Mass Insight Education
2003
The latest report from Mass Insight Education (MIE) unveils a detailed plan to attack the state's troublingly low math achievement scores. MIE blames the state's math crisis upon the lack of teacher competency and "chronic shortage" of proficient math teachers. Citing the high rate of failure among 10th graders taking the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) exam as proof of the state's failing math instruction, MIE proposes four solutions: the implementation of rigorous standards for teacher training, tougher rules for teacher certification, managerial and teacher development, and increasing federal and local funding for these programs. The authors maintain that the proper introduction of these "key levers" will produce an ample supply of talented math teachers, thus raising student math achievement. Although the study makes a legitimate argument and provides sufficient evidence of low math achievement among students, they cite only rough and broad estimates of teacher incompetence. MIE utilizes statewide evidence of a general lack of teacher certification in math, higher mathematical education, and failure of standardized math teacher tests in an attempt to draw a direct correlation between teacher incompetence and low student performance. A more interesting analysis would compare a math teacher's education, certification, and standardized test scores with their students' math MCAS performance to see if there is a direct correlation between teacher quality and student achievement in math. For more information about this report, please see http://www.massinsight.com/meri/pdf_files/RaisingMathAchievement.pdf.
