MassParents for Education, Not MCAS
(a member of CARE, the statewide
Coalition for Authentic Reform in Education)
Cambridge School Committee Votes to grant diplomas regardless of MCAS scores
Monday October 9, 2000
MassParents /Cambridge CARE
Cambridge School Committee Votes Against MCAS As a Graduation Requirement
Joining a groundswell of opposition to the MCAS test from school boards across the state, the Cambridge School Committee voted last week to approve two anti-MCAS resolutions that will come before the Mass. Association of School Committeesı annual convention for a vote in early November.The resolutions originating from Arlington and from Amherst-Pelham and endorsed by at least 14 other school committees call for a suspension or elimination of the use of a passing score on the MCAS as a high school graduation requirement. The School Committee voted 4-3 in favor of the resolutions on Tuesday October 3, after hearing earlier in the evening from many Cambridge parents concerned about the impact of the test on their childrenıs education.
"We are very happy about the School Committeeıs vote," said Mark Breneman, a parent who testified at the meeting and whose 10th grade son faces the test this year. "At this point, weıre most concerned about the older students who see this test as an impassable barrier, and may become so discouraged they will drop out. I think the School Committee is echoing that concern. Weıve seen rising dropout rates in Massachusetts in recent years especially in minority and urban communities. The experience of other states that have implemented high-stakes tests such as the MCAS shows that the situation is likely to get much worse."
The vote instructs the local delegate to the MASC convention, School Committee member Denise Simmons, to vote in favor of the resolutions at the convention in Worcester from November 1 to 4. (Ms. Simmons is also a member of the Board of Directors of MASC, which voted to support the resolutions and pass them on to the association membership.)
School Committee members Susanna Segat, Denise Simmons, Alice Turkel, and Nancy Walser voted in favor of the resolutions; School Committee members Fred Fantini, Anthony Galluccio, and Joe Grassi were opposed.
The MASC convention is expected to attract more media attention than usual this year, partly because of the heated MCAS controversy. A vote in favor of these resolutions would send a clear message to the Legislature that the elected officials in the state who are most responsible for K-12 education do not approve of the MCAS test as it is now being used.The Amherst-Pelham resolution opposes the use of a passing grade on the MCAS as a graduation requirement altogether and seeks legislation to prohibit the use of the test results for that purpose. The Arlington resolution seeks to suspend the use of a passing grade on the test as a graduation requirement until several critical issues are addressed: the length of the test; the need for multiple and various assessments of a studentıs progress or a school systemıs effectiveness; and the testıs effect on vocational, special education, and bilingual students, and in fact its effect on all students.
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RESOLUTIONS CONCERNING THE MCAS
FROM ARLINGTON AND AMHERST-PELHAM
FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE
MASSACHUSETTS ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL COMMITTEES
The MASC Resolutions Committee met on August 16, 2000 at the Radisson Inn in Marlborough, MA to consider recommendations to the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors met on September 13, 2000 and voted to support the recommendations of the Resolutions Committee.
The following resolutions will be voted on by the Delegate Assembly on November 1, 2000 at the MASC/MASS Joint Conference in Worcester.
MASC hopes that each school committee will discuss these resolutions at a school committee meeting so that each delegate brings with them the positions of their local school committee.
Resolution 1: MCAS
Sponsor: Arlington
WHEREAS MASC recognizes the need to set high standards for all students in the Commonwealth and to establish a system of accountability that ensures that all school systems are preparing their students for an increasingly complex world and,
WHEREAS we believe that the current Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System is seriously flawed,
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the legislature and/or the Department of Education suspend MCAS as a graduation requirement until such time as these critical issues have been addressed:
1) The need to develop a variety of assessment instruments (as described in the Education Reform Act of 1993) so that all students are evaluated fairly.
2) The need to develop additional criteria, so that no single test will determine the fate of a student or the value of a school system
3) The length of the test and the time it takes away from teaching and learning.
4) The effect on students of the use of the test as a graduation requirement (including but not limited to vocational, special education, and bilingual students).
Similar submissions from:
Brookline
Shirley
Northampton
Recommendation of the Resolutions Committee:
Motion to support as amended passed 5-0.
Resolution 2: MCAS
Sponsor: Amherst-Pelham
Signees: Amherst
Leverett
Shutesbury
Northampton
Pathfinder
Smith Vocational
Hudson
Arlington
Lincoln-Sudbury
WHEREAS a "high-stakes" testing program will harm students by increasing high school dropout rates, discouraging other middle and high school students who perform at marginal levels, and unnecessarily frustrating some younger children, especially those with special needs, who are unable to succeed on the challenging MCAS tests, and
WHEREAS there is inadequate verification that MCAS results distinguish failing performance from
performance that needs improvement, and
WHEREAS there is evidence that states that have implemented education reform without high-stakes testing are having better results in improving academic performance than states that have adopted high-stakes testing,
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that MASC oppose the use of passing grade on the 10th grade Language Arts and Math MCAS tests as a requirement for graduation from high school, and be it
FURTHER RESOLVED that MASC urge the Board of Education not to link MCAS results with the granting of high school diplomas and MASC lobby for legislation that will prohibit the use of MCAS results for that purpose.
Recommendation of the Resolutions Committee:
Motion to support passed 5-1.
