MCAS in the news (2/18 - 2/24)
Cape Cod Times, 2/23: NAACP calls MCAS discriminatory
http://www.capecodonline.com/cctimes/naacpleader23.htm
The president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People yesterday labeled the state's MCAS exams for high school students a conspiracy designed to
create a permanent underclass.
John Reed, president of the NAACP for the Cape and islands, pointed to the staggering number of
minority students who failed the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exams last year.
Blacks, American Indians, Hispanics and Asians failed at rates between 60 percent and 79 percent
statewide. That is compared with a white failure rate of 27 percent to 38 percent....
.... More than 20 states now require high school students to pass an exam to graduate. And Reed's
comments echo national criticisms.
Professor Walt Haney of Boston College, studied the "racially discriminatory impact" of the Texas
Assessment of Academic Skills in Texas.
Haney's study showed that the graduation rate for Latinos and blacks dropped from 60 to 50 percent
after the state started using the tests in 1991.....
.... In Massachusetts, the number of dropouts is also on the rise.
In 1999, more students dropped out of high school than any other year since the state Department of
Public Education started keeping the data. This rising rate affects minorities disproportionately, according
to FairTest, an advocacy group that opposes high-stakes tests.
Statewide, 17 percent of students are Latino or black, but they make-up 40 percent of the dropout rate.
In both 1996 and 1997, 34 percent of dropouts were black or Latino. But in 1998 it went up to 36 percent.
and in 1999 to 40 percent.
"Given three years of data, we're very concerned," said Karen Hartke, MCAS project manager for
FairTest.
"Unless something drastic happens half the African Americans will be denied a high school diploma," she
said.....
.... However, MCAS supporters argue that the graduation requirement will ultimately benefit minorities. It
may be more difficult for disadvantaged children to achieve the same standards as wealthy, mainstream
students. But once they get there, they will be better off, said Diane Piscotta, spokeswoman for
MassInsight. Her group is made up of business people who led the drive to pass the Education Reform
Act.
While a fan of the MCAS exam in general, even MassInsight admits the state could lose more graduates
because of it. "Honestly, Massachusetts has not done enough to show kids that they don't have to drop
out - that there are resources that will help them," Piscotta said.
Boston Globe Business, 2/23: Business money will fund campaign for MCAS
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/054/business/Henry_s_man+.shtml
.... On Monday, the business community will launch a well-financed campaign to fight any rollback on the
state's MCAS testing.
''Business for Better Schools'' includes many of the biggest names in Boston business. Former State
Street Bank chairman William Edgerly, who has campaigned for school reform for decades, will head the
group. Others on the board include current State Street boss David Spina, top Fidelity executive James
Curvey, and developer Thomas Flatley.
Among the companies underwriting the newspaper and radio advertising campaign: EMC, Raytheon,
Teradyne, Fidelity, State Street, NStar, Analog Devices, and Biogen. Most of the business lobbying
groups also have signed on.....
Community Newspapers, Tewksbury, 2/23: Schools preparing kids for MCAS; vacation school helps
those at risk
http://www.townonline.com/northwest/06109784.htm
..... This afternoon, the final three-day long vacation MCAS prep session concluded. The session focused
on providing clear content instruction, walk-through examples, practice problems, and additional test
formatted problems.
This was the second of two scheduled vacation sessions dedicated to MCAS preparation. The first
ran from Dec. 27 through 29. Administrators offered the tuition free seminar to " at-risk " sophomores for
the second year in a row.
Vacation week is not the only week administrators and faculty paid attention to MCAS. Throughout
the past several months, each department at the high school gave practice problems, vocabulary words
and sample questions to students to take home and work on. Every week a student received a new
problem or vocabulary list which potentially could present itself on the exams.....
..... While all this preparation is going on, school committees, principals associations, and various other
groups are protesting the test administration and demanding the suspension of the graduation requirement.
One of those groups is the Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC).
" We feel the MCAS test is a good tool for identifying areas of the curriculum that need
improvement, " said Jim Hardy, a field services representative for the MASC. " It’s premature to use one
test for a high-school graduation requirement. " ....
.... Hardy said there are about 25 bills before the Legislature that would change the assessment system in
one way or another. All of the bills are scheduled to be reviewed at a State House public hearing on
March 5.
Hardy said that using a single test to evaluate students is unfair to the students. " We are holding
students accountable before the schools and the school districts. " .....
