My MAS audit summary and analysis

by David Safier

OK, I've given the audit of Mexican American Studies by Cambium Learning Group, which was chosen by Huppental and paid a few hundred thousand dollars to do the work, a quick but focused read. My overwhelming conclusion: the auditors worked hard, did a thorough job and came to conclusions almost completely contrary to what we've heard from Horne and Huppenthal.

Skeptic that I am, I never take these studies as gospel. By definition, they're rushed and subjective. Another group could have come to somewhat different conclusions. But I value reports like this most when they arrive at conclusions counter to what you would expect. Huppenthal chose these folks. If they were less than reputable, they would have given him what he wanted because that's what they were supposed to do, and then they could expect Huppenthal to recommend them to other administrators around the country. Instead, they gave MAS about as glowing a report as I can imagine — the opposite of what Huppenthal hoped for. There were criticisms and room for improvement cited, but it was all around the periphery.

Generally, the report spoke of well run classrooms aligned with the state's standards where students were engaged and learning. It went through the anti-MAS state law line by line and concluded the program was not in violation on any specific. In other words, while TUSD should spend some time looking for ways to improve the program (someone tell me a school program that couldn't use improvement), the state should keep its hands off.

And, importantly, the auditors recommended that MAS courses should remain part of the core curriculum. Dealing with this issue wasn't a direct part of the audit's task, but the report nonetheless went out of its way to say, Don't turn MAS courses into electives. In fact, it recommended the programs be expanded, possibly beyond TUSD to other districts.

The two areas cited for improvement were that some texts seemed inappropriate because of tone and language (though the auditors weren't sure those texts are currently being used) and some of the older curriculum guidelines had an overly political slant (though, again, the auditors weren't sure those guidelines were still being used).

One thing I liked was the series of quotes from a variety of people in focus groups about various aspects of MAS. That both indicates a thoroughness on the part of the auditors, and it gives a human perspective to the report's more generalized statements.

That's the short summary. The rest of the post is a series of quotes from the report. Stop here if you've heard enough.

Classroom visitations (Page 15-16)

The eleven schools served by TUSD's Mexican American Studies Department were toured and the audit team conducted a systematic observation of classroom instruction, curriculum, materials, learning environment and student learning.

The classroom observations and site visitation schedule was neither announced nor released to TUSD personnel with the goal of obtaining the most reliable data and maintain the integrity of the audit.

The lessons (Page 19)

The auditors observed well-orchestrated lessons as evidenced by indicators within the Arizona Department of Education's document of Standards and Rubrics for School Improvement and the Closing the Achievement Gap (CTAG) protocol created by Cambium Learning.

Teachers and MASD curriculum specialists created lessons where learning experiences were aligned with the state standards and incorporated targeted performance objectives within multidisciplinary units for real life applications. The curriculum auditors observed teachers using research-based instructional strategies that were developmentally appropriate and provided students with assignments which required the use of higher-order and critical thinking skills.

Student achievement (Page 28)

Furthermore, the auditors conducted classroom visitations to observe instructional practices, which yielded specific confirmation of teaching for student achievement.

[skip to page 31] MASD programs are designed to improve student achievement based on the audit team's findings of valuable course descriptions aligned with state standards, commendable curricular unit and lesson plan design, engaging instructional practices, and collective inquiry strategies through approved Arizona State Standards.

Outcome measure (Page 49)

There is a positive measurable difference between MASD and the non-MASD comparison group of students. Data indicates that the graduation rate of students in the MASD program is higher than those not in the program. High school juniors taking a MASD course are more likely to pass the reading and writing portion of the AIMS subject tests if they had previously failed those subtests in their sophomore year.

Possible violation of ARS 15-122A (Page 50)

[N]o observable evidence was present to indicate that any classroom within TUSD is in direct violation of the law.

Resentment toward race or class of people (Page 55)

No observable evidence exists that instruction within MASD promotes resentment towards a race or class of people. The auditors observed the opposite, as students are taught to be accepting of multiple ethnicities of people.

Designed for a particular ethnic group (Page 59)

A majority of evidence demonstrates that the MASD's instructions is NOT designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group.

Ethnic solidarity (Page 63)

No evidence as seen by the auditors exists to indicate that instruction within MASD program classes advocates ethnic solidarity; rather it has been proven to treat students as individuals.

Core curriculum vs. electives (Page 66)

Recommendation 3

Maintain MAS courses as part of the core curriculum for high school courses: US History, American Government, and Literature.

[skip to Page 77] It is the auditors' recommendation that the high school MASD program courses . . ., once revised with significant modifications as outlined in Recommendation 1, remain as core courses with open lines of communication and collaboration with TUSD and the ADE. Perhaps if this program were expanded and made available to more students, it is likely there would be even more diversity of students within the courses.