As you may have heard by now, the 2014 MCAS results were released on Friday by the Massachusetts Dept. of Education. There are a number of remarkable stories that emerge from the numbers.

First, we cannot help but notice the continued strong performance of Massachusetts charter schools. Once again, more than 90 percent of Massachusetts charter schools are ranked as Level 1 or Level 2 in the state's accountability formula, and the stories behind the numbers are remarkable. There are stories in places like the Edward M. Brooke Charter Schools in Roslindale, East Boston and Mattapan, all of which ranked number 1 in the state in at least one MCAS subject area test in 2014.

There are stories in places like EXCEL Academy Charter School in East Boston, with 75% low-income students, where half of students speak a language other than English at home and the percentage of students with disabilities exceeds the state average, yet where 8th graders finished first in the state in English and 4th in Math on the MCAS.

There are stories like the remarkable success of the UP Academy Charter Schools in Lawrence, Dorchester and South Boston, Horace Mann Charter Schools in which new autonomies have led to stunning growth in student performance across grade levels in schools with a history of low test scores and low achievement. 

UP is just one element of the district turnaround effort in Lawrence made possible by the 2010 Achievement Gap Act, one that has led to two consecutive years of district-wide performance gains. With seven Level 1 schools, the city of Lawrence today has a greater number of top-level schools than all but a handful of districts in the Commonwealth.  

And we celebrate the continued improvements of the Level 4 "turnaround schools," which have been able to use the flexibilities given to them to drive school improvement at some of the most challenged schools in the state. More than half of the 34 schools that were declared turnarounds in 2010 have exited that status, a testament to the remarkable work that teachers, administrators and school communities have done when given the school-based autonomy to control time, hiring and other key structures to create schools that better serve their students.

In 2014, the Boston Foundation and the Race to the Top Coalition worked to build on our tremendous success in passing education reform in 2010 by attempting to pass legislation that would open up opportunities for more students to attend charters and expand the autonomies that have been a precursor to success at so many Level 4 schools to a broad range of Level 3 schools in low-performing districts. That legislative effort failed in the Massachusetts Senate. The 2014 MCAS results highlight the missed opportunity, but they also provide a great reminder that even our most intractable problems can be addressed, when we create the conditions for success.