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

MassCore: Discussion and Vote

In October, we continued our discussion of MassCore in anticipation that the Board would take a vote at this month's meeting to approve MassCore as a recommended program of study for high school students in the Commonwealth. The Board's approval of MassCore is an important step towards increasing the college and career readiness of Massachusetts high school graduates.

Based upon data from the Massachusetts School to College database, approximately one-third of public high school graduates attending public colleges require remediation and must take developmental courses that do not count for college credit. Also, based upon a January 2007 course-taking survey conducted by the Department, approximately 45% of the class of 2006 urban high school graduates completed the proposed program of studies. This contrasts to 80% in suburban high schools. We believe adoption of MassCore is one important step to help reduce the college remediation rate and close the current course-taking gap between suburban and urban high schools.

In developing MassCore, I met twice with a delegation from the Massachusetts Association of Vocational Administrators (MAVA), and Department staff worked closely with a MAVA appointed subcommittee to ensure that the Association's concerns were addressed. While MAVA has not taken a formal vote to endorse MassCore, I believe that the proposed recommended program of studies has the support of most vocational administrators. I also met with representatives from the Care for Youth Delegation and recently received a follow-up letter from the Coalition's coordinator. The letter reads in part "the Board's decision to include health education in the additional core course work (electives) section of these proposed recommendations is a good first step towards making health education a reality for all public school students."

Following the Board's discussion in October, the definition of a MassCore unit of study was revised to the following: "A unit represents a full academic year of study or its equivalent in a subject that covers all the standards contained in a specific Curriculum Framework." No additional changes have been made to MassCore   .

Next Steps to Implement MassCore

Subject to the Board's vote, I have outlined below a series of actions that the Department will take over the coming months to communicate the purpose of MassCore, provide technical assistance and support to school districts and state education associations, and collect additional graduate data through the Student Information Management System (SIMS).

• Develop a Department webpage that includes general information, a description of the courses and units contained in MassCore, and a question and answer document. The webpage will include a PowerPoint presentation that school leaders can use to help inform students, teachers, and parents.
• Host a College and Career Readiness Summit in January at Holy Cross College in Worcester. The Summit will include regional follow-up activities from March - September 2008.
• Provide exemplars of college and high school course syllabi, college and high school teacher assignments, and student work. The exemplars will be posted on the Department's website.
• Collect data in the 2008 Spring SIMS Collection on high school graduates who have and have not completed the courses and units in MassCore.
• Continue to collaborate with professional education associations, give presentations upon request, and provide telephone and email support to the field.

A report will be prepared for the Board next fall documenting the results of steps taken to implement MassCore. The report will include each high school's results from the SIMS MassCore data collection.

Stafford Peat, Director of the Office of Student and Secondary School Support, will be at the meeting to respond to your questions and comments.