LATINO, AFRICAN-AMERICAN, AND POOR STUDENTS UNLIKELY TO BENEFIT FROM MCAS SCHOLARSHIP PROPOSAL
January, 2004

Massachusetts Governor Romney's proposal to award MCAS-based scholarships to students scoring in the top 25% of MCAS test-takers statewide will widen an opportunity gap that increasingly leaves minority and poor students outside the doors of higher education in Massachusetts.

The legislature should reject Governor Romney's proposal to give scholarships to students scoring in the top 25% across the state.  If MCAS scores are used to determine such awards, awards should be determined at the school level, i.e. students ranked in the top quarter of each school in the Commonwealth should receive tuition benefits, and MCAS scores should be only one factor in decision-making.

ODDS OF RECEIVING MCAS SCHOLARSHIPS

Already, students who are awarded tuition benefits under the state's "Koplik Certificate of Mastery Awards" are disproportionately white, upper middle-class, and suburban.  The use of MCAS scores to determine "MCAS scholarships" will further advantage these students and disproportionately exclude Latino, African American, and poor students from higher education.

An analysis of data from the list of schools attended by award-winners (see http://www.doe.mass.edu/FamComm/student/mastery/  shows that most "Koplik Certificate of Mastery Awards" are going to those who are already privileged by the fact that they live in wealthy communities.  Using the numbers of recipients from a given district and the average number of tenth grade test-takers from that district, we can approximate the relative chances of winning one of the tuition waivers.  

(Please note these are approximate ratios because, in addition to MCAS scores, varying district conditions, including students' decisions to apply only to private colleges, or counseling programs, further affect the numbers of students applying for scholarships)

WHERE DO MCAS SCHOLARSHIP AWARD-WINNERS LIVE?

- As of 2002, about 40% of all recipients of the Koplik awards (39.6% or 736 recipients) came from only 30 communities (representing only 14.0% of the schools cited and an even lower percentage of all schools/districts in the Commonwealth). 

These include Acton-Boxborough, Amherst, Andover, Bedford, Belmont, Brookline, Chelmsford, Cohasset, Concord-Carlisle, Dover-Sherborn, Duxbury, Easton, Holliston, Hopkinton, Lenox, Lexington, Lincoln-Sudbury, Longmeadow, Marshfield, Medfield,  Needham, Newton, Reading, Sharon, Shrewsbury, Wayland, Winchester, Wellesley, Westborough, and Westwood.

WHAT ARE THE RELATIVE CHANCES OF WINNING AN MCAS SCHOLARSHIP FOR STUDENTS FROM DIFFERENT SCHOOLS/DISTRICTS?

Students' opportunities to receive tuition support based on MCAS scores vary dramatically from district to district. They are:

1 out of 6 in Needham;
1 out of 6 in Acton-Boxborough;
1 out of 6 in Lenox;
1 out of 9 in Brookline;
1 out of 9 in Braintree;
1 out of 11 in Lincoln-Sudbury;
1 out of 14 in Westwood;
1 out of 14 in Framingham;
1 out of 14 in Holliston;
1 out of 15 at Newton North in Newton;
1 out of 17 in Andover;
1 out of 20 in Arlington;
1 out of 25 in Leominster;
1 out of 31 in Clinton;
1 out of 32 in Attleboro;
1 out of 33 in Harwich;
1 out of 35 in Dedham;
1 out of 35 in Gardner;
1 out of 40 in Easthampton;
1 out of 43 in Greenfield;
1 out of 45 in Cambridge;
1 out of 46 in Athol;
1 out of 47 in Woburn;
1 out of 55 in Lowell;
1 out of 58 in Taunton;
1 out of 60 in Waltham;
1 out of 64 in Mashpee;
1 out of 67 in Hudson;
1 out of 72 in Lee;
1 out of 73 in Nauset;
1 out of 75 in Malden;
1 out of 76 in Medford;
1 out of 77 in Gloucester;
1 out of 79 at Chicopee High;
1 out of 81 in Somerville;
1 out of 83 in Peabody;
1 out of 104 at Ralph C. Mahar;
1 out of 133 at Drury High in North Adams;
1 out of 135 in Palmer;
1 out of 140 at Springfield's Central High;
1 out of 149 in Brockton;
1 out of 160 in Everett;
1 out of 178 at Pittsfield High;
1 ouf of 199 in Chelsea;
1 out of 263 in Fitchburg;
1 out of 312 in Fall River;
1 out of 331 in New Bedford.
0 in Lawrence, Southbridge, Ayer, any Boston high school besides Boston Latin or Boston Latin Academy, and Ware

As a sorting tool, MCAS has had it's most dramatic effect on tens of thousands of students who have been very publicly labeled as "failing" and "undeserving" of a high school diploma.  These students are disproportionately African American, Latino, and poor. They are disproportionately students with disabilities and students whose first language is not English. 

Another 10,000-odd students who drop out every year are also disproportionately Latino and African American.  An increasing percentage leave school before even taking the MCAS so are not counted, even among those labeled "failing."

Current policy already misuses MCAS as a gatekeeper to extend educational opportunity to those students already advantaged because they live in districts with high quality schools.  The Governor's MCAS scholarship proposal reinforces this trend, widening the educational opportunity gap between the "haves" and "have nots" in Massachusetts.

Anne Wheelock, Senior Research Associate
Progress Through the Education Pipeline Project
Boston College
617-524-7324