Newton School Committee: Statement on the MCAS
Approved at 6/26/00 meeting

The Newton School Committee believes that the use of a passing grade on the MCAS tests as a requirement for every Newton student to obtain a high school diploma, without the use of other means of assessing that students possess the requisite knowledge and skills for that diploma, is educationally unsound, unfair, and not in accordance with the goals and provisions of the Education Reform Act of 1993.

The Newton School Committee also believes that to use student performance on the MCAS tests as the sole determinant of whether particular teachers, schools or school districts are adequately educating their students is also educationally unsound and not in accordance with the goals and provisions of the Education Reform Act. 

The Newton School Committee does not oppose the use of appropriate standardized tests as one means of assessing what students know and are able to do and as one means of assessing the performance of teachers, schools, and school districts in educating their students.