A recent Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll found that about 58 percent of respondents supported a measure to remove the MCAS requirement. It’s a close call, and my own experience confirms that. I have dozens of text threads with friends, and the people whose opinions I respect on both sides of this issue each have strong arguments. I had a heated text exchange with a friend in the CVS allergy corner. The other photo is from the parking lot of my son’s soccer practice.
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Personally, I am concerned that uniform progress metrics across the state will be eliminated without a reasonable alternative. However, I believe that the concept of assessing student progress and potential is not well understood in standardized tests. I also empathize with my teacher friends who have seen kids filled with anxiety trying to pass to the detriment of more meaningful learning opportunities. It seems to symbolize the emptiness and stress of modern education. But for now it’s the only option. Is it reckless to eliminate the only option?
So I consulted an expert who is a long-time educator and parent on both sides of the issue. This week, I spoke with Jennifer Ament, a general and special elementary school educator for 23 years with the No. 2 Coalition in Mashpee. Next week, I will be speaking to Massachusetts Teachers Association Vice President Deb McCarthy about why I will vote yes to eliminate the MCAS graduation requirement.
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People talk about MCAS in terms of accountability. But if educators are already integrating it into the curriculum (using existing frameworks) and teaching across the board based on set standards, why do we also need MCAS?
I fully believe that all teachers in Massachusetts are doing their best and teaching to standards. The more ambiguous part is when it comes to “How do we evaluate these criteria?”
There is a lot of talk about grade inflation. In particular, some subjects are highly subjective. Writing is a subjective art, which makes it very difficult to grade. Excluding MCAS, which is an overall standardized assessment method, there are more than 350 school districts in the commonwealth and 350 different graduation standards. MCAS is the only statewide graduation standard. This is the only standardized way to measure whether students actually know what we are teaching them.
Approximately 700 children are denied a diploma each year because of MCAS. Why punish these children to hold schools accountable?
Needless to say, our goal as parents and educators is for every student to graduate. This represents less than 1 percent of the student population. We’re not just going to ignore them. There is another way to achieve that competency requirement and that is MCAS, competency determination.
Suppose a student takes a test but does not pass. We know that some people have an even harder time with standardized tests. So, they took the exam many times and although they could not pass, their grades were okay. They are taking all the right classes. They can apply for something called a Cohort Appeal, which their school district applies to (to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education). The faculty then looked at the classes they were taking, looked at other students in those classes, compared them, and said, “OK, they were all taking the same classes.” They all had the same grades, but one passed and the other failed. ” They can decide whether to grant an appeal based on their coursework compared to other students. I think it’s something that’s not very well known and underutilized.
Is it possible to establish graduation requirements that are fair and non-examination-based? Many people say: “In the absence of better innovation, we are only maintaining so-so measures.” What would you say to that?
(DESE) has come up with something called MassCore, which is a common course requirement. There is now a funding issue. Optional for districts. (According to a report by Voices for Academic Equity, a coalition of education reform nonprofits and advocates that supports preserving the MCAS exam as a tool to objectively measure student progress, It was found that half of the students did not comply with their state’s recommended graduation) requirements. )
Because MassCore requires a foreign language, this poses an issue for some historically underfunded or smaller school districts. Some of these districts do not have enough students or staff to offer world language classes.
I think there’s certainly a lot we can do, and there’s a lot of research being done on competency-based decisions. It exists, but there is no replacement yet. That’s my biggest concern, both as a parent and as an educator.
Vermont is the only other state (without requirements). So if you vote yes on this, there is no state standard. It’s very nerve-wracking, both as an educator and as a parent. I don’t want my child to be less competitive because he comes from a state with no graduation requirements.
Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley recently spoke in favor of voting yes, saying: For too long, I believe high-stakes testing in Massachusetts has hindered instruction and negatively impacted learning communities. That’s not to say that formative and summative assessment doesn’t have a role, but we want to focus on all the factors that contribute to student success and give schools and educators the tools they need to support their learners. must be provided. ”
She said she was bad at taking exams and that if her educators didn’t know who she was as a whole, she wouldn’t have done as well as she did. The argument is that testing undermines education in more innovative and holistic ways.
I think the teachers are amazing, and I think they do a lot of that in the tests. …I don’t think MCAS is as high-stakes as it’s being made out to be. Made according to standards. Your teacher will help you formulate the questions. Teachers will help with marking. Teachers are deeply involved in the process. I don’t think it’s something we aren’t already teaching and I think we need to evaluate our kids.
The Mass Business Alliance agrees with No 2 because they don’t see kids coming out prepared. I think that’s a problem, and I think it’s consistent with what we’ve seen in testing. Test scores aren’t that great, and business leaders and academic experts know it. Children are not ready. I don’t think it’s because of the exam. I think it matches the test results. Another thing this test shows us is that we have a literacy crisis in this state. We are one of the few states that does not have an evidence-based literacy law.
Yes, this test is standardized. I’m sure you’ll find people who don’t agree with standardized testing. We know that children are not standardized. At the same time, it is a very powerful tool. The passing score is 470. This is within the yellow range and partially meets the expected range. (Students) do not need to take the test again. School districts can manage academic development plans so they can determine if their students meet the requirements. It’s not really a sky-high, unreachable bar. I think this is very achievable and I think it really points out that there are areas within our public education system that really need to be looked at.
This is the devil’s advocate question. Most kids seem to pass MCAS. I don’t want to say it’s easy, but there are many ways to pass. Still, kids come out unprepared. So: why bother? If children are still not ready for school or employment, is there a better way?
I definitely think we can do better. I don’t think there is anyone who would say, “We can’t do better than this.” My main concern is removing one tool without installing another. That’s what really holds me back. If there’s a viable option to replace it, I’d definitely be in favor of it. We don’t yet have a viable tool to replace it.
While I believe that every teacher in the state is doing the best they can with what they have and doing what is best for our children, I have also seen that different school districts have different graduation requirements. One school district I looked at required students to earn “this much” more credits, while the next required two years of English and two years of math. In another district, it was a four-year period where everything was in place.
I am concerned about marginalized communities and school districts that have difficulty retaining and retaining teachers. We are a very large, multi-disability state. Look at Western Mass and Springfield, then look at Newton. You just have a different world. I think there will be resistance to removing the only thing we have in place until we find an option that works for all students in the commonwealth.
This interview has been edited for clarity. Next week, Deb McCarthy, vice president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, will talk about why she’s voting yes.
Kara Baskin can be reached at kara.baskin@globe.com. follow her @kcbaskin.
