LEGISLATIVE HEARING ON PROPOSED MCAS BILLS

BEFORE THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION,
ARTS & HUMANITIES

SEPTEMBER 9, 2003

 

Once again, the people closest to our state’s public school classrooms have strongly urged the Massachusetts Legislature to listen to reason and scrap the MCAS graduation requirement. More than 100 people traveled from communities near and far to the State House on Sept. 9, to attend the Education Committee’s public hearing on bills to reform the MCAS. During the daylong event, dozens of parents and students, teachers and administrators, legislators and school committee members presented informed, thoughtful, passionate testimony on the unfairness of using a one-size-fits-all, paper-and-pencil test to determine whether a student should graduate. For lively reporting and insight, read comments by Lisa Guisbond, CARE coordinator. To see our calls to action, press release, list of bills, and sample testimony by members and friends, click on the items below. While most observers believe the Legislature is unlikely to dramatically change the MCAS during this legislative session, it appears that we may win a modest but important reform of the appeals process for special education students. This could be one step along the way to more substantial reforms.

 

Announcements

See the Alliance for high Standards, Not High Stakes/CARE Press Release on the Hearing
CARE's Question and Answer Sheet on the Hearing
Comments by Lisa Guisbond

List of Bills

Click here for a list of bills filed on MCAS

Press Clips on the Hearing

Plans To Liberalize MCAS Waiver Access Coming Soon State House news Service Story
Granby Man, Legislator Clash. MassLive Story

Testimony from the Hearing

Excerpts from Testimony at the Hearing.
Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA) Testimony.
Testimony by:
Timothy T. Collins, President, Springfield Education Association
Tom Crowder, Parent
John D'Auria, Principal, Wesley Middle School
Janet Dolan, Nahant, Retired School Committee Member
Alexander James Freeman, Student
Walt Haney, Center for Study of Testing Evaluation and Educational Policy, Boston College (PDF)
Charles W. Hetzel, Professor of Education
Mary Jo Hetzel, Springfield College, School of Human Services
Ruth Kaplan, Brookline School Committee
Sumner Kaplan, former state representative
Debra Meier, Principal, Mission Hill School
Sarah Patton, Parent
Paul J. Phillips, President, Quincy Education Association
Clint Richmond, Brookline Parent
Meg Robbins, Teacher, Northampton
Lee Valentine, Mass English Plus Coalition