May 29, 2002
Committee needs to go further on MCAS

Brookline TAB

For months, the Brookline School Committee has been publicly discussing what
they want to do about the state's MCAS graduation requirement.

Since the implementation of the high-stakes test, the nine-member board has
made it pointedly clear that they oppose the MCAS.

The School Committee has said that while it is not opposed to using MCAS as
part of a larger student assessment, no one test can determine a student's
ability to achieve in life.

At its most recent meeting, the School Committee voted on a resolution that
asserts, in general, the rights of local communities to grant diplomas based
on local requirements, not on a state-mandated test that blindly punishes
students who may otherwise succeed.

But the resolution seems largely symbolic, and says nothing about Brookline,
a town that has wide community support for declaring that diplomas will be
handed out - even in the presence of failing MCAS scores.

In a town known for its progressive thinking, the resolution falls short and
fails to advance the battle on MCAS. It is nothing more, unfortunately, than
an empty threat.

Back in March, members of the Brookline chapter of the Coalition for
Authentic Reform in Education - known as Brookline CARE - asked School
Committee members to strongly consider passing a local control resolution
that would state the Committee's intent to grant diplomas regardless of a
students' MCAS scores, so long as they fulfilled all other requirements for
graduation.

After that public proposal, the Brookline School Committee seemed to be
seriously considering that request, recognizing that the Department of
Education had not heard the outcries of local communities.

School Committee Chairman Marcia Heist even said the Committee needed " to
go a step further. "

At one point, it even appeared that Brookline would follow in the footsteps
of the Cambridge School Committee, which voted last month to grant diplomas
regardless of MCAS scores. They became the second Massachusetts community to
do so. Hampshire Regional, located in the western part of the state, voted
on the same resolution last October.

Now the School Committee has decided to back away from their initial desire
to take a strong stance against the MCAS. Heist says the Committee is not "
in any way ready to take that (next) step. "

While we respect the School Committee's decision to weigh the financial
consequences before making such a bold move as Cambridge, it seems that
bringing a general resolution before the Massachusetts Association of School
Committees is simply one more move that the DOE will just brush aside.

DOE officials have already said that passage of the resolution by the MASC
will mean nothing. The group publicly denounced the test two years ago, and
it is still here - alive and kicking.

For a long time now, the Brookline School Committee has talked about finally
capturing the attention of state education officials. Up until this point,
attempts to open the discussion have been unsuccessful in doing that. And
while the committee hopes that the resolution, if passed by the MASC, will
open up a state-wide discussion about the dangers of the high-stakes MCAS
test, they have already admitted that the DOE is not listening.

The School Committee needs to move closer to a declaration that Brookline
plans to grant their own diplomas at this time next year if the DOE does not
take another look at the MCAS graduation policy.

While we can understand the School Committee's concerns about taking such a
bold move, it seems that a board claiming to be so impassioned about the
issue needs to take stronger action. It seems that nothing short of an act
of civil disobedience will open the eyes of those in charge. But the time
for that action is running out.