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MCAS in the News Week of 2/21/03
In the news this February vacation week:
- Randolph, Quincy,
Southeast Regional Voc, and
Whitman-Hanson students and South Shore
educators describe anxiety and diminishing motivation,
and worries about the life-altering effects of flunking
MCAS as they wait for retest results, due in early March;
- Claiming irreperable harm,
student plaintiffs in the MCAS lawsuit file
for a court injunction against use of the MCAS to
deny diplomas to the Class of 2003; Students and parents
rally at the State House in Boston for a
graduation requirement delay;
- In Great Barrington, the Berkshire Hill School
Committe votes to give diplomas to all seniors
who've met their graduation requirements;
- Some Boston 4th graders
spend vacation week drilling for MCAS math;
- Educators Fitchburg, Revere, Marlborough, Springfield,
and Holyoke raise concerns about the harmful impact
of DOE's announcement that all new
immigrant students must take MCAS this spring
regardless of their level of English acquisition;
- Also in Springfield, hundreds of
seniors await MCAS retest results;
- MCAS scores trigger a state audit of schools in
Ware.
- A new Manhattan Institute
study refutes research on the harmful effects of high stakes tests on
student and school performance.
- This week's Globe real estate-MCAS link profiles
Weston, boasting the highest
median income and highest 10th grade MCAS scores in the state.
- And a commentary by Chelsea teacher Mike Heichman
argues for diplomas, not certificates for Chelsea
seniors.
Quincy Patriot-Ledger, 2/21: Fear of Failure: Students are
anxious, perplexed about the life-altering effects of flunking MCAS
http://ledger.southofboston.com/display/inn_news/news02.txt
For Randolph High School senior Jonathan Galina, the wait
is excruciating. In the next few weeks, he will get his MCAS test scores, and
those few little numbers will determine whether he walks the stage for a high
school diploma during graduation ceremonies this June.
‘‘Waiting for the scores is very difficult,'' said Galina,
who has a learning disability. ‘‘I'm feeling stressed. I'm just counting the
days until I get my score.''
In early March, the state Department of Education is
expected to distribute the results of December's Massachusetts Comprehensive
Assessment System test.
The students most interested in seeing those results are
the 10,500 high school seniors - about one out of every six students - who have
failed in their previous attempts at the exam.....
.... ‘‘The kids ask every day, ‘Did we get the results back?''' said Linda
Deady, math tutor at Southeastern Regional Vocational High School in Easton.
‘‘I just got a call from a mother who said she worries
about it every day. Her daughter worries about it every day,'' said Deborah
DePaolo, principal of Blue Hills Regional in Canton. ‘‘Parents are questioning
whether their children's futures will be limited in some way. This test is very
much on the minds of everyone right now.''..........
..... On the South Shore, more than 375 seniors must still pass the exam. The
local schools with the highest number of students who have yet to pass are
Weymouth High, where 46 seniors need to clear the MCAS hurdle; Randolph High,
where 42 seniors have failed; and Southeastern Regional, where 53 seniors have
failed. More than 20 students from Plymouth South, North Quincy and Silver Lake
Regional high schools still must pass the test, along with more than a dozen
students in Holbrook, Marshfield and Stoughton.....
.... ‘‘I'll be so upset if I can't go to college because of the MCAS,'' [Ashley
Shea, editor of the student newspaper at Southeastern Voc, who has not passed
MCAS math] said. ‘‘I want to get a good education, get a good job and succeed. I
know I could do that if I had a high school diploma and a college diploma. I
don't want this little test to get in my way.''.....
....... Many students have already been told three times that they have failed
the test. Teachers, who have witnessed a mixture of tears and tantrums, are
starting to worry that the repeated sense of failure will eventually leave
students feeling defeated and ready to quit.
‘‘We are starting to see kids with the attitude of ‘Why
bother?''' said Karen Olsen, adviser for the student newspaper at Southeastern
Regional. ‘‘We just keep telling them to hang in there.''
Galina, frustrated that months of studying hasn't brought
him any closer to a diploma, is close to giving up. He says if he doesn't pass
the December retest, he won't take the exam again.
‘‘I tried as hard as I could, and I know if I don't pass
this time, I'm never going to pass,'' he said. ‘‘I just can't put myself through
that test again.''
AP wire/Boston.com, 2/21: Lawyers ask judge to block test
requirement
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/052/region/Lawyers_ask_judge_to_bar_test_P.shtml
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) Lawyers for a group of high
school seniors challenging the state-required MCAS exam have asked a Superior
Court judge to set aside a requirement that this June's graduates pass the
exam....
....''Given the timing and given the reality of the court calendar, it's not
likely we could get a full trial prior to graduation,'' said Nadine Cohen of the
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law of the Boston Bar Association, and
one of the students' lawyers. ''This preliminary injunction is very, very
important.''
She said a judge could be appointed next week to hear the
request filed Thursday in Suffolk Superior Court in Boston......
Springfield Union-News, 2/21: MCAS: Injunction sought to
void graduation requirement
http://www.masslive.com/news/unionnews/index.ssf?/base/news-2/104581637685180.xml
Lawyers trying to keep the MCAS test from being used as a
graduation requirement asked yesterday for an injunction that would force high
schools to give diplomas to most of the roughly 12,000 seniors who have flunked
the test.
The lawyers already have state and federal lawsuits
pending on behalf of eight students but said they filed the injunction request
because they do not have a hearing scheduled until June and they assumed the
cases would not be resolved in time for this year's graduations.
"Thousands of students have satisfied local high school
requirements, but they will not be permitted to graduate because they have not
passed the MCAS," said Thomas C. Frongillo, one of the lawyers. "We feel they
will be irreparably harmed." ........
........ Eduardo B. Carballo, the Holyoke school superintendent, said if the
injunction is granted, it would mean that about 120 Holyoke seniors who have so
far failed the English and math MCAS tests, would be able to graduate this
spring if they meet other requirements.
"Otherwise they will only get a certificate of
achievement," Carballo said.......
Boston Globe, 2/21: Students seek injunction against MCAS
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/052/metro/Students_seek_injunction_against_MCAS-.shtml
Backed by former Board of Education members, eight high
school seniors in danger of being denied high school diplomas because they
failed the MCAS test asked a judge to block the state from using the exam as a
graduation requirement....
.... Yesterday's injunction request was an attempt to speed the timeline because
graduation is less than four months away. Lawyers for the eight students - from
Billerica, Cambridge, Holyoke, the Leeds section of Northampton, and Springfield
- said they want a judge to halt the graduation requirement while they await
trial on the merits of the case.
''Given the timing and given the reality of the court
calendar, it's not likely we could get a full trial prior to graduation,'' said
Nadine Cohen of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law of the Boston
Bar Association, and one of the student's lawyers. ''This preliminary injunction
is very, very important.'' ......
.......Among the key arguments: A graduation requirement based on the
Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System test is illegal because it was
created through regulations, not through the Education Reform Act of 1993. Also,
it narrows the curriculum by requiring students to pass just two subjects,
English and math, rather than the other subjects targeted for improvement in the
act, the suit alleges.....
....Also filed were affidavits supporting the students from former state
Education Commissioner Frank W. Haydu III and former Board of Education vice
chairwoman Madelaine S. Marquez.
This story ran on page B1 of the
Boston Globe on 2/21/2003.
Boston Herald, 2/20: Students seek to end MCAS
requirement this spring
http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/mcas02202003.htm
Students suing to stop the state's use of the MCAS test
as a graduation requirement plan to file papers today asking a judge to act
before diplomas are denied this spring, one of their lawyers said.
Students' lawyers are seeking a preliminary injunction in
Suffolk Superior Court to force a halt in the high-stakes battle over the
exam.....
..... ``It will be irreparable harm'' if the suit is not acted on quickly, said
plaintiff's attorney Kathleen Boundy.
Representing eight students, the lawyers launched the
legal fight against the state-supported MCAS requirement in September. They
maintain the test discriminates against minority students, who have failed at
higher rates than whites, and that the state has no authority to deny diplomas
based on test results.....
.... A rally to support delaying the exam's graduation requirement is planned
for today at the State House sponsored by Project Hip-Hop with support from the
Black Ministerial Alliance and others.
The Boston-based Project Hip-Hop will unveil a plan to
hold students accountable for improvement without denying diplomas, said
Executive Director Mariama White-Hammond.
`We think the public is misinformed about what's going
on. They think the kids who aren't passing are just lazy,'' she said. ``We're
not against standards, but you can't ask kids to pass a test with information
they haven't learned.''
Boston Globe, 2/20: By the numbers; Boston 4th graders
take military approach to MCAS
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/051/metro/By_the_numbers-.shtml
The troops filed into the cafeteria, labeled ''basic
training,'' no later than 9 a.m. yesterday. By 9:30, they were doing drills.
Their fists punched the air as they shouted out answers to a flurry of
questions. An hour later, the 35 ''cadets'' were escorted to the gym for a quick
sweat. They took a moment for a ham and cheese lunch, and then swiftly returned
to the drills.
This boot camp was all about numbers - math vocabulary
and problem-solving strategies.
''What does `difference' mean in this math problem?''
said Robert Bouvier, a literacy specialist turned commander. ''To subtract,''
the pupils responded almost in unison.
Unlike thousands of Boston public school students on
vacation this week, this group of fourth-graders from the Agassiz, Fuller, and
John F. Kennedy elementary schools forfeited their break for a rugged experience
in MCAS boot camp - three days of intense training for an exam that could
determine their future, that is, once they reach high school.....
... Under the No Child Left Behind initiative, President Bush's federal mandate
overhauling public education, the Agassiz school in Jamaica Plain has been
labeled ''low-performing'' because MCAS test scores showed that students failed
to make progress in math.....
.... [T]hese students, whose ages ranged from 9 to 11, wanted to be there.
''There is stuff I don't really know, like division and
fractions, and sometimes I need help with word problems, '' said Nicole Blount,
9.....
........ Like other students enrolled in the program, Laveria Wysinger, 9, said
she could've spent her school vacation in front of the television, or outside
with her friends tossing snowballs....
.... Wysinger chose boot camp instead. ''I've been through some hard things with
the MCAS,'' Wysinger said as she tackled a math problem.
She says she needed tutoring after performing poorly on
her first MCAS exam in the third grade.
''But I didn't give up and I am not going to give up,''
said the aspiring art teacher. ''I don't want my parents to be ashamed of me. I
want them to be proud.'' .....
This story ran on page B1 of the Boston
Globe on 2/20/2003.
Berkshire Eagle, 2/20/03: Berkshire Hills, state,
on collision course over MCAS
http://www.berkshireeagle.com/Stories/0,1413,101~7514~1191634,00.html
GREAT BARRINGTON -- The state Department of Education
warns that the Berkshire Hills Regional School District will be breaking the law
if it sticks with a plan to award high school diplomas to students who don't
meet the state's MCAS test requirements.
The school board voted a week ago to award routine
diplomas to pupils whose learning problems may prevent them from passing the
Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests, but who otherwise fulfill
local graduation requirements.....
...... "It will be a worthless piece of paper," said [DOE spokesperson Heidi]
Perlman of non-MCAS diplomas. "The law is clearly defined, and we are not open
to negotiation on this issue. Districts have known this requirement will kick in
this year, it's not something new, and can't be blamed on the state school
budget.".....
..... "We knew the state was against it but our position is that the state can
be wrong, and I think in this case they are wrong," said Berkshire Hills School
Committee Chairman Stephen Bannon.
"We will revisit this," he went on, "but we took a public
stand on how we feel about MCAS. We feel it's wrong not to give diplomas to
students to have earned it. We're not saying MCAS is wrong, and we're not trying
to fool anyone.".....
