For Immediate Release

Contact:
Lisa Guisbond, Brookline CARE: 617-730-5445
Alan Price, Cambridge School Committee: 617-492-011
Larry Ward, MassCARE: 617-864-4810
Monty Neill, FairTest: 617-864-4810

Parents and School Committee Members Object to States
Two-Tiered Diploma Scheme

State Commissioner of Education David Driscolls "certificate of achievement" proposal is a frank acknowledgement of the MCAS regimes failure to fulfill its promise to make every public school child a winner, according to MassCARE, the Coalition for Authentic Reform in Education.

"The proposal represents an effort to entrench a two-tiered educational system, with the most vulnerable groups of students labeled failures and ejected from school with a worthless document," said Larry Ward, a Cambridge parent and MassCARE coordinator.

Driscoll says his proposal, which met strong resistance from the State Board of Education the last time he suggested it in September 2000, is intended to recognize students who get passing grades and meet local requirements but fail the English or math section of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exam. But many local school board members and parents see it as another case of the state usurping their legal right to determine graduation requirements.

Alan Price, a member of the Cambridge School Committee, led the successful effort in Cambridge last spring to pass a resolution that asserts Cambridge will continue to grant diplomas to seniors who meet all local graduation requirements, regardless of their MCAS scores.

"I believe in one standard, one diploma, that a student earns by demonstrating his or her knowledge and skills through multiple, authentic assessments," Price said today.

The Cambridge, Hampshire Regional, and Falmouth school committees have each passed resolutions stating their intention to retain their historic diploma-granting authority. These diplomas would signify graduation from high school and would not label some students with a second-class status, as the states certificate of completion clearly would.

An important parallel effort, led by the Brookline School Committee, is also gaining momentum. Brookline passed a resolution which strongly defends the right of school committees to grant diplomas. So far, 24 school committees across the state have signed on to this resolution, which will be presented to the full membership of the Mass. Association of School Committees at its annual convention on October 30, 2002.

Brookline School Committee Chairperson Marcia Heist has been actively recruiting school committees to endorse the Brookline resolution and is enthusiastic about the response so far. Like Cambridges Price, she dismisses the Driscoll proposal as a system that would perpetuate the inequities that Education Reform was supposed to address.

Parents echoed the school committee members clear denunciation of the proposal. "When I hear a proposal like this," said Brookline parent Lisa Guisbond, "I cant help but think of all the learning disabled kids I know who are hard-working, who get tremendous support at home and in school and who, but for the graduation requirement, would go on to be successful in college and employment. What on earth does a certificate do for them but keep them from moving on with their lives?"

The states proposal also drew fire from the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, an organizations which promotes authentic assessments of students and schools, and opposes the misuse of standardized tests.

"The proposal, as introduced by Commissioner Driscoll, offers nothing but an empty piece of paper to students who do not pass the MCAS," according to Monty Neill, executive director of FairTest. "For example, there is not even a guarantee that this certificate will allow students to take courses for credit at the states community colleges," Neill noted.

 

 

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