September 9, 2003
John D'Auria, Ed.D, Principal of Wellesley Middle School, Teachers 21 faculty member

 

For the past 31 years I have proudly worked as an educator in East Boston, Carlisle, Westford, and now as principal of the Wellesley Middle School. While I have always advocated for high standards for all students, I think the current graduation requirement tied to our MCAS exams is an incredibly unjust and unwise aspect of our educational practice. Over the past half-century we have become more knowledgeable about learning and teaching. Today we have a clearer understanding of how our students think and learn in different ways. We also understand from research that providing children with challenging and rich learning experiences can increase their intellectual capacity. As our professional knowledge has expanded , so have our challenges. We now teach children who a few decades ago might have stayed home because there was no place for them in school. Students with physical disabilities, severe learning problems, and complex medical conditions now populate our classrooms. We also continue to teach children from enriched childhood experiences as well as those who haven't had the benefits of this kind of family setting. While we must aim high and continue to check that our expectations stretch and challenge all our students, we need to remember that individuals can only take the next step in their learning. Many of our students who struggle to pass MCAS have made steady progress despite the enormous challenges they face. While laziness and complacency exist in our student body, it is not the main contributor to our MCAS failures. Too often our inability as citizens to fairly distribute resources to all our school communities, our limited knowledge on how to compensate for the impact of learning disabilities, and our lack of collective will to tackle the debilitating effects of poverty play too significant a role in our disappointing progress.

Despite the recently reported gains in test scores, we still have a long way to go before we know how to teach math and reading well to all our students, regardless of their background, country of origin, first language, or other factor out of their control. As an educator, I am excited to try to find pedagogical solutions to these challenging problems but I am pained by the fact that it is partially our own ignorance that fails our students. We have not yet found a sure fire way of closing all learning gaps so why do we further penalize the students who struggle to learn? By not allowing these students to graduate because they have not passed MCAS, we dishonor the progress they have made, dismiss the untapped ways they can vitally add to our communities, curb their formal education, and ultimately blame them for adult shortcomings. Please do not believe that the mantle of high standards and high stakes testing will cover up our own responsibility for not being able to serve all our students well .

While we must safeguard the value of a high school diploma, we must also remember that the K-12 experience is designed to shape our students into community contributors. Students who fail MCAS can and should continue to learn. Without a high school diploma, however, young people are denied access to our responsive college programs, barred from financial aid, and blocked from job opportunities where skills that have  not been accessed in school can develop and ultimately benefit our communities. Please allow all our students who have successfully met local high school requirements to graduate. We can continue to strengthen our programs, enrich our curricula, and improve our pedagogy without relying on a test that determines our young people's future based on a single score.

 Sincerely,


 John D'Auria, Ed.D
 Principal of Wellesley Middle School
 Teachers 21 faculty member