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MCAS in the News Week of 2/15/03
In the news:
- As the Northampton School Committee
approves a diploma-granting resolution, similar discussions begin in
Marlborough and South Hadley,
where Rep. John Scibak suggests pursuing
a moratorium on the MCAS graduation requirement.
- In a report on the "status of the Class of 2003,"
DOE asserts that more students are staying in school
-- based on a decline in the 11th grade dropout rate -- while critics say a
higher dropout rates in grade 9 and a decline in the
number of students reaching 12th grade after three years in high school
are more significant indicators of weakening school holding power.
- Hundreds of community members and parents lobby
legislators for an end to the MCAS graduation requirement at MCAS Forum
Day, sponsored by the Alliance for High Standards, Not
High Stakes.
- Brookline High School faculty vote against the
MCAS graduation requirement, sending a message to the town's school
committee as members consider their own resolution to award diplomas.
- School committee candidates in Wellesley voice
opinions on the harm of MCAS and its effect on time for
learning in Wellesley;
- Researchers from Political Research Associates
criticize charter schools' misuse of MCAS scores
for their own self-promotion;
- Three published commentaries - in Northampton,
Fitchburg, Brookline -
support graduating students' right to receive high school
diplomas from their own school committees.
- And this week's Globe's link of MCAS score rankings to
housing prices focuses on Topsfield, where
the children are above average and the median price for a single family home is
$490.000.
Daily Hampshire Gazette, 2/14/03: School panel votes to
snub MCAS
http://www.gazettenet.com/02142003/schools/4348.htm
NORTHAMPTON - After listening to impassioned pleas from
parents opposed to the MCAS graduation requirement - and following a spirited
two hour debate - the School Committee voted 6-3 to defy the state law.
The city is now the fifth community to challenge the
state Department of Education, which has mandated that all high school students
must pass the exam to receive a diploma.
Resolution co-sponsor David Kotz said he hopes more
communities will disobey the state, which would "put pressure on the Legislature
to end the graduation requirement." A lawsuit currently in state court
challenging the legality of the MCAS may not be resolved for two to three years,
he noted.....
.... Some members argued that such a resolution would break the law; others
countered that the MCAS graduation requirement itself is contrary to the 1993
Education Reform Act, which did not specify a high-stakes test.....
..... Six community members had addressed the board during the public session,
all urging approval of the anti-MCAS resolution.
"The moral argument here is that the MCAS is grossly
unfair to thousands of children across the state," said Paul Foster-Moore of 147
Turkey Hill Road. "Do you have the courage of your convictions to risk
retaliation by the state?" ....
... [Mayor Clare] Higgins said the resolution was not tantamount to breaking the
law. "A regulation can be in violation of the spirit of a law," she said.
"Courts decide that all the time. I'm not nearly as concerned about this
law-breaking thing." ....
.... [A]s many as 18 Northampton High School students have failed the exam or
moved to the state this year and have never taken it.....
AP wire/Boston.com, 2/14: Northampton School Committee
votes to defy MCAS graduation requirement
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/045/region/Northampton_school_committee_vP.shtml
NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (AP) The Northampton School Committee
has voted to defy the state and issue high school diplomas to students who
fulfill local requirements even if they fail the state-required MCAS exam.
Committee member David Kotz, who sponsored the resolution
approved in a 6-3 vote Thursday night, hoped the opposition would put pressure
on the state Legislature to end the requirement. ....
..... Northampton is the fifth district to vote to ignore the MCAS requirement.
The others are Easthampton, Falmouth, Cambridge and the Hampshire Regional
district.....
Boston Globe, 2/15: Northampton joins MCAS dissidents
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/046/metro/Northhampton_joins_MCAS_dissidents-.shtml
Northampton this week became the fifth school system in
Massachusetts to decide to award high school diplomas to students who fail the
state-required MCAS.....
..... ''It's a difficult decision to go against the Department of Education,''
said committee member David Kotz, the measure's sponsor. ''But the majority of
us felt that the MCAS graduation requirement is not based in the Education
Reform Act, and that it will do enormous harm to a significant number of
students.'' .......
This story ran on page B8 of the Boston
Globe on 2/15/2003.
Springfield Union-News, 2/13: Lawmaker sees MCAS
moratorium
http://www.masslive.com/holyoke/unionnews/index.ssf?/base/news-5/104512556480590.xml
State Rep. John W. Scibak, D-South Hadley, has told the
School Committee that, "at the very least," communities should look for a
moratorium on the MCAS as they struggle to budget for fiscal 2004 in the face of
a possible 20 percent state cut in local aid.
