Cambridge Chronicle
 

By DAVID ORTIZ
CHRONICLE STAFF

April 2002

Letters are being sent out today to all parents and students in Cambridge public schools, informing
them that students are still expected to take the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment
System tests, even though the city has decided to scrap MCAS as a graduation requirement.

In the letter, Schools Superintendent Bobbie D’Alessandro writes that MCAS is still " very
important. " Teachers are still required to prepare students for the test and students are still
expected to take the test, she wrote.

The letter comes in the wake of the hotly contested Cambridge School Committee vote last week
to disregard state law and the Department of Education requirements.

The controversial vote puts Cambridge on a crash course with state education officials, who have
ratcheted up their commitment to stay the course set by the 1993 Education Reform law. The move
will likely spark a costly law suit, and jeopardizes $9.5 million in state school aid — as well as
D’Alessandro’s job certification.

State Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll contacted D’Alessandro on Monday and warned her that Cambridge’s move to disregard MCAS as a graduation requirement is not sanctioned by the state Department of Education. In essence, all Cambridge Rindge and Latin graduating seniors who passed their courses but failed MCAS will receive a worthless piece of paper when they walk down the aisle, in the eyes of the state.

" It comes down to three words — it’s the law, " said Jonathan Palumbo, a spokesman for the
Department of Education. " The law is clear — for students to graduate from a Massachusetts public high school, they need to successfully complete the test. "

The School Committee’s 4-3 vote on April 23 made Cambridge only the second school district in
the state to reject the MCAS test as a graduation requirement. As a result, Cambridge high school
seniors with passing grades will be awarded diplomas in spring 2003 regardless of their MCAS
scores.

Alan Price, the School Committee member who sponsored the resolution, said the fight between
Cambridge and the Department of Education might eventually be handed over to lawyers for both
sides.

" I think so, " said Price. " What we have is a conflict between the policies of the Cambridge School
Committee and the state Department of Education, and the place to settle it may well be in the
courts. "

Price said he sponsored the resolution because there is a small group of students in Cambridge
who are meeting every graduation requirement except for passing the state-imposed MCAS test.

" How do you withhold a diploma from a bright, hard-working student who has great grades, but is
not a great test taker? I think that kid has legal grounds to sue my School Committee, and I would
not like to be in the business of wrongfully denying diplomas, " said Price.

School Committee members Alice Turkel, Nancy Walser and Richard Harding also voted for the
resolution. Fred Fantini, Joseph Grassi and Cambridge Mayor Michael Sullivan opposed the
measure.

The stakes are high for Cambridge juniors, who by law must pass the MCAS test before they can
enroll at any state-funded university or community college. Approximately 150 students, or
one-third of Cambridge’s high school class of 2003 have still not passed the exam.

Most of those students who have not passed the test are also failing one or more of their courses.
Only a relatively small number — approximately 20 students — are failing MCAS but passing all of
their classes, said Price.

School Committee members, and others opposed to making students pass MCAS in order to get a
diploma, say the requirement disproportionately hurts poor people and minorities. Nearly every
one of the Cambridge students who will probably meet the city’s graduation requirements but are
failing the test are black and Hispanic, and students in bilingual education and special education
programs.

" This can be seen as warfare against the poor, " said Price, a first-year member of the School
Committee who has a kindergartner attending public school here. " If you have money then you
can pull your kid and put them in private school and get them a diploma that’s recognized. If you
don’t have money then this attaches to you. The commissioner of education has to wonder whether
he’s opening himself up to a class-action lawsuit. "

The three School Committee members who voted against the resolution said they fear punishment
from the Department of Education, which controls $9.5 in state education funding for Cambridge.
Superintendent D’Alessandro said that Education Commissioner Driscoll told her he would not
withhold education money from the city.

The School Committee members who voted against the measure also said they believe the
committee is using Cambridge students as pawns in a match of wills with state education officials.
Mayor Sullivan said the Committee’s vote sends a message to students here that they don’t need
to worry about passing MCAS.

" There are some dire consequences to the stuff we did the other night, " said Sullivan. " When the
[School Committee] meeting was over and I was leaving the building a high school student came
up to me and said, ‘Is it true we don’t have to take the exam?’ I said, ‘No, it’s not true.’ The
diploma could be valueless, and a number of our kids go to state schools. If they can’t go now
because of a decision we made, that’s a travesty. "

The School Committee’s decision also puts Superintendent D’Alessandro’s job in jeopardy — she is expected to implement the policy created by the School Committee, but the Department of
Education has the power to decertify any local school official who strays from state education laws.

D’Alessandro said that Education Commissioner Driscoll plans to send a letter to the School
Committee informing them that their decision breaks state law. She would not tell the details of her
conversation with Driscoll.

" My situation right now is a little difficult, " she said. " I’m going to have to talk with the School
Committee, because [MCAS as a graduation requirement] is a state law. "

In the meantime, D’Alessandro said Cambridge will continue to use MCAS as one form of
assessment for students working toward diplomas.

For years, Cambridge has been a hotbed of MCAS dissent. Many students and parents here have
boycotted MCAS in the past, often with quiet support from teachers and principals. A handful of
state and national organizations opposed to the high-stakes test are based here.

On Tuesday night, the School Committee’s resolution passed before a cheering crowd of parents
and teachers.

" We’re finally taking action against a high-stakes exam that will punish the students for the failures
of the system, " said Jackie Dee King, a Cambridge parent and a leader of the Coalition for the
Authentic Reform of Education, a statewide anti-MCAS group. " More than half African American,
Latino and special education students are still not passing … and we’re just a year a way from the
end of the cliff. Those numbers ought to be disturbing enough that the state should reconsider the
policy. "