Racing Ahead but Racing Apart

Sunday was a satisfying day in Massachusetts; apart from the Red Sox’s strong and decisive sixth inning against the Cardinals in the 2013 World Series, Massachusetts ranked first among the states in academic performance in a U.S. global education study. But Sunday was also a somber one; another study from Northeastern University found that income inequality in Massachusetts is both greater than ever before and worse than the nation at large.

Massachusetts has distinguished itself as a knowledge-based economy, serving as a hub of many industries like biotechnology and finance, which demand a class of skilled and educated workers. Given its participation at the vanguard of many technical fields, it is unsurprising that the educated and elite have little difficulty finding well-compensating jobs. But when this comes at the cost of leaving blue-collared workers behind, it is unacceptable. As a state renowned for its premier educational opportunities, the Commonwealth should focus on expanding the reach of its educational excellence to the low-income, low-education workers who, as the study suggests, are being left on the sidelines in this period of rapid development.

A reason for this growing gap probably comes from the wide variation in educational attainment and graduation rates among the communities in Massachusetts, where low-income districts see much lower graduation rates. Students in low-income areas aren’t being offered the support and resources necessary to earn degrees in a knowledge economy, and effort needs to be made to change that. Based on the successes of the Turnaround program in places like Lawrence and Salem, we see promise in the Turnaround model and other programs like it.

Another contributing factor to this growing disparity between the rich and poor is the growing disparity in the quality of different post-secondary opportunities. While Massachusetts is the home of many elite, private universities, graduation rates in its community colleges are below the national average. Even in Massachusetts, many jobs only require two-year degrees rather than four-year degrees. The Commonwealth would benefit by seriously considering the allocation of resources toward improving its community college system, as put forth by the Boston Foundation. By making associate’s degrees more available to the workforce, particularly those who wouldn’t otherwise attend four-year accredited schools, Massachusetts could begin bridging the achievement gap.

In a knowledge-based economy, education is the key to financial mobility, and educational equality—which can exist both at the secondary level with programs like Turnaround and at the post-secondary level with a stronger community college system—is the key to minimizing the achievement gap. By ensuring that premier education is available not just from premier institutions, Massachusetts can race ahead in all its hot industries without racing away from a large number of its workers.