TO: Mass Parents folks
MCAS tests will be given again, starting today, for the next few weeks in
grades 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10.
Once again our children are about to be abused by having to take the
high stakes MCAS tests. Over the past four years parents, teachers and
professional educators have documented the damage to students, teachers, and
curriculum that follows from the imposition of this one-size fits-all test.
MassParents and others have documented the negative effects of this test on
students and their schools. We have rallied, petitioned, lobbied the
legislature, boycotted, and initiated court proceedings. However, through all
this the 9 member State
Board of Education, originally appointed by Governors Weld and John Silber,
continue to undermine public education, unperturbed, by the thousands of high
school seniors who have been denied diplomas and have been forced to put their
lives on hold, attend classes on MCAS prep or simply move on in life without a
high school diploma. This board has ignored the thousands of parents who
petitioned in opposition to the test, refused to list to the testimony of
teachers and educators who oppose the test and have dismissed the resolutions
of the Mass Association of School Committees who have condemned the test.
A number of students and families will once again be boycotting the
elementary school tests in the next few weeks, which do not bear on high
school graduation at all. Boycotting the MCAS test does however impact on
your schools overall scores as a boycotting student will receive a score of 0
by the Department of Education and oddly enough will be included in the school
test statistics. This skewed method of statistical reporting is one reason
why schools like King Open in Cambridge, who have had a high number of
boycotting students in the past, have such low scores on the test. The
Department of Education refuses to simply include the number of kids who
actually take the test in their statistics, and leave out boycotters and
absent students. This would give a much clearer picture of a schools
standing. Some schools have even received a "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB)
classification as a "failing school" based solely on their low MCAS scores
regardless of how the school and the students are doing otherwise.
With the unfortunate passage of the No Child Left Behind Act, the
additional muscle of the US Dept. of Ed. now backs up the testing
requirement. Resisting this continued attack on our public schools will
require new strategies. We will be developing these in the next six months,
and will report them at
www.caremass.org, through ParentsCare newsletter and our e-newsletter. The
summary of the recently held Brookline NCLB forum which can be seen on the
website makes clear how damaging the NCLB will be, and how it rests on high
stakes testing.
In earlier years boycotts of the tests were an important tactic for
gaining public attention. With the high stakes aspect now firmly in place for
10th graders, MassCARE efforts last Spring turned to trying to get as many
high school seniors their diplomas as possible.
Our resources have worn thin over the years and we are currently unable to
advise boycotting families and students about their legal rights and all the
ramifications of refusing to take the test, but for families that feel
comfortable having their kids boycott, it is clearly one of the options for
the tests over the next 2 weeks. The exposure for elementary students is
obviously much less than for high school students.
We look forward to working with you in the next year in our continuing efforts
to stop this high stakes test.
For more information contact Tim Plenk
tplenk@igc.org
Jonathan King
Tim Plenk
MassCare
MassParents