"I think at the very least what we should be looking for
is a moratorium on MCAS," he said.
He told the board Tuesday that the state has spent $19.75
million developing and administering the tests, including $1 million on a media
campaign. On top of that, Scibak said, the state has given $50 million to
schools to fund programs to help low-scoring students.
The state Department of Education has decreed that public
schools not graduate seniors starting in the spring who have not passed the
English and mathematics sections of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment
System tests given to them as sophomores.
The freshman lawmaker told the committee that there are
already 28 bills in the Legislature concerning the MCAS, and he believes that
support for a moratorium is growing.
Committee members Julia Miller and Ira Brezinsky are
working on a resolution to be voted upon at the next board meeting, set for Feb.
25. It takes the stand that passing the MCAS should not be a criterion for
acquiring a high school diploma.
"Someone needs to tell the state Department of Education
they should stop threatening cities and towns," Miller said, referring to
department statements about cutting funding to schools that let students who
have not passed the MCAS graduate from high school.
"I honestly feel passing an MCAS test, or any test,
should not be the standard for receiving a diploma," said School Committeeman
William Adams.....
Metrowest Daily News, 2/13: MCAS remains a vexing issue
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/local_regional/marl_mcas02132003.htm
MARLBOROUGH -- School Committee members have a little
more than two months to decide whether to grant diplomas to students who haven't
passed the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests.....
.... As of today, there are 16 students at the high school who haven't passed
the MCAS tests. Results from the December retest were supposed to be delivered
last week but High School Principal Mary Carlson said officials are still
waiting for the scores.
"We're hoping that some of these kids will pass," Carlson
said of the remaining 16. "They've done the work. But they can't make the MCAS
requirements. They've taken (the test) four times. That's an awful lot of times
for a kid to take the same test."
Most of the 16 are special education students or English
language learners. But some are students who just moved to Marlborough this
school year.
[Supt. Rose] Boniface said the problem with the
certificate of attainment is that it requires a student to have taken the exam
at least three times. But for someone who just moved to the city, there's no
chance of taking the test that many times.
"Some kids are caught in a catch-22," she said. "Some of
them aren't even eligible for this certificate of attainment."....
...... Boniface and Carlson said deciding to grant diplomas to students who
haven't passed the test doesn't amount to special treatment. Granting diplomas
just means the committee as a whole recognizes fundamental flaws in the testing
system.
"(These students) have gone to everything we've offered,"
Boniface said, referring to remedial and extra help. "They're motivated. They're
dedicated. They're still struggling, and they're doing all we've asked of
them.".......
AP wire/Boston.com. 2/13: Fewer high school juniors
dropping out
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/044/region/Fewer_high_school_juniors_dropP.shtml
BOSTON (AP) The percentage of high school students who
dropped out between their junior and senior years is at a five-year low, state
education officials said Thursday.
But anti-MCAS activists said that over their four years
of high school the class of 2003 had more dropouts than the previous four
classes because the test, which students must pass to earn a diploma, forces
students to quit school. ....
.... ''These statistics clearly show that those who suggested the sky was going
to fall because of MCAS were wrong,'' Education Commissioner David Driscoll
said.
Education watchdogs, however, say focusing just on one
year is misleading.
''When you look at just one year of numbers, you're not
getting the big picture,'' said Anne Wheelock, analyst at the Progress Through
the Education Pipeline Project at Boston College. ''Based on the enrollment
numbers, this class is shrinking faster and further than other classes have
shrunk.''
Just 78 percent of the ninth-graders four years ago are
now enrolled as seniors. For the previous four classes, that average was 80
percent, Wheelock said, based on her analysis of department numbers.....
.... The state has predicted that about 70 percent of the class of 2003 will
graduate. That's down from the 75 percent average over the past decade, and 76.8
percent of the class of 2002....
Boston Globe, 2/14: State calls lower dropout rate a plus
for MCAS
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/045/metro/State_calls_lower_dropout_rate_a_plus_for_MCAS-.shtml
The dropout rate among high school juniors hit a 10-year
low, according to statistics released yesterday for the class of 2003 -- figures
that Massachusetts education officials hailed as evidence that the MCAS
graduation requirement is not driving students out of school.
