This week: MCAS in the News May 5th to May 16th

Numbers of parents/students planning to boycott grow, and local protests continue. 
Williams College professors critique content and consequences of MCAS. 
Based on MCAS results: Court says state can test math teachers where 30% of students fail while 6th grade math teachers try
to figure out how to prepare their students for new math testing.
Also, based on MCAS results, Springfield closes one middle school while some principals receive raises.
And Swansea's high school prepares 150 10th graders for MCAS. [But what happened to the additional 32 students who
were in that class's 9th grade last year?]


Worcester Telegram & Gazette, 5/12: