Somerville teens led an MCAS reform rally last week at the State House urging lawmakers to take a second look at the test, six years after it became a graduation requirement.
Greg Rego, an 18-year old- Somerville resident told a group of 200 Boston-area high school students of his personal struggles with the high-stakes Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System test. He said he was never given notice of the test until the day it came and after failing twice by a combined 3 points, dropped out of school.
“I’m just one voice out of all the teenagers in Massachusetts that have to deal with this potentially life-altering test. Maybe some students have no problem with it. For them it’s just an annoying bump in the road that they have to deal with. For others, it’s a make-or-break situation that determines the future of their education,” he said
In the five years after MCAS became a graduation requirement, drop out rates in Massachusetts’s high schools increased 32 percent to 11,145 kids out of school.
“That’s 10,000 young people on the streets with nothing to do,” said Teen Empowerment Director Stanley Pollack as he paced back and forth surrounded by cheering teens. “We can talk about numbers and numbers but this is about real people’s lives!”
State Rep. Carl M. Sciortino filed the bill that would keep the test in schools but eliminate it as a make or break graduation requirement. When he asked the room how many people knew someone who had dropped out, nearly all young hands went up.
The teens walked through State House halls and dropped off cards in Gov. Deval Patrick’s office that read: “Thousands of Massachusetts students suffer the unintended consequences of MCAS:increased drop out rates, stagnant or growing achievement gaps, and schools more focused on testing than on providing a well rounded education.
“Please support MCAS reform and help save our students.”
Sciortino said he expects the bill to come before legislators for a vote by April. So far Patrick has been responsive to the idea of reform, he said. However, in published reports Patrick has said he would like to see passing the test remain a graduation requirement for high school students in the state.
Critics of MCAS have said it unfairly hurts urban students, increases drop-out rates and narrows classroom curriculum only to subjects covered on the test.
Alexis Ramos a junior at Somerville High School, said her classes are shaped by the test.
“And what do you after you take a test? Most kids forget everything because they won’t need to use it again,” she said.
Anna Rodriguez, a SHS sophomore, said MCAS performance should be one factor in the overall evaluation of a student.
“It shouldn’t make or break our future,” she said.
The Massachusetts Teachers Association also called for MCAS reform at the rally on Wednesday, Feb. 13.
But some people like the test just how it is. Former State Sen. Thomas Birmingham, one of the architects of the 1993 Education Reform Bill that spawned the test, has spoken out against reform and the day of the rally the Boston Globe published an opinion piece by Scott Lehigh denouncing reform efforts.
"Critics of MCAS have said it unfairly hurts urban students, increases drop-out rates and narrows classroom curriculum only to subjects covered on the test."
1)Ok, lets translate this politically correct phrase. Urban = minority. Why don't people just say what they mean?
2)There is absolutely no reason why minorities cannot do as we as others in the MCAS provided they are given appropriate help.
3) "State Rep. Carl M. Sciortino filed the bill that would keep the test in schools but eliminate it as a make or break graduation requirement."
That's great...when people are failing the answer should be to help them pass, not eliminate it as a graduation requirement. How ridiculous.
4) “And what do you after you take a test? Most kids forget everything because they won’t need to use it again,” she said.
Well you could say that about anything. Do I remember the Shakespeare I read in high school or some arcane math formula? Of course not. Tests are a means to an end. They show that you stuck with it and learned the material.
5) "It shouldn;t make or break your future." You make the decision to give up and drop out though don't you. I think this says more about the parents than the kids. Kids that age need guidance. If I talked about dropping out I would have got an ass whoppin. Not going to college was not an option.
Posted by: JPM | February 19, 2008 at 08:21 PM
It's funny how proponents of "reforming" the test system always seem to just want to eliminate it. Oh my god, they cry, if we make passing the test a graduation requirement, some kids fail!
That's what it's for. If kids can't demonstrate that they've learned a minimum set of skills, they shouldn't graduate. SOME KIDS DON'T DESERVE TO GRADUATE.