The class of 2003 is the first that must pass the English
and math sections of the MCAS exam to earn a diploma. But fewer of them -- about
2,200 students, or 3.6 percent -- dropped out as juniors than juniors have in
recent years, according to figures from the state Department of Education....
.... MCAS critics attacked the report as misleading, saying the real impact of
the graduation requirement comes earlier, as students are held back in ninth
grade and leave after becoming discouraged about passing. MCAS opponents blasted
the Department of Education report for not including students in the class of
2003 who quit as ninth- and 10th-graders, which they say is a more accurate
illustration of the test's effect.....
.... However, the [60,781 12th grade enrollment] means that since ninth grade,
the class of 2003 has lost more students at a slightly greater rate -- 22
percent -- than previous classes. Many earlier classes' attrition rates hovered
around 20 percent. State officials have said that's largely because more
students were retained in ninth grade and about 1,300 students graduated early
-- something state officials viewed as a one-time occurrence as schools pushed
students to graduate and avoid the MCAS requirement.
Driscoll said it's right to retain students who aren't
ready to move to the next grade. But Anne Wheelock, a senior research associate
at the Center for the Study of Testing at Boston College, and others said that
students held back in ninth grade are far more likely to drop out later. She
said it's critical to hold onto students through the first two years of high
school.
''This does not allay any concerns whatsoever,'' Wheelock
said of the report. ''This is largely an attempt to distract the public,
legislators, policy makers, and parents from the reality that overall we are
seeing more kids leaving school.'' ....
This story ran on
page B1 of the Boston Globe on 2/14/2003.
Brookline TAB, 2/12/03: MCAS forum...
http://www.townonline.com/brookline/news/local_regional/bt_newbrmcasforum02122003.htm
..... [A]pproximately two dozen MCAS opponents from Brookline and
around the state took off around the State House Tuesday morning, hoping to
convince their legislators to support legislation that combats the MCAS
graduation requirement.....
..... After scouring the building for their representatives and senators, the
lobbyists-for-a-day returned for an afternoon forum on the costs and
consequences of the MCAS. Sponsored by Sen. Cynthia Creem, D-Newton, and state
Rep. Alice Wolf, D-Cambridge, the panel of politicians, educators and medical
professionals explained why requiring graduating seniors to pass the
controversial test is harmful to schools and students, especially those with
learning disabilities or who are minorities or poor.
And the first speaker at the event was Brookline High
School junior Josh Kaufman, a special education student who attributes his
failure on the MCAS to a math disability that can not be remediated.
"People should not be sorted into categories of passing
and failing," Kaufman said. "On good days I wonder what is wrong with the
system, but most of the time I wonder what is wrong with me."
"I think if all of [the representatives and senators] were able to hear someone
like you speak we could change their opinion," Creem said to Kaufman.
Kaufman, one of the lobbyists-for-a-day, visited the
office of state Rep. Brian Golden, D-Allston, with a small group from Brookline
before the forum. Though Golden was tied up in a meeting, two of his aides, Bob
Martin and Greg Glennon, listened to their pitch.
"The MCAS as it's currently implemented has strayed from
its original intent," Nancy Wagman, co-chairman of the Brookline Special
Education Parent Advisory Council, said to Golden's aides.
"We consider your boss very influential. We can help him."
Golden, a member of the House education committee, has
said he supports the MCAS graduation requirement. The other three Brookline
representatives - Frank Smizik, D-Brookline, Mike Rush, D-West Roxbury, and
Jeffrey Sanchez, D-Mission Hill - confirmed on Wednesday their opposition to
it.....
.... Speakers at the forum said that schools in more affluent communities are
better equipped to educate students, and that minority and poorer communities
suffer disproportionately.
"We are all for high standards and for school
accountability," said Wolf. "But it has been shown that MCAS results are
directly connected to the income level of families living in the school
district."
Frank Haydu, a former member of the state Board of
Education who helped write the 1993 law, said glaring inequities between urban
and suburban schools, such as the class sizes and availability of textbooks, put
urban students at a disadvantage.
"A code red condition exists for inner city schools,"
Haydu said. "We should not punish an entire socio-economic class."
Boston City Councilor Felix Arroyo said that schools
should be given more resources and forced to improve.
"There is no need to sacrifice children to show that
schools are not doing their jobs," he said, spurring clapping by the audience.
