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PLANS TO LIBERALIZE MCAS
WAIVER ACCESS COMING SOON
By Michael C. Levenson
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
Michael.Levenson@statehousenews.com
BOSTON, SEPT. 9, 2003…..
Students with learning disabilities could find it easier to bypass the MCAS test
and graduate with a diploma, under legislation leading House and Senate
Democrats plan to unveil by Sept. 30.
Concern is growing among
lawmakers, parents and students that the one-year-old MCAS appeals process is
too rigid and should be “opened up” for students with strong high school records
who cannot pass the high-stakes exam.
Current rules dictate
that a student must have a 95 percent attendance record, have taken the MCAS
test 3 times, scored a 216 (220 is passing), and enroll in test tutoring, in
order to file an appeal. Then, classroom work is compared to peers’ to show a
student is keeping up.
The commissioner of
education can waive any of the requirements - for example, if a student’s
illness kept her out of school for several weeks. For some students, the bar is
too high, critics say, and students who merit consideration for a diploma are
being turned down before they can have their appeals considered by the
Department of Education.
Alexander Freeman, a
junior with cerebral palsy, asked state lawmakers to consider his case at a
hearing on MCAS legislation Tuesday. He is by most measures an excellent
student, who excels in English, history and other subjects. But he struggles in
math, and fears he will not pass the MCAS exam. Unless he scores a 216, an
appeal would be very hard to win.
He told lawmakers that
his trouble with numbers should not prevent him from graduating with a diploma.
“I have every right to a diploma, for all the work I have done,” he said.
“Denying me a diploma will severely affect my future. People will look at my
record and see I did not graduate. They will think I am not smart. They will
think I am unable to hold a job. They will look down on me.”
The state Board of
Education plans to enact a plan by the end of the month that will make parents
and students more aware of their existing rights to an MCAS appeal. The plan may
cut the length of some of the forms involved in filing an appeal, and guarantee
parents receive an explanation if their children are turned down. The goal is to
streamline the process and make parents aware of their rights, said education
department spokeswoman Heidi Perlman.
But the changes are not
expected to affect the groundrules themselves. Those changes are likely to
emerge from leading lawmakers on the Education Committee, who are under pressure
to consider a host of proposals: whether to eliminate the requirement that
students score a 216, whether to allow parents to bypass superintendents and
give parents the right to file an appeal, and how students’ academic records
should be judged. Under one plan, portfolios may be introduced in cases where
comparing peer-to-peer work is difficult.
In July, lawmakers let
stand Gov. Mitt Romney's veto of a plan to ease the appeal process for special
education students, in exchange for a pledge from lawmakers to reexamine the
process by Sept. 30.
Sen. Robert Antonioni
(D-Leominster), the committee chairman, said the forthcoming bill must strike a
balance. Lawmakers want to devise a process that allows good students to
graduate, but doesn’t make the credentials too easy, and therefore meaningless
.
Last
year, 38 percent of the 1,200 seniors who received waivers were special
education students. There were 2,350 total applications for waivers, and nearly
40 percent of the more than 4,000 seniors who didn't graduate because of the
MCAS test had special needs.
Antonioni said students
like Freeman should be given a fair chance at graduating high school. Speaking
to the young students, he said, “We want to craft an appeals process that fairly
allows people like you an opportunity to demonstrate a level of competency.”
Committee chairwoman Rep. Marie St. Fleur (D-Boston) agreed.
“The goal is to make
sure students have an opportunity to demonstrate competency,” she said.
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