....... At the board's meeting last week, all but one member voted to support
member Richard Coons' motion to grant diplomas.....
...... Coons said the district should issue a standard diploma to students who
meet local requirements, as it has for three decades. It's proper to have
diploma documents designating MCAS completion, but improper to deprive anyone of
a standard diploma.
"Students who pass MCAS will get a special seal on their
diploma," he said. "A 'certificate of completion' sounds degrading.".......
...... Bannon said district officials are concerned about seven or eight
students who have not passed a portion of the test.....
...... Asked if he was concerned about the state's threat to withhold funds from
the school district, Coons was dismissive.
"What money? The money they've already taken away?" he
said. "Hopefully they have bigger things to worry about. We have bigger things
to worry about, most being caused by them."
Boston Globe, 2/21: Berkshire District to flout MCAS rule
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/052/metro/Berkshire_district_to_flout_MCAS_ruleP.shtml
A sixth school district has decided to award diplomas to
high school students who don't pass the MCAS - a move state education officials
say is illegal.
The Berkshire Hills Regional School Committee voted 9-1
last week to give the so-called local diplomas to seniors who meet other
graduation requirements but have not passed both the English and math sections
of the 10th-grade MCAS.....
.... ''These students have been in our school and if they do pass all their
courses, it does seem like they should be able to get their diploma,'' said
school committee Chairman Stephen Bannon. ''We're not snubbing our nose at the
Department of Education. We're just in disagreement over what the correct way of
handling this is.'' ......
This story ran on page B5 of the Boston
Globe on 2/21/2003.
Boston Herald, 2/17/03: Bilingual students now
mandated to take MCAS
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/mcas02172003.htm
All but the newest immigrant students who speak limited
English must take the MCAS test this spring, according to a new state Department
of Education directive ending the exemption.
While all students in this year's senior class must pass
the MCAS exam to graduate, the change means kids of all grades must take the
test this spring no matter what their English skill level.
The Ed Department changed the rules late last week to
meet new requirements calling for English testing of all students. The need for
testing was imposed by the state Question 2 ballot question and the federal No
Child Left Behind Act.......
....... There are more than 40,000 students with limited English skills in the
state.......
...... Critics fear that will depress scores at schools that have struggled to
bring low MCAS test scores up....
.... Other critics said the change would exacerbate a problem they already blame
on the MCAS: rising numbers of kids being held back a grade.
Roger Rice, head of the Somerville-based Multicultural
Education Training and Advocacy organization, predicted schools would hold back
more English-language learners for fear they would drag down test scores.
``The impact of this will be more kids will be held
back,'' Rice said. ``Kids will be held back in third grade because they need to
pass the MCAS in fourth grade.''......
Fitchburg Sentinel and Enterprise, 2/16: Educators slam
new MCAS mandate
http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/Stories/0,1413,106%7E4992%7E1183924,00.html
Local educators are questioning the state's move to
require the MCAS test be taken this spring by students who are not proficient in
English.....
.... While many suburban school districts feel their students won't be adversely
affected by the move, officials from urban districts such as Fitchburg say the
move could have a huge impact on the student population.......
...... Although he said he was expecting the move because of the strong push
toward English immersion in the state, Welch said he was disappointed with the
immediacy of the move.
"Here we are at five to 12, and the bells are about to go
off," Welch said. "We need to know the remedies for cities and towns to comply
with this mandate."
All limited-English proficiency students will be required
to take the MCAS in English language arts, mathematics, and science and
technology/engineering. In addition, they must also take the Language Assessment
Scales for Reading and Writing test, as well as the Massachusetts English
Language Assessment-Oral......
....... The only students who can be excused, Driscoll said, are those who
enrolled in school in the United States after Oct. 1, 2002, and who, in the
judgment of the school principal, "cannot engage meaningfully in MCAS tests
written in English because of their very limited proficiency in English."
Despite the exemption, schools are required to make sure
at least 95 percent of all students enrolled take the test.......
