Board of Ed: regulations updates on competency

 John Papay from Brown University

evidence from nearly two decades of high school MCAS and how it could inform education policy

• how do MCAS score as relate to long run outcomes?
• are students scoring at different levels college/career ready?
• how do students impacted by policy fare?

1. HS MCAS predict long-term success and appear to reflect academic skills not simply SES or school characteristics
2. students scoring near cutoff don't fare as well
   
3. retesting and passing does appear to improve long term educational attainments

MCAS predicts earnings among similar students with same education level and demographics
improvement from 8th to 10th grade scores have better long term outcomes

near math passing cutoff very unlikely to go to 4 year college

raising graduation requirements can influence students in several ways: overall impact
but particular impacts: students who fall on either side of passing requirements
equity across groups? equity within groups?

despite competency determination, educational attainments have increased over time, and this is particularly true for low income students
many fewer students are failing the test on their first attempt
most who fail, go on to retake and go on to pass
few students apply for appeal; success rate is 75%

barely passing or failing does affect student outcomes; students have similar academic profiles otherwise
don't see any real disruption in trend of not going to college on either side of barely passing or failing for low income students, but there is a disruption for higher income students
don't know if it is the encouragement of passing or the discouragement of failing that makes the difference 

operates on different margins for these groups
generally same patterns on college attendance and college graduation: rates of four year college graduation are overall very low for students scoring near this line

Hills: anything you've seen about how large a change makes a difference in graduation requirements
hasn't seen it
Livingston: GPA and MCAS?
Papay: they are correlated: both seem to relate to longer-term outcomes
both seem to be predicted
Craven: we all had anti-racism training last year
"the MCAS is a diagnostic tool for curricular, it's not an IQ test"
"measurement of how effectively the curriculum is delivered to a student"
there's a correction that it's testing standards
Craven: based upon standards that are supposed to be universally adopted
students who fail are disproportionally those of color, of low income, and with disabilities
Craven notes this is all prior to the pandemic
"what conclusions can be drawn from" this disparity 
Papay: correlations that we see across the board and across the country
I think that this is reflecting those realities in society and in our school systems

Hills to West: how large a change it takes question
West a lot of context for the decision; analysis can't give us a specific number
Moriarty: thought one of the more interesting correlations is that with eighth grade
is there a remedy in thinking more deeply about different experiences?
Papay: a lot of variation in what schools were doing; some looked at 8th grade MCAS and other things and provided support prior to 10th grade
Moriarty: reach out to filed to reach out to field with it
Fernández: if we're dwindling the pool of those who would be able to pursue early college pathways, we need to get earlier in the pool

Competency determination change: Riley: multiple reasons to set a higher standards
setting it several years ahead to let schools, families, students time to know 
asking for the public weigh in

Curtin: 2026-29

vote is just to solicit public comment today
timeline of competency determination
would apply to this year's eighth graders, thus would know prior to entrance to high school
evidence heard pointed to raising CD standard beyond legacy
focus on communication of both CD and resources behind it, including implementation of the educational proficiency plan
classes of 24 and 25: can either earn a scaled score of 240 on legacy (472 on ELA and 486 for math) OR earn a scaled score of 220 on (455 for ELA and 469 for math) AND complete an educational proficiency plan
plus science of at least 220

classes of 26 to 29:
ELA and math: at least 470 AND complete an educational proficiency plan
OR
a 486 
AND science of 470

also proposing changes to educational proficiency plan regulation: improved communication to families, clarify what courses will need to be completed

have to also change regulations on Certificate of Mastery and of seal of biliteracy so they match

West supports going out for public comment; hope to learn some things from public comment
educational proficiency plan currently closer to an exercise in paperwork compliance

encouraged by sharing it with parents
what about class of 2030? why not say we're going to raise the standard and force a future board to act in relation to it
don't think we should be looking for complexity in this policy
Rouhanifard also asking about time bound
Curtin: prudent thing to do is wait to have additional data; Board will need to act for this year's fourth graders
"we're living in an unprecedented time right now"
come back to Board for further action
Fernández: want to see much more information and much more robust information
if we are to pass this, how do we pay particular attention to low income students
want to see something much more comprehensive around supports students are going to receive

Hills: asks again about date cutoff
Curtin: Board would have to act beyond 2029
Hills: in a perfect world, I'd like to see the score at 500 in 2030
"we've gone for a proposal that's reasonable and then sunset"

Livingston: test is supposed to measure a standard across the board; it's largely impersonal
once it has the stake of graduation in it, it becomes personal
I feel that an EPP also has to be personal for the child