Brookline SPED PAC and PTOs co-sponsor forum

 

Brookline SPED PAC and PTOs co-sponsored a forum last
night called "Straight talk about MCAS: How does
high-stakes testing affect Brookline students?" An
estimated 200 people showed up at the Lincoln School
auditorium (including two state representatives,
several school committee members, principals,
teachers, and a selectman) to hear the panelists and
ask questions. 

Opening remarks were made by Nancy Wagman, Co-Chair of
the Brookline SPED PAC. Wagman read a page from the
actual Education Reform Law, citing that the intended
mode of assessment was originally to be students'
portfolios and other multiple forms of assessment. 
Wagman's reading showed that the law never mentions
using only one test and certainly never proposed using
the results of the assessment to determine who
graduates and who does not. Wagman finished by
raising questions such as, "what is accountability,
and who is accountable -- and to whom?"

First to speak was Jack Rennie, Chairman of the Mass.
Business Alliance for Education. Rennie told of how
back in the '80s, the business community had become
increasingly concerned about the "gap" between what
schools were teaching and what was needed out in the
working world. He was among the first of many
businessmen who championed making organizational
changes in education back in the '80s, which
ultimately led to Ed Reform. He described what had
been in the beginning a very idealistic, positive
movement, and also expressed a sense of dismay and
amazement at what all the hard work had led to,
namely, the high stakes use of MCAS. 

Later in the evening, upon being asked about the
disproportionate of SPED students who will fail and be
denied diplomas, Rennie responded that this was being
addressed -- in the form of the "long list of
accommodations" but that, unfortunately, yes, "that's
the way it is."

Next to speak was Vito Perrone, of CARE and the
Harvard Graduate School of Education, who also
described the beginning of the Ed Reform movement as
positive, cooperative and progressive, but that "who
could have imagined that everything would come down to
a single test?" Perrone also described the statewide
and national movement to protest high-stakes testing,
as well as flaws in the test itself, and questioned
the way the test is administered and the wisdom of
having 9 year olds sit for 17 hours of formal testing.


Barbara Meltz of the Globe spoke passionately about
the psychological impact of high-stakes testing on
children, and cautioned parents not to reveal scores
to their children, that this could be devastating
given the various stages of development of typical
4th, 8th and 10th graders.

Superintendent Jim Walsh praised Ed Reform for
"levelling the playing field" in school systems in
Massachusetts, by equalizing per pupil cost, lowering
class sizes, providing professional development for
teachers. But he also felt that the D.O.E. is now one
of the most intrusive Boards in the entire country,
and he railed against making the MCAS the sole
criterion for getting a diploma. "SPED students are
particularly vulnerable," Walsh said, citing that 70%
of the overall population who failed the MCAS were
SPED students. "Too many children will face the
indignity of a certificate of attendence," he said,
although he also pointed out how a boycott would do
damage to the town itself, in that Brookline could
face losing its state funding.

Brookline High School Headmaster Bob Weintraub
expressed his agreement with the Superintendent but
went on to say that "MCAS pushes schools to address
the literacy of every kid" and that MCAS is a
reasonable standard in his view. He spoke of how
twenty-five years ago, 25% of students did not take
SATs and went into the job-training tracks, never
having an opportunity to do more with their potential.
That now with MCAS every student is expected to be
academic.

However, Weintraub noted that currently Brookline's
dropout rate is at .01%, and that under the
high-stakes use of MCAS, he expects that number to
grow and would like for that not to happen.

School Committee Member Terry Kwan discussed how
Brookline can take what's good about the MCAS and
curriculum frameworks, and discard what is not. She
stated that Brookline's Learning Expectations were
better than the state curriculum and that Brookine
would not be teaching to the test. Kwan pointed out
that diplomas have local, not state, signatures on
them and that she hoped the legislators in the
audience would remember that local school officials
would be better judges of who should graduate in a
given school system than elected state officials.

Brookline Teachers' Union President Phil Katz spoke
about the burden on teachers under MCAS to teach to
the test, despite what is being said about not
teaching to the test. He also reminded the audience
that the use of MCAS changed under the current D.O.E.
which is appointed by the governor and that if you
want to change the D.O.E., "you have to change the
governor."

Most of the questions from the audience were about
what can ordinary citizens do to stop this. Many
people were asking, "How did this happen?" People
discussed the ineffectiveness of writing letters to
the D.O.E., of the ideological bent of the current
D.O.E., of the need to bring the message to
legislators, and of the efficacy of boycott. The
Superintendent clearly does not want a boycott but
instead urges parents to call legislators and work at
it that way.

The meeting stirred a lot of people to want to take
action. There will now be further meetings of parents
who indicated an interest on the sign in sheets. 
--Sue Senator
Co-chair, Brookline SPED PAC