When I was in high school, I worked hard, passed everything, and graduated. At my graduation, I saw kids graduating with me who I'd never seen in classes. Kids who didn't have the ability to function in classes. Kids who weren't even allowed to eat lunch unsupervised because they might injure themselves. Kids who were unable to read, write, or form a coherent sentence. Yet, they were handed a diploma just like mine, and they are "high school graduates" just as much as I am. Now, how valuable do you think that diploma is when everybody knows that there are people with diplomas just like it who didn't even manage to learn to spell their own name in their 12 years of education?
If there is no minimum standard of educational achievement, a diploma is meaningless. If we don't test kids to ensure they've learned a minimum set of knowledge, why should our nation's universities think our graduates have learned anything?
Now, if you want to talk about *reforming* the MCAS, instead of eliminating the idea of standards, we can talk. I'd support examining the test to ensure that it tests for a *minimum* standard of educational achievement and nothing more, so that teachers could just teach their course material and feel confident that their students will pass, rather than "teaching to the test". I'd support efforts to ensure that kids have the educational opportunities they need to ensure they can pass. I'd support the right of kids in schools with an abnormally high fail rate (and no corresponding special circumstances to account for it) to hold their schools accountable for failing to educate them.
But if your goal is just to pass as many kids as possible by ensuring there are no standards to hold them accountable for their deficiencies, you're just devaluing the educations received by every kid who actually works hard and learns something.
Posted by: Tom Farrell | February 19, 2008 at 10:56 PM
To simply say that SOME KIDS DONT DESERVE TO GRADUATE is simply ignorant! Just because you were blessed enough to go through high school struggle free does not mean everyone else in the world is like you.people learn different ways and that needs to be acknowledged.I think that Eliminating the MCAS is something that definetly needs to be looked at, if massachusettes cares about its students them it should be thought about.I dont even go to a public school and i can understand the concerns of these kids who want better for themselves.I live in somerville so to see my freinds and their freinds dropping out of school because of one lousy test is unbeleiveable.So before people go and ,ake ridiculous comments about youth who want to make a change they should really sit down and put themselves in that persons shoes!
Posted by: Diana | March 12, 2008 at 12:14 PM
Ignorance.....These MCAS tests DO NOT accurately measure a child's performance PERIOD!!!!!!
My children struggle daily with the work load that the school has them doing. They don't learn they practice all year for the MCAS.
When are people going to learn that the drop out rate has INCREASED.
I commend these students for rallying AGAINST IT. GOOD for them!!!!
GET RID OF MCAS NOW!!!!!!! ITS HURTING OUR KIDS!!!!!!
Posted by: Concerned Mom | March 23, 2008 at 09:10 PM
Concerned Mom, are your kids retarded or what? The MCAS is a piece of cake. If kids were not so dumb and lazy, they could pass it very easily and still be able to learn plenty of other important stuff. A test is a way to assess basic skills. There has to be some test. I've seen a lot of MCAS questions and they are freaking ridiculous, especially the math ones. If a kid cannot answer those questions, then that kid SHOULD NOT GRADUATE. End of the story.
Of course, stupid kids will bitch about having to take a test, what's new? But what will they do in the real world, if they cannot even solve a linear system with two equations and two variables? Screw them and their whiny parents, if they are lazy they don't graduate.
Posted by: Retards | March 23, 2008 at 10:51 PM
are you kidding me lady? i would like to see you pass the mcas. i have seen honor roll student come back with needing improvement. you have a bunch of bored, busy body know it alls, who could have never passed the test themselves, making decisions that cost some kids their college education. but thats ok with you and with them because as long as it does not affect you, who cares. more kids dropping out of school at the last leg of school because they see no chance. massachusetts is so busy trying to control the people of this state that they are forcing people out. and yes, my kids did pass, but i see the kids that dont and the ones who struggle and its disgusting. the teachers teach only for this test and for that, massachusetts should be ashamed.
Posted by: massachusetts needs new lawmakers | April 14, 2008 at 10:36 PM
All kids deserve a chance to graduate. It's really easy to say "They're stupid" when it's not your kid but these kids deserva a cahnce and need help. I don't think anyone wants a state full of high school dropouts, that's not good for anyone. Some kids need extra guidence and help and if the get it, that benefits them and society as a whole.
Posted by: graduation gowns | May 01, 2008 at 05:43 PM