Community Newspapers, North Shore, 2/22: Standing on their principles, school heads challenge MCAS
http://www.townonline.com/tol/news/education/06106900.htm
.... middle and high school administrators are beginning to push to delay indefinitely the use of MCAS as
a graduation requirement for the class of 2003.
Two Swampscott principals, Peter Sack and Ron Landman, are among the leaders of this effort.
The 1,100-member board of the Massachusetts Secondary School Administrators' Association voted
unanimously last week to ask Beacon Hill leaders to reconsider the pass/fail requirement. The association
of principals and vice principals now joins the state school committee association in recommending delay.
" My primary responsibility is to advocate for all students – MCAS is far too punitive, " says
Landman, a vocal opponent of the high stakes test.
He and Sack joined school principals from Danvers, Hingham, Ipswich, Needham and Seekonk on
Beacon Hill Feb. 14 to lobby legislators. Legislative support for delaying the high stakes test appears to
be growing.....
.... The principal is concerned about special education students, as well as vocational kids at the North
Shore Technical School in Middleton....
.... Curriculum frameworks continue to change, almost yearly, and in all the major disciplines the MCAS
test supposedly assesses.... [W]ith the curriculum changing, teachers are finding it awfully tough to know
what to teach.....
.... The principals say they are not opposed to accountability. But they are opposed to the graduation
requirement....
.... The Massachusetts Association of School Committees also voted last year to call on the Legislature
and Gov. Cellucci to suspend the MCAS graduation requirement.....
.... At a press conference, the school administrators say they’re not against the test, but are against using
it alone to award or deny high school diplomas because they feel the state hasn't lived up to its education
reform promises....
.... State education officials disagree with the portrayal by MCAS critics of the test’s role as a " sole
criterion " for earning a diploma. They say students must still meet all school and district graduation
requirements. Education officials also point to the fact that each student gets four tries to pass MCAS to
earn a diploma.....
.... Forces seeking to delay or modify the high stakes MCAS requirement face an uphill battle. Gov.
Cellucci and soon to be Acting Gov. Jane Swift strongly favor retaining it, as does House Speaker
Thomas Finneran....
.... " MCAS is a system of education, " Finneran said. " ....
.... " MCAS is also part and parcel of a bargain, a contract if you will, which was reached between the
teachers, leaders and taxpayers of Massachusetts back in 1993. It was an expensive contract but the
taxpayers lived up to and went well beyond the claims made on them for billions of dollars in additional
resources. Now, the rest of that contract, the accountability aspect, must be fulfilled if we are to live up
to our obligations as adults acting on behalf of children. " .....
Community Newspapers, Hanover, 2/22: High marks for after-school program (including MCAS
tutoring, MCAS math review, MCAS science review)
http://www.townonline.com/tol/news/education/06106899.htm
.... The program is being partially funded with a $4.2 million federal grant through the North River
Collaborative school district. The grant supports after-school programs in middle schools within the nine
towns belonging to the collaborative. It recently received a $1.4 million boost from the U.S. Department
of Education.
... " We have about 600 kids taking part in the various programs, " said [Hanover Middle School principal
Thomas] LaLiberte. " It’s helping to keep the students off the streets and involved with positive
activities....
.... The variety of courses offered appear to be the main reason for its success. Middle School grade 5
student Geoff Gottbrecht enjoys taking part in the indoor soccer program, fitness club and MCAS-science
review class. " I like all the clubs the same, " said Geoff. " The teachers are helping my education. They
are helping me to not get nervous about taking the MCAS. It’s helping me be confident about doing good
and not to make mistakes on it. " The MCAS exam is required for Grade eight students.
" The MCAS homework clubs are incredible resources for these students, " said Hogan. " It allows
the kids to work with professional staff members and reinforces the content they are learning inside the
classroom. "
The program also offers an MCAS math review club and tries to boost a student’s ability to solve
math equations through the Olympiads Club. David said the Olympiads Club has helped him grasp math
skills. " It makes you better at problem solving, " said David.....
Boston Globe, 2/21: Poll finds strong opposition to MCAS approach
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/052/metro/Poll_finds_strong_opposition_to_MCAS_approach-.shtml
.... The telephone survey by Public Agenda, a nonpartisan, New York-based research group, found that
nearly 90 percent of parents and teachers [nationwide] favor high school exit exams. But nearly 60
percent of them say the test should focus on basic skills, and more than 80 percent say diplomas should
depend on teacher evaluations as well as test scores....
.... Karen Hartke of FairTest, a Cambridge-based antitesting group, said the poll results confirm what
she's hearing.