And, echoing the sentiments of many others, Deborah
Meier, the principal of the Mission Hill School in Boston, said that test scores
do not reflect how a student reveals intelligence by doing things such as
dealing with uncertainty, working in a team, writing and persuading others.
"The tests are not measuring what is so critical for a
good education," she said. "I would not go to a doctor who makes decision based
on one certain test."
In terms of costs, the state will spend more than $19
million on test development and administration in the current fiscal year,
according to Smizik.
"The real hidden cost to all of this is the cost in the
local community," he said about the money school districts spend to prepare
students and staff for the tests.
In the current legislative session, 28 MCAS bills have
been filed in the legislature. Creem introduced two pieces of legislation....Smizik
also introduced legislation that provides parents and teachers with answer
booklets and scores after the test's administration and opens up the score
appeals and performance appeals processes.......
AP wire/Metrowest Daily News, 2/12/03: Budget crisis
diverts attention from MCAS requirement
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/local_regional/ap_mcas02122003.htm
...... The state's budget crisis dominates the legislative agenda on Beacon Hill
and may slow action on proposals to overturn the graduation requirement, one
lawmaker said Tuesday during a Statehouse forum.
"Everything is sort of on hold," said Sen. Cynthia Creem, D-Newton. "This and
everything else has taken a back burner to the pressing issue of filling the
budget gap for fiscal '03.".....
..... Budget cuts, however, have consumed much of lawmakers' time. ......
...... "Usually by now we're into the swing of having some hearings," Creem
said......
...... The joint House and Senate Education Committee has not met this session.
Romney's office says any legislation delaying the graduation requirement would
be vetoed.....
...... Opponents of the graduation requirement brought together assessment
experts and community leaders Wednesday at the Statehouse.
Frank Haydu, a former member of the Board of Education,
said authors of the Education Reform law, himself included, never intended the
MCAS to be the sole assessment of graduation.
A lawsuit claims the MCAS graduation requirement violates
state law because it focuses too narrowly on English and math and is illegal
because it was never approved by the Legislature.
Waltham Daily News Tribune, 2/11: Opposition forces to
protest MCAS at State House Forum
http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/local_regional/mcas02112003.htm
BOSTON -- With thousands of high-school seniors in danger
of being denied diplomas this spring, a group of lawmakers, educators and
researchers will gather at the State House today to voice their opposition to
the MCAS exam as a graduation requirement.
The forum, moderated by a pair of lawmakers from Newton,
is entitled "Can We Afford MCAS in 2003?"
And the answer, as far as the forum's participants are
concerned, promises to be a resounding "no."
State Rep. Ruth Balser, D-Newton, said the test unfairly
punishes students who have "demonstrated competency in all other ways."
"What we're finding is that the students who are the most
vulnerable and in need of support will be the ones cut off from higher education
and job opportunities," she said.
Minorities and urban students are failing the test at
much higher rates than their white, suburban counterparts, she said.
Balser and state Sen. Cynthia Creem, also a Newton
Democrat, will share the moderating duties.
Both have filed bills that call for eliminating MCAS as a
graduation requirement.....
........Of the 60,000 seniors who attend public schools, 10,500 have failed to
pass MCAS and are in danger of not graduating......
.......Professor Walt Haney, an assessment expert at Boston College who
testified in a recent lawsuit against high-stakes testing in Texas, said the
MCAS debate has been overshadowed by the state's budget crisis.
But Haney argues that the two topics are, in fact,
intertwined. Suspending MCAS testing, he said, could save the revenue-starved
state millions of dollars.
"MCAS is a dinosaur in many regards, anyway," he said.
The exam may have to be reworked to conform with the guidelines prescribed by
the federal "No Child Left Behind" education bill, he said.
Brookline TAB, 2/12: BHS Faculty Vote Against MCAS
http://www.townonline.com/brookline/news/local_regional/bt_covbrmcashsgr02122003.htm
ews
Brookline High School's teachers gave the MCAS graduation requirement a failing
grade last month and they now hope to convince the School Committee to do the
same.
By a vote of 69-5, faculty members approved a resolution calling on the School
Committee to grant diplomas to seniors who meet all graduation requirements yet
fail the MCAS. ....
.... During the BHS faculty meeting in the MLK room, members debated the merits
of the Education Reform Act, according to Stephanie McAllister, chairman of the
faculty council and a social studies teacher at BHS for seven years. Yet while
faculty acknowledged the good parts of the law - which has resulted in more
funding to poorer communities and frameworks for schools to follow - the
downfalls prevail.