Springfield Union-News, 2/19: Educators lament new MCAS
pressure
http://www.masslive.com/springfield/unionnews/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1045643409285071.xml
....... State education officials announced last week that all high
school students save those who arrived from other countries this academic year
must be tested in May. There will be few allowed exceptions......
....... Educators in Western Massachusetts said the move is yet another hit on
an already struggling population of students.....
"The implementation of that referendum doesn't take
effect until next year. Why start now, so early?" [Springfield Supt. Joseph P.
Burke] asked.....
...... Springfield has a bilingual population of 2,700 students, or just over 10
percent of the 26,526 children enrolled in public schools. The count is more
than double the state average of 4.6 percent....
..... Holyoke officials will spend the week after vacation determining which
students will be affected by the new state rule.
About 25 percent of the district's 7,200 students are in
the bilingual program..
..... [Schools Superintendent Eduardo B. Carballo] said he was surprised by the
state's decision and that it is unfair to students.
"It is going to be difficult for districts like mine
because it will only negatively impact their MCAS scores.....
..... "It gives us very little warning to help prepare these kids for the test,"
he said.......
..... The education of non-English-speaking students in the city is governed by
a "voluntary Lau plan" which is part of the desegregation plan approved by a
U.S. District Court judge in April 2001 and follows the state's former bilingual
education law.....
...... Lawyers in the case say the court order trumps the new law, but state
officials are trying to determine otherwise.........
Metrowest Daily News, 2/21: MCAS mandate 'crazy,' Boniface
says
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/local_regional/marl_mcas02212003.htm
MARLBOROUGH -- It's taken a week to sink in, but now that
it has, Superintendent Rose Marie Boniface says she's appalled at the state's
newest mandate regarding standardized testing.....
.... "Most of the kids that are new arrivals who have had less than a year of
instruction, they're going to be expected to take a test that more than likely,
they won't be able to read, process or respond to in any way," Boniface said.
"It's nuts. It's absolutely crazy."
Boniface said the new rule means trouble for the school
district and its 848 students whose first language is not English.
"There are people who study a language for years and
years and they still have to translate in their own head before they have any
output," Boniface said. "You don't start thinking in (a different language)
until you're in your fourth, fifth or sixth year in the language study. You're
asking the kids who've had seven months to have some output. One size fits all
doesn't work with kids. Clearly, each kid is different.".......
..... [T]o comply with the federal mandate the School Department must test 95
percent of all students enrolled to meet adequate yearly progress.
"You can't exempt more than 5 percent of your kids,"
Boniface said, adding that even if a student qualifies for an exemption, chances
are the 5 percent cap would prevent them from the exception.
The effect on MCAS scores would also be significant,
Boniface said, since about 18 percent of the total school population is LEP
students.
"Most schools, because we have a population of English
language learners across every building, we are not going to make our target.
They're clearly setting schools up to fail. I think politically, it's designed
to say that public education isn't good, which is a lie.".........
Cambridge Chronicle, 2/19: Test foes renew their MCAS
battle
http://www.townonline.com/cambridge/news/local_regional/cam_educcmcas02192003.htm
.... 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......
.......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." ...
.... "There is no need to sacrifice children to show that
schools are not doing their jobs," [Boston City Councilor Felix Arroyo] 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.....
........ 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.....
AP wire/Boston.com, 2/17: MCAS exemption narrowed for
recent immigrant students
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/048/region/MCAS_exemption_narrowed_for_reP.shtml
.......''I think you're going to see a major academic catastrophe,''
said Michelle Esposito-Flynn, an administrator for Revere's bilingual program.
''I think it's going to drag the district down. Where you've seen an improvement
over the last three years, you'll probably see a decrease.''
Revere has about 420 children in its bilingual program.
Esposito-Flynn estimated a fourth of those students would not pass the
proficiency test on first try.....
Springfield Union-News, 2/17: Deadline looms over
students
http://www.masslive.com/news/unionnews/index.ssf?/base/news-0/104547066495780.xml
High school graduation is four months away, but it looms
over Melissa S. Merrill like a storm cloud.