'Most people don't believe the high-stakes decision should rest on the test alone,'' Hartke said.
''They're not opposed to testing per se, but they're very concerned that the test is much too difficult, isn't
on basic skills, and is much too long.''
But William Guenther of Mass Insight Education, a pro-MCAS business group, said other polls have
shown that Massachusetts residents support the test when they learn that students will be able to take it
at least five times and will get extra help to pass it.....
.... Public Agenda's fourth annual education survey also suggests that education reform efforts, in
general, are beginning to bear fruit. Thirty-one percent of teachers said their schools ''socially promoted''
students who weren't ready to move on to the next grade - down from 41 percent in 1998.....
.... But most professors and employers still say they're getting high school graduates who don't have the
skills to succeed in college and the workplace.
Cape Cod Times, 2/19: Tech students shine on national exams
http://www.capecodonline.com/cctimes/techstudents19.htm
How many students would take a math test voluntarily?
At Upper Cape Cod Regional Vocational High School, 150 students showed up last week for the most
difficult high school math exam in the country.
It's the second year the vocational students took the American Mathematical Competition, a
52-year-old nationwide exam.
The students said it was much harder than the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System
exams. But students fared better on this test.
Upper Cape students averaged 216 on the MCAS, below the 220 passing grade and well below
the state average of 228.
But on the American Mathematical Competition exam, the students scored a 63, a mere 2 points
below the national average, said AMC director Titu Andreescu....
.... "It's a very powerful test," Kirshman said. "The engineering schools consider the scores alone as
proof of ability."
Students also like the fact that the AMC has just 25 questions and takes about an hour. The MCAS
has 13 different tests and takes 14 hours.
"I tried on the MCAS last year, but after awhile I didn't even care because it was so long," said
Allison Colon, a junior.
Boston Sunday Globe (Learning Section), 2/18: Boom strains prep schools
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/049/learning/Boom_strains_prep_schools+.shtml
..... The why of the private school boom is a no-brainer. Despite recent concern that the economy may
be slowing down, a lot of people can afford the tuition. Add a growing concern about class sizes in public
schools, worries MCAS is co-opting class time, and a sense that private schools will go the extra mile to
make your child happy and successful, and it's clear why parents see something they want.
''Private schools deal with the entire child,'' said Alyce Connors-Ball of Waltham, a former
elementary schoolteacher who has two children, Kathleen, 12, and Michael, 15. ''Because they know the
children, they will challenge them in the areas they need to be challenged.''.....
ALSO OF INTEREST:
Chicago Sun-Times, 2/19: Test-prep pressure hits grade schools; exam-guid industry finds younger
clients
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/printedition/article/0,2669,SAV-0102190157,FF.html
With 210 pages of practice exams and advice, the $12 workbook resembles the guides for students
taking standardized tests for admission to college or graduate school. "Higher Score Guaranteed," the
cover says. "Or your money back."
But the students boning up for the test with this manual aren't applying to distinguished universities.
They are trying to get to the 4th grade.....
.... Though the multibillion-dollar industry has long sold test-preparation materials and services to schools,
it is now trying to keep pace with the tremendous growth in tests given to elementary and secondary
school students, and with the techniques made possible through technological advances. The industry
increasingly is targeting parents directly in its drive to extend its reach to a younger clientele.....
.... Guidebooks are only a minor part of the expansion of the $105 billion for-profit education business,
said Peter Stokes, executive vice president of Eduventures.com, a Boston-based education research firm.
Most of the growth has been in online tutoring aimed at schools and families.
For instance, SmarterKids.com, an electronic educational store for children from birth to age 12,
features a test-preparation center where parents can enter their child's test results. SmartPicks, the site's
trademarked search engine, looks for "specific skill-building products for your child."....
.... "We try to format and present the question as close to the form that will appear on the test as
possible," said Stephen Kutno, vice president of educational policy and strategy for Homeroom.com.
"[This] obviously is taking us into lower grades," he said, "but it is consistent with our view that test
takers who are facing dire consequences really require an advocate, and we're that advocate."
Bush's proposal for yearly tests would mean most states would greatly expand testing, a survey by
Education Week found. Nearly half of the states require or are about to require students to pass a test to
get a high school diploma, and a handful of states are beginning to require children to pass tests for
promotion to certain grades, the survey found.
Education Week concluded that the increased emphasis on testing has taken a toll. "State tests are
overshadowing the standards they were designed to measure and could be encouraging undesirable
practices in schools," it said....