Faculty members said the test is difficult to administer
and that they don't believe only one assessment should determine if students
receive high school diplomas, which they acknowledged is essential today,
attendees report......
..... Across the state, poorer school districts have higher numbers of students
who are failing the MCAS. Out of this year's graduating class at BHS, 8 percent
of students have not passed or have boycotted the MCAS. In comparison, 44
percent of students in Boston, 45 percent of students in Chelsea, 43 percent of
students in New Bedford and 47 percent of students in Springfield have not
passed the MCAS.......
........ Brookline Educators Association President Phil Katz said the faculty
council's vote proves what he has been saying all along: that those closest to
the students know the MCAS graduation requirement is harmful.
Last spring Katz collected 463 signatures by teachers and
school staff on a petition encouraging the School Committee to grant diplomas
regardless of students' MCAS scores.....
Wellesley Townsman, 2/13: Three candidates seek two school
committee seats
http://www.townonline.com/wellesley/news/local_regional/wt_schcomcandidates02132003.htm
.... "I think the MCAS is one of several factors to look at, as is done with
college admissions," says [candidate Anna] Sereiko, adding, "I don't think
[awarding diplomas] should be dependent on one test."....
.... When it comes to lightening-rod issues such as the state's standardized
MCAS exams, [candidate Gerald G.] Murphy adamantly opposes the requirement that
students must pass the tests in order to qualify for a Wellesley High diploma.
"First of all, I think [Wellesley's] standards are higher
than the state's, he said, adding that the purpose of the test has changed since
its institution was initially proposed.
"I think MCAS is a distortion," says Murphy. "It started
out as a means to measure students, and now it's being used as a weapon."
While he admitted that very few Wellesley High students
will likely have their diplomas withheld this year because of their low MCAS
scores, he said that anyone who does fail, "has the equivalent of the scarlet
'a' on them. I think it's inherently unfair. If a student in Wellesley achieves
the passing of all requirements for our high school diploma, that should be
sufficient.".....
..... Another area of school operation that [candidate Suzi] Newman will not be
able to ignore this spring is the MCAS exam, since her sophomore son's score on
the test will determine whether he will be eligible for a diploma. On this
issue, Newman believes the MCAS is doing more harm than good for WHS students.
"I am opposed to the amount of time that MCAS takes away
from education right now," she says. "I'm not opposed to an exam that would test
what our students would be exposed to, but we already do that without the
MCAS.".......
Berkshire Eagle, 2/10/03: Think tank's link to Board of
Education being questioned
http://www.berkshireeagle.com/Stories/0,1413,101~7514~1169897,00.html
NORTH ADAMS -- With the Feb. 25 date fast approaching for the state Board of
Education to rule on 11 new charter schools, opponents are raising more
questions about the influence of a Boston-based conservative Republican think
tank on the board, within the Department of Education and beyond......
..... Peter Nessen, state secretary of education, sits on Pioneer's board of
directors, as does Pioneer co-founder Charles D. Baker Jr., a member of the
Board of Education. Board of Education Chairman James A. Peyser served as
Pioneer's executive director from 1993 to 2001. Board of Education member
Abigail M. Thernstrom is on the institute's education advisory committee.
In addition, board member Roberta R. Schaefer has
contributed to Pioneer's newsletter, and board member Henry M. Thomas is founder
and chairman of the board of directors of the New Leadership Charter School in
Springfield. Rebecca Wolf, director of accountability for the Department of
Education, is a former Pioneer staffer.
"Their influence is clear," [North Adams Mayor John
Barrett III] said. "It's almost like they are developing their own farm system
for the Department of Education.".....
..... [Political Research Associates authors Paul] and [Mark] Perkins also
pointed out that Pioneer and its major contributors strongly lobbied to
implement the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests as a
standardized measure for public schools. Charter school proponents have
consistently used districts' poor MCAS results in furthering their case, even
though many charter schools have posted similar or lower scores, according to
Dunphy....
Daily Hampshire Gazette, 2/12/03: High time to end high
stakes test
http://www.gazettenet.com/02122003/opinion/4258.htm
..... Historically, school districts grant only one kind of diploma
to their high school graduates. The [Northampton] Board of Education's demand
that school committees use MCAS as the single determinant to deny a diploma to a
qualified student flies in the face of all the mandates given to school
committees by law, violates all the oaths of office taken by school committee
members, and directly opposes our basic goal of furthering the "best interest of
the child."
