MCAS 04 scores
MCAS 2003 ScoresProblems with the reporting of the scores -- Students lost in the shuffle October 2003
DOE releases 2001 MCAS scores- DOE website information
The 2001 scores as a Word document- this is a huge file (502K)
Mass Parents Info
The DOE has released the MCAS scores t The weeks following will be an important period to reach out to parents in your community who learn that their 11th graders failed last years test. Below are the activities suggested for local CARE chapters and affiliates. There are various levels of action, some very organized, some requiring only individual expression. Note that all boycotters will be scored as failing. In Cambridge we hope to have a public meeting in the fall. We are also discussing the possibility of a march from the high school to the City Hall, if any group of students step forward.
The CARE Council is recommending the following local actions (A-E) and the CARE office will
assist chapters in carrying them out to whatever extend possible.
A. Hold community meetings, marches, rallies, or other local events.
1. Hold widely-publicized community meetings within a couple of weeks after the score release,
to develop strategies and actions in opposition to the MCAS. Provide a safe place for people discuss their concerns and anger. Target outreach to parents of 11th grade students (especially those who failed last year's test and face denial of a diploma) but include all other parents as well.
Local actions might include: a) demand that local school board members take a strong stand re MCAS and b) pressure state legislators to change the law (see enclosed). Contact the CARE office to see if our database contains contact information for people in your community you want to invite to this event. Get petition signatures (see enclosed).
2. Organize local marches and rallies soon after the score release. Parents and students may
want to harness the immediate outrage springing from low scores and widespread failures by
organizing marches through the community (with bullhorns and leafleting along the way) ending in
a rally at an appropriate central location. Urge participants and others to attend a follow-up
meeting to discuss how to organize ongoing opposition (see #1) Publicize both events in the
press. Get petition signatures.
B. Conduct local media campaigns, including letters-to-editor, op-ed pieces, interviews with
reporters, talk shows, etc. explaining why parents and others are opposed to the MCAS. You can
prepare these materials in advance and distribute them immediately after the scores are released.
samples and a tip sheet are enclosed.
C. Visit your local School Committee and urge
their support.
1. If you can attend a meeting in October, call on the committee to strongly reaffirm the
resolution passed last year at the Mass. Assoc of School Committees (MASC) annual convention, which calls for suspension of the MCAS graduation requirement until major questions about the test are resolved. Make sure the delegate to this year's MASC convention on is planning to vote in favor of strong MCAS resolutions.2. You can also urge your committee to take a step further and vote to end the high-stakes use
of MCAS (including the graduation requirement) and to replace the MCAS with fair and multiple ways of assessing student and school progress.3. Make a presentation on CARE's authentic statewide accountability system and proposed
legislation which supports our overall goals. (The office can help) The CARE offices will be mailing
packets to all School Committees in the state in mid-October, urging them to reaffirm their
opposition to high-stakes MCAS.
D. Interact with School Committee and City Council elections. There are several ways to make the MCAS an important issue in local elections. Some communities have decided to host or attend
candidates forums. Others will poll candidates about their positions on MCAS and distribute the
results to the press and their communities. Many individuals in the CARE network are actively
working for anti-MCAS candidates running for School Committee and/or City Council.
E. Mount a letter-writing campaign to legislators and other elected officials. Contact information
and sample letters are enclosed. These can be distributed in your community.
The CARE Council has not yet thoroughly discussed the following actions (F-I) but they are being
pursued in some communities and we're passing them along for your consideration.
F. Ask your School Committee to discontinue mailing MassInsight materials to students' homes
in your district, and/or to equally distribute CARE materials.
G. Call on local School Committees to assert their authority to grant diplomas to graduating seniors regardless of their MCAS scores. Some chapters may work with their School Committees on a plan to pursue this approach. (There is a lawyer's memo which has been prepared for one school system on the legality of this approach.)
H. Launch a campaign for full test disclosure. In this campaign, individual parents would send a
formal request to the state Department of Education to receive a complete copy of their child's test including all test questions and their child's answers. The campaign would challenge the validity, accuracy, and fairness of the test, and assert parents' rights to see the child's test information, especially if it is used to make significant decisions about their child. This campaign could be launched at a press conference; parents could mail copies of their letters of request to the CARE office so that we could keep track of who pursued this course of action and how the DOE responds.
I Organize a test boycott. Some communities and networks in and around CARE are starting to
organize test boycotts for spring 2003. Plans are underway to organize boycott committees at
schools, to provide sample organizing materials for new boycotters, and to hold a statewide
meeting this winter to develop boycott strategy.
Schools that experienced sizable boycotts last year will have "zeros" factored into their
school-wide average MCAS score for every student absent from the test. These scores are the basis for state interventions and other actions. Parents who boycotted last year will be mobilizing to protect their schools from state intervention. These efforts will be further discussed and
communicated as they develop.
STATEWIDE ACTIVITIES
In addition to supporting local community organizing efforts, statewide CARE will be
responding on a statewide level to the scores release:
A. Mailing to School Committees. Every school board in the state will receive a packet from CARE
in mid-October, thanking them for the MASC vote last year and urging them to reaffirm the position
this year. The packet will include back-up materials about CARE's activities over the past year and our position on the MCAS.
B. State press conference: CARE will organize a press conference in response to the release of the student scores to draw attention to the toll the test is taking on students and their families. We
will distribute a press statement statewide immediately after the score release, which can include mention of your activities and quotes from local activists.
C. Statewide newsletter: In the fall, an issue of our quarterly, eight-page newsletter
Parents CARE! will be mailed to thousands of families and individuals who signed our petitions
or attended our events, and to school committees, legislators, and other organizations. This
publication will be a vehicle for you to write about your activities and for us to weave together
our growing grassroots movement.