.... Ideally, [Kaplan K12 Learning Services's Marc] Bernstein said, teachers would tailor the tests they
give throughout the year to the style of the standardized tests children face in the spring. That is far
better, he said, than "stopping your teaching four to six weeks before the test date and doing nothing but
drill and practice, which is what a lot of schools do."...
.... But Robert Schaeffer, public education director for FairTest, a Cambridge, Mass.-based organization
that advocates testing reforms, disagreed. "These are short-term steroids to boost your testing power," he
said. "People will do whatever they can to boost their scores by hook or by crook."
School districts pay for test-preparation materials at the expense of other items, he noted. Schaeffer
expects the new menu of services will exacerbate the gap in performance of African-Americans and
Hispanics, who tend to score lower than middle-class whites....
.... Drew Johnson, who wrote most of the Kaplan guidebooks with his wife, Cynthia, sees little harm in
preparing for the tests.
"If you take the practice test, you're going to be familiar with the format," he said, "as opposed to just
going in with your brain and a pencil and a willingness to do well.
"The books don't cause the anxiety," he said. "The anxiety is already there. What is an 8-year-old
worried about? He's worried that if he doesn't pass this test, he might be held back or take summer
school."
New York Times, 2/24: The follow-up to last week's story about the University of
California and the SAT (thanks, David): Most colleges are expected to use SAT
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/24/national/24SAT.html
.... The proposal last Friday by the president of the California system, which has such flagship campuses
as Berkeley and U.C.L.A. and gives out one of every 50 American bachelor's degrees yearly, has added
fresh fuel to the decades-old debate within admissions offices over the merits of the SAT's. But
interviews in recent days with administrators from half a dozen other colleges and universities suggest
that there may be no other institution that will immediately follow California's lead.
"I'm not ready to throw out the SAT," said Jack Blackburn, the dean of undergraduate admissions at
the University of Virginia since 1985. ....
.... All of the officials acknowledged that the scores on the SAT I, an aptitude test (the SAT II's is an
achievement text tied more closely to course work), and the ACT, a similar standardized exam, often
reveal more about students' family lives, socio-economic station and school quality than about their
prospects for succeeding in four years of college and beyond. But over all they said they planned to
continue to consult the SAT scores....
.... If [president of the California system Dr. Richard] Atkinson can persuade the faculty senate and the
Board of Regents to adopt his proposal, it would not take effect until 2003 at the earliest; the full impact
of the proposal, if implemented, will not be known for years.
"We are caught up in the educational equivalent of a nuclear arms race," Dr. Atkinson said in a
speech last weekend. "We know that this overemphasis on test scores hurts all involved, especially
students. But we also know that anyone or any institution opting out of the competition does so at
considerable risk."....
IN THE MEANTIME, IN MASSACHUSETTS:
Daily Hampshire Gazette, 2/23: No SAT option used at Mt. Holyoke College
http://www.gazettenet.com/02232001/five_col/35439.htm
Mount Holyoke College is reporting a significant number of applicants choosing not to submit
Scholastic Aptitude Test scores, in the first year of an experiment to make certain standardized test
scores optional.
"We don't have the final count, but it looks like about 17 percent exercised their option not to submit,"
Dean of Enrollment Jane B. Brown said this week....
... Brown said this year's results coincided with the college's projections, based on consultations with
Bates, Bowdoin and Connecticut colleges, all of which in the last two decades have made the submission
of scores from the SAT optional....
.... At Bates, Dean of Admissions Wylie L. Mitchell said that since Bates made the SATs optional in
1984, applications to Bates have doubled to an average 4,400 per year. In 1992, Bates made all
standardized test scores optional.
Applications to Mount Holyoke College were up 10 percent this year, from 2,545 to 2,825, a
record-breaking figure for the college....
.... In interviews last year, admissions officials explained that college President Joanne V. Creighton was
concerned about the socioeconomic fairness of the SAT and ACT and the test preparation industry that
has grown explosively around them....
AND IF YOU'RE WONDERING WHY SOME EMAILS ARE GETTING BOUNCED BACK TO
YOU:
Boston Globe, 2/24: Unpaid bill zaps e-mail of teachers
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/055/business/Unpaid_bill_zaps_e_mail_of_teachers-.shtml
Most public school teachers in Massachusetts took a vacation this week. So did their electronic mail
system, after someone at the state Department of Education failed to renew an important Internet domain
name.
''We did in fact forget to pay the bill,'' said spokesman Jonathan Palumbo.....
Anne Wheelock
wheelock@shore.net