High school graduations enter new era with MCAS

By Megan Tench, Globe Staff, 5/31/2003

Starting this month, thousands of Massachusetts high school seniors will don their caps and gowns as traditional graduation scenes - tearful families, snapping cameras, and tossing tassels in the air - play out across the state.

But the tone of this year's graduation ceremonies promises to be sharply different from years past. The Class of 2003 is making history as the first required to pass the MCAS exam to earn their diplomas.

Those who passed the test will walk across the stage to collect a diploma. In some communities, those who fell short but passed local graduation requirements will pick up a state-endorsed certificate. In others, they won't. And still other seniors are facing the stark reality of not graduating with their class.

On Sunday, Brookline and Lawrence will be among the first to graduate the Class of 2003, and the contrast could be no sharper. One district is graduating nearly every senior, the other only half of its class.

''I am so excited. It's time to move on and leave the baggage behind,'' said James Alexander, a Brookline High School senior who will receive a diploma tomorrow along with 96 percent of his class.

Lawrence High School, with a high number of low-income, non-English speaking students, will award 59 percent of its seniors a diploma.

''Our kids come in with skills that don't match more affluent communities. Many work to support their families, many work to support themselves,'' said Francis McLaughlin, a social studies teacher at Lawrence High and head of the local teachers union. ''Of course there is going to be that stigma of not getting a diploma and not passing the MCAS exam, but it's not so different than some of the other things going on in their lives.''

Despite the struggle, the school is continuing to offer MCAS prep courses over the summer hoping to graduate more Lawrence students. ''We certainly have not had the success of a Brookline and Andover, but we are moving in the right direction,'' McLaughlin said.

Over the next few weeks, roughly 55,000 Massachusetts seniors will collect diplomas. Their path was laid out a decade ago when Massachusetts passed the 1993 Education Reform Act to spur massive change in schools. Part of that required students to pass the 10th-grade Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exam to graduate. It would count first for the Class of 2003. The test drew opposition from nearly all corners, from concerned parents to anti-testing advocates.

Pilot exams were given starting in 1997. For the next three years, scores fluctuated, but remained low. School officials hoped the news would be different when it finally started to count, but braced themselves if it wasn't.

The Class of 2003 took 10th-grade MCAS for the first time in the spring of 2001. Statewide, 82 percent of students passed the English portion and 75 percent passed the math. But for the urban districts the results were alarming: only 59 percent passed both parts of the exam, sparking protests and demands to repeal the exam.

Still, education leaders persisted and schools hunkered down, focusing on rigorous MCAS prep courses, retooling curriculums, and targeting struggling students. The graduation requirement even galvanized religious and civic groups, some of which opposed the exam, prompting them to offer their own MCAS programs.

''We found that our youth, primarily low-income students of color, were being completely by-passed,'' said Caroline Murray, director of the nonprofit AntiDisplacement Project in Springfield. ''They weren't even given the right courses to go on to college.''

After three more tries, (the latest in December), 5,000 seniors still haven't passed the critical exam. They will not be able to collect a diploma on graduation day, although students can keep trying to pass the test and more passing scores are expected from a spring retest.

''I think many people hoped and prayed MCAS would go away, and many weren't dealing with the fact that this day would come,'' said Theresa Howard, dean of co-op and career services at Holyoke Community College, which has offered MCAS prep courses. ''It's important for us to realize that the Class of 2003 are the ones who really paid the price.''

But state education officials lauded this year's senior class, saying that education reform - and MCAS - has increased the value of diplomas. ''High school graduation is a very special time, and these kids will arguably be the most skilled kids who graduated in a number of decades,'' said state Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll. ''For the great majority of these kids, MCAS has not been a focus. I am just happy to see the tremendous high percentage. No one ever predicted it would be over 90 percent.''

Driscoll supports decisions by districts like Boston to ban seniors from graduation if they have not passed MCAS. ''There will be more opportunities in the future,'' he said. ''I think Boston took a very strong stand because it's important that these kids have skills before they enter the world.''

But that is cold comfort to seniors like Karl Kearns, a special-needs student at the Jeremiah E. Burke High School in Dorchester. He has made the honor roll twice, but missed passing the MCAS by two points.

''He's not just doing well academically, he is being one of those model citizens,'' said Wendall Kearns, Karl's uncle and legal guardian. ''He works. He comes straight home from school. He doesn't hang out. He just isn't that type of kid. He doesn't deserve this.''

South Boston resident Joyce Colantonio was so angry that her son is being barred from graduation that she called Mayor Thomas M. Menino. Her son, 19, is disabled and passed the math portion of the MCAS, but failed English.

''They told me, `There's nothing we can do,' and I told them, `Well I'm not going to vote for you no more,'' Colantonio said. '' After all the hard work he's been through, it's a slap in my son's face.''

For Sean Garren, not collecting a diploma tomorrow will actually be his choice. The 18-year-old from Brookline and four friends boycotted the test. It was not what his parents had intended. ''We did not encourage this. He made this decision totally on his own years ago and he stuck to it,'' said his mother, Heather Shay. '

But Sean's defiance helped land him a spot at Dartmouth College. ''I'm so lucky. I think the boycott helped with the college process,'' he said. ''It wasn't an easy thing .... But not getting that diploma is that last step of our boycott, the closure.''

 

This story ran on page B1 of the Boston Globe on 5/31/2003.