Will she march with her class at Central High School in
Springfield? Will she earn a full diploma?
Those questions will be answered in about two weeks, when
the latest Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System scores from the
December retest will be released, and Melissa will know for certain whether she
passed the mathematics test.
By now, the 17-year-old senior has become an expert of
sorts on MCAS, having taken the original tests in language arts and mathematics
as a sophomore, two retests in language arts and three in mathematics.
But she is far from declaring herself a fan.
"I do not like MCAS," said the tall, lanky teen who is giving
up varsity softball this spring to focus on her studies.
"I want to graduate with my class, and I want to get a
diploma. I want to go to college," she said.
Melissa is one of 12,000 high school seniors across the
state and 485 in Springfield who have yet to pass MCAS, and who are waiting on
this final chance to earn full diplomas at graduations in June....
........In Springfield, Superintendent Joseph P. Burke is making plans to
accommodate the seniors who don't qualify for graduation thanks to MCAS. Part of
that will include filing appeals to the state for those who get failing grades
in the latest retests.
"I have concerns about the certificates. I don't want to
see us create a second class of citizenry and have that identity follow them,"
Burke said.
Many students, including Melissa, feel the same way.
"I don't want a certificate. I want the real thing," she
said.
Melissa can't be blamed for lack of effort. She has
stayed after school for tutoring and has taken several classes aimed at
succeeding on the state tests........
........ Melissa missed by just a few points on both tests as a sophomore, and
continued to score on the high end of failing on the retests. She finally passed
the language arts test last year, and is determined to keep trying on the math
retest "as long as it takes."
Her last score was 218, just two points from the passing
threshold......
........ To help ease the tension, Melissa recently began writing a short story
about a high school senior, appropriately named Melissa, who cannot seem to pass
MCAS. She works on the story in her free time and said it makes her feel better
about her situation.
"Someday, when it's all done, I'll do something with it,
so people will understand what kids go through now," she said........
Springfield Union-News, 2/17: Ware: State agency to study
school scores
http://www.masslive.com/news/unionnews/index.ssf?/base/news-2/104547108595780.xml
WARE - A state educational monitoring agency is stepping
in to study the Ware schools, as a result of the district's below-average scores
on the MCAS tests in the past two years.
Auditors from the state's Office of Educational Quality
and Accountability will evaluate, over the next year or so, how school leaders
have worked to improve educational quality and student performance on the
Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests.
State officials will also collect data regarding school
finances, professional development and curriculum. Later this year, state
evaluators will make a site visit and meet with school leaders.....
.... [Executive director Joseph B. Rappa's Office of Educational Quality and
Accountability] is reviewing about 64 school districts this year, he said. Sixty
percent of districts are selected due to below-average test scores, and 20
percent for their high scores. The remaining 20 percent are chosen at
random.....
...... The town ranks low on the state's list of median income levels, with just
under 24 percent of family households earning less than $25,000 a year and 8.4
percent below the poverty level, according to the 2000 census.
Eighty-four percent of Ware High School seniors poised to
graduate in 2003 have passed the MCAS tests, according to results released in
September. Those results don't reflect results of the third retest, taken in
December.....
Boston Globe, 2/16: Study finds MCAS an accurate gauge
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/047/learning/Study_finds_MCAS_an_accurate_gaugeP.shtml
In the ongoing debate over high-stakes testing, a new
study has found that such exams accurately reflect real student achievement,
findings its authors say show that concerns about tests like the MCAS are
unfounded....
.... The study compares schools' results on high-stakes exams such as the
Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System test with their results on other
standardized tests that are not used in rating schools or deciding if students
can graduate....
.... But critics blasted the study, which they said draws broad conclusions
based on a small percentage of school results nationwide. And they criticized
the authors for not addressing questions of whether high-stakes tests drive
students to drop out.
''The little data Greene [and the other authors] have
decided to rely on does not warrant their conclusions,'' said Audrey Amrein, a
researcher at Arizona State University's College of Education.
