METCO is a program worth supporting
The Standard-Times (New Bedford)
Circulation: 31,629 daily
By SUSAN EATON and JAMIE GASS
October 06, 2011 12:00 AM
Massachusetts’ 2010 education reform law is entitled “An Act Relative to the Achievement Gap.” If closing race- and poverty-based achievement gaps is indeed a priority, a recent report suggests the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity should be one of the programs to get additional resources.
Founded in 1966 by African-American parents and white suburban educators, METCO is one of only eight voluntary inter-district school desegregation programs in the nation. It sends more than 3,000 students from Boston and Springfield to schools in 37 suburban districts. More than three-quarters of the students are African-American or Latino. Half come from low-income families and one-quarter have special needs.
“METCO Merits More: The History and Status of METCO,” published by Pioneer Institute and the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School, shows that, between 2006 and 2010, METCO students dramatically outperformed African-Americans and Latino students in both Boston and Springfield on MCAS tests. In most cases, they outperformed overall district averages in the two cities.
Gaps between METCO student performance and state averages tended to be largest in the early years. They diminish and in many cases close as students spend more time in suburban districts.
Despite adjustment challenges and long bus rides that force them to rise early and return home late, METCO students tend to perform competitively in the college preparatory suburban high schools they attend. Their 93 percent graduation rate not only far outpaces the rates in both Boston and Springfield (61 and 55 percent in 2009, respectively), it also tops the statewide average of 82 percent.
At 2.8 percent, METCO students’ dropout rate is less than one-third of the 9.3 percent state average. METCO’s own data indicate that 90 percent of the program’s graduates pursue post-secondary education.
Long waiting lists are another indicator of success. About 2,100 students in Grades K-2 alone are awaiting suburban placements, which means the number of students on METCO wait lists is two-thirds the number currently being served by the program.
Despite this impressive record, METCO funding has been reduced by nearly 20 percent in just the last three years. Few programs have avoided cuts during that period, but METCO serves as a reminder that distinguishing between programs that work and those that don’t is especially important during tough times.
METCO’s funding should be increased and the program expanded to other cities. In addition to its promising academic record, it is also a sound investment for state taxpayers. Despite compelling evidence that reducing the concentration of poverty and racial isolation benefits students, METCO is the only state-funded program that achieves those goals in the Boston and Springfield areas.
There are, of course, limits to the conclusions that can be drawn from the report. Since it does not compare METCO student performance to a control group of similar students who do not participate in the program, some of its success could be due to factors other than METCO itself.
In fact, the need for more data on METCO is one of the report’s central recommendations. This was the first comprehensive review of the program in nearly a decade. The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education should make a range of data more accessible to the public.
METCO students are surely not the program’s only beneficiaries. Suburban students benefit from the racial and ethnic diversity METCO brings and the commonwealth should encourage more suburban districts to participate in the program. One way to do this might be to make additional school building funds available to participating school districts.
In recent years, few have escaped the hardship inflicted by the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. But with challenge comes opportunity, and policy makers should seize the opportunity to redirect state funds to programs that achieve their goals.
Susan Eaton is research director at the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School and Jamie Gass is director of the Center for School Reform at Pioneer Institute, a Boston-based think tank.
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111006/OPINION/110060317
with promoting METCO. My school has participated in the program for a very long time.
The students are primarily African American and add needed racial and economic diversity to our student body. Some of the kids are academically inclined; others are athletically inclined; othes are involved in other activities; some just do their own thing. One of my former METCO students was president of her class and valedictorian. She went on to Harvard.
In return, METCO students learn to negotiate in a world that is predominantly white. They become bi-cultural, knowing life in the city, sometimes the worst parts of the city, and life in the white suburbs.
I love diversity in practice, not just in theory. I learn a lot from all my students. From my METCO students, I have learned about city life and African American life. These kids mean a lot to me.
I didn’t realize that it had been opened up. I see where it would still be primarily Black kids, given the city’s demographics, but my only criticism of the program had always been that the racial component was outdated and hurt poor Caucasian students equally trapped in Boston’s failing schools.
This IS good news!
The law was originally enacted to ameliorate racial imbalance, not the economic or geographical balance.
Here’s the law:
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