey results as well as to propose additional revisions or adjustments if needed before returning to the Board in October.

The committee recommended that science should remain at three units. Representatives from the business community strongly endorsed the inclusion of technology/engineering in MassCore as a core subject. Members expressed the need to increase the number of high school and college graduates with strong technology/engineering skills to help grow the state's economy. Many committee members expressed support for the Arts and Health in MassCore, but did not suggest a prescribed minimum number of units.

After considering the public input, high school survey results, and meetings with various advocacy groups and the MassCore advisory committee, I am proposing the following changes to the initial draft of MassCore   .

1. In order to clarify the term "unit," we have added the following definition: A unit is a full year of academic study or its equivalent in a specific subject.
2. The Arts have been added as a core subject.
3. Because of the additional time needed to develop technical skills, some students who major in a Career and Technical Education (CTE) program may have difficulty in scheduling more courses. As a result, CTE students may opt out of taking a foreign language or the arts units and still fulfill MassCore.

In developing MassCore, we have been mindful that the proposed course of study should be flexible enough to allow school districts to establish additional graduation requirements and enable students to select a pathway tailored to their respective interests, and educational and career goals. We are relying on high schools to ensure that the courses they offer are rigorous, engaging and based upon appropriate Massachusetts high school level standards.