The authors of the Manhattan Institute study say their
work rebuts claims that Amrein and other researchers made in a recent national
study that concluded that students in states with high-stakes tests were
learning the material covered by those tests, but not much else. That study by
Arizona State researchers found that students in states with high-stakes tests
generally did not outpace their peers on other independent exams, such as the
ACT and SAT and the National Assessment of Educational Progress.....
.... Lost in the debate, some say, is a bigger question.
''There's an assumption underneath all of this that any
of these tests, including NAEP, actually represents a high-quality education,''
said Monty Neill, executive director of FairTest, a Cambridge-based group that
opposes the MCAS graduation requirement. ''There's an awful lot that one would
hope kids would learn and often do learn that's just not tested.''
This story ran on page C5 of the Boston
Globe on 2/16/2003.
Boston Globe, 2/22/03: In Weston, growth isn't
often a popular idea
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/053/realestate/In_Weston_growth_isn_t_often_a_popular_idea+.shtml
..... Median family income is the highest in the state, at $181,041. The town's
tenth-graders ranked number one, out of 273 school districts, in last year's
MCAS test. Seventy-five percent of the homeowners are college graduates.........
........In a town where the lowest-priced home on the market this week was a
$495,000 ''fixer-upper,'' some abutters waged a two-year battle in Middlesex
Superior Court to prevent construction of six affordable homes alongside a dozen
luxury dwellings, for instance....
This story ran on
page D8 of the Boston Globe on 2/22/2003.
Chelsea Record, 2/20/03: Diplomas, Yes;
Certificates, No
Introduction (without text) at:
http://www.chelseaindependent.com/pages/editorials.shtml
.... This June, many of the members of our senior class, who will have
passed all of their CHS requirements, are in danger of not receiving their
diplomas, because they have not yet passed either or both MCAS tests in English
Language Arts and Mathematics.........
........Our curriculum has been aligned with the state frameworks, which do not
represent the best that we can teach our students, ...... to prepare our
students to take the unfair, discriminatory and seriously flawed MCAS tests. Our
schools have been transformed from schools of learning to test preparation
centers....
.... [N]ot one private school in the state has chosen to adopt either the
curriculum frameworks or the tests. They don't have to, according to current
state law, because they are private schools. If the MCAS system is so good,
private schools would have chosen to adopt it.....
.......Chelsea is a poor community. It is an immigrant and transient community.
The state promised that high school students, beginning in their sophomore year,
would have multiple opportunities in their junior and senior years to prepare
and retake these tests before this year's June graduation. The state has spent
millions of dollars every year, with a lot of that money coming to communities
like Chelsea, to prepare those children to take the test again.
However, in Chelsea, over 1/2 of the 93 seniors who took
the test last December were taking the test for the first time. Because we are a
transient community, a few of our seniors were new to Massachusetts (and brand
new to our state frameworks). .........
.........In every single MCAS test, the children of wealthy parents tend to do
very well and the children of low income parents tend to do very poorly.....
..... The BOE spends millions of dollars every year which shows that wealthy
children in wealthy schools and communities are doing well, while poor children
who live in poor communities and go to poorly funded schools are doing poorly.
What a waste of money, money that is desperately needed to
educate our children! ........
........ Right now, there's two of my students, who are on my mind; there are
many more. One of them is a SPED student; she has been struggling all year.....
The MCAS re-tests in December blew her away.........
........ The second story is about a student who .... had dropped out of CHS and
knew from his life experience that he needed to come back and get his diploma.
....He is twenty years old and is very bright. ... The December re-tests almost
blew him away....... But what if he doesn't [pass]? What if he didn't pass both
of his exams? He came back to get his diploma; what will he do?.....
.......On October 30, 2002 the Massachusetts Association of School Committees,
at their annual convention, overwhelmingly voted (97-27) in favor of a
resolution which affirmed the historic right of school committees to grant
diplomas to their seniors, regardless of their MCAS scores..... I hope and pray
that more compassionate citizens across the state will take action and more
courageous School Committees will act on behalf of the best interests of their
children..........
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