As the state faces its biggest budget crisis in decades,
it's time to face the fact that MCAS has more costs than benefits for our
students......
...... The State Board of Education's insistence that we "stay the testing
course," at a time when resources to support the basic infrastructure of
schooling are scarce, serves an ideological purpose that has little to do with
real learning......
.... Two years ago many members of this community placed a signature ad in the
Gazette stating that passing the MCAS should not be a graduation requirement.
Hundreds of local citizens signed a statewide petition to our elected officials
supporting the same request.
Many have attended Northampton "Stop the MCAS" rallies at
City Hall. Nearly 100 people came to the MCAS forum held by the School Committee
earlier this winter. They spoke in unanimous support of granting diplomas
regardless of MCAS scores. At Northampton High School, 92 percent of teachers
presented the School Committee with a petition asking it to send all their
graduates off with
diplomas.
A majority of the Northampton School Committee has
affirmed the belief that we should do as we have always done: award our students
the diplomas they have earned by completing the requirements we as a community
deem necessary to be competent, capable lifelong learners. ......
Fitchburg Sentinel and Enterprise, 2/14: High school
graduates are going to need more than just certificates
http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/Stories/0,1413,106%257E4988%257E1180130,00.html
....... Although the Sentinel's coverage, "Officials: Holders of certificates in
lieu of MCAS will have options in college, military," tried to put a happy spin
on the story, the future of these students [who receive certificates of
attainment] is anything but promising.
My heart goes out to these students who are given
certificates. They have persevered through high school, even after failing
portions of the MCAS exams three times. It takes a lot of determination to
continue to work on your studies knowing that you might not obtain a diploma.
And yet, the reward for their resolve is a certificate
that limits them to two options for advancing their education. One is available
only if they can pass another test; another requires a military career. These
are a fraction of the range of options available to most graduating
students.....
.... MCAS guarantees that some students will always fail. Although MCAS is
purportedly a "criterion-referenced" exam, implying that all students who know
the material can pass, the only questions selected to be on the exam are those
that separate the high- and low-scoring students. This means that it is
mathematically impossible for all students to pass this test.
As a result, we face a future where every year a certain
percentage of students who complete 12 years of schooling will receive nothing
but a certificate and will enter the world with limited post-secondary education
options.
The Leominster School Committee has made a decision that
will cause harm to the very students they are elected to serve. There is still
time, though, to reverse this decision. Legal research prepared by retired state
court judge Sumner Kaplan for the Coalition for Authentic Reform in Education
(CARE) finds that school committees can act responsibly and legally award
diplomas to all students who have completed located requirements. The committee
should act on this research.
If you would like to help students expand, not narrow,
their options, please contact CARE at this Web site:
http://www.caremass.org/
Brookline TAB, 2/12: It's time to act on MCAS
http://www.townonline.com/brookline/news/opinion/bt_edibrmcas02122003.htm
..... If [the MCAS graduation requirement] stands, more than 10,000 graduating
seniors across the state - approximately three dozen of which are in Brookline -
may be deprived of diplomas because they have not passed the high-stakes
test.....
.... We encourage the School Committee and superintendent- no fans of the
high-stakes nature of the test- to follow the lead of other school districts and
agree to grant diplomas to students this spring who have not passed the MCAS,
but have overcome all of the other hurdles required to graduate.
A handful of these students in Brookline (who boycotted
the test) have received acceptance letters to colleges and universities. At this
point, it seems one of the few institutions that does not recognize the
graduation requirement's futility is the Department of Education, which seems to
have derived the requirement out of a faulty interpretation of the Education
Reform Act of 1993.....
Boston Globe, 2/15: Annual fair sets tone in Topsfield
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/046/realestate/Annual_fair_sets_tone_in_Topsfield+.shtml
....... Tenth-graders at Masconomet Regional High School, which is shared with
Boxford and Middleton, placed 41st last year in MCAS scores, according to the
Globe's ranking.
This week, there were 28 single-family homes listed for
sale on the MLS Property Information Network, including a three-bedroom for
$399,000, a new four-bedroom Colonial on East Street for $599,000, and a pair of
new homes on Coppermine Road, for $1,375,000 and $2,700,000.
For the first 10 months of last year, the median price
for a single-family home in Topsfield was $490,000.....
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