The Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) test has done some positive things for our schools. It has put the spotlight on districts that are struggling and in need of additional help and resources from the state. And students who otherwise would simply be passed along from grade to grade are challenged to succeed in school.
Yet those advances are likely to mean little to the tens of thousands of kids who have dropped out of school in the years since the test became a make or break graduation requirement. Do the creators of MCAS have anything to say to these children? Probably not. They have already demonstrated they care little about the students left behind by MCAS.
In the years since MCAS became paramount to Massachusetts teen's futures, we have seen a narrowing of curriculum in schools, more children dropping out and little improvement in other, standardized test scores. Students are not entering the workforce or college with any more preparation than they did before the test.
There are students, here in Somerville, who have failed the test by 1 or 2 points and once denied graduation, given up and dropped out. Sure we can blame them. That would be easiest. But after six years of the MCAS as a graduation requirement shouldn't we try to fix the system?
The MCAS reform movement led by State Rep. Carl M. Sciortino is not intended to abolish the test. It is meant to reduce the overwhelming emphasis on standardized testing that currently infects our schools. Instead of scrutinizing test scores, schools must take on the responsibility of educating the whole child and consider test performance as only one factor in a field of many.
The governor or the legislature must take a serious look at how this high-stakes test is affecting the future of children in communities such as Somerville. They owe them at least that much.
As a mom of two I've seen the results of using a single test as a graduating requirement. I have a daughter struggling in math (along with many others in her class) because the teacher needs to go quickly in order to "keep to the curriculum" Please, let's evaluate how this is affecting the education of our kids.
Posted by: concerned mom | February 23, 2008 at 07:28 AM
Wait a minute. This issue is the exact reason the Herald named Sciortino one of the legislators who "missed the mark", but now you agree with him?
Posted by: Stinky | February 23, 2008 at 07:32 AM
I agree that the a test should not be the only deciding factor in graduating, but I have not heard any good proposals. The problem is that if you get away from standardized tests, the decision becomes more subjective, which in turn, waters down what graduation means. What's the difference between (1) someone who drops out because they haven't mastered the material and (2) someone who graduates even though they haven't mastered the material? It doesn't make much sense to pass someone who can't do the work, does it?
I'm open to suggestions for a better system.
Posted by: somebody | February 23, 2008 at 07:00 PM
It is definitely time for MCAS reform!!! Over the last ten years with two children in Somerville Public Schools I have watched the dramatic increase in pressure put upon the administrators and teachers in their classrooms and this pressure has been passed down to the students and their parents. They keep adding more and more and more each year. The school day has not changed, in any way, time wise and don't even talk about money. Every aspect of our children's education has been short changed by this teaching to the MCAS test. I do understand that there has to be accountability and bars raised for our children to succeed but at what cost. Life experiences and the differences in us all prove that you cannot evaluate all people by the same standards!!! It is time to get rid of No Child Left Behind it is definitely not working!!!
Posted by: Joyce . | February 26, 2008 at 12:04 PM
I, for one, appreciate the MCAS as it has forced schools to concentrate on academics and get away from all of the feel-good social nonsense being taught in many schools. I think it also shows that a high school diploma means something. Could it be tweaked? Absolutely. Does it in some respects go a little too far? Maybe. But I'm tired of kids who can barely read or write being able to say they have a high school diploma. It makes the diploma meaningless. New York state, for years, has had the regents exam and I think it's a good thing.
Posted by: MCAS Rocks | February 26, 2008 at 01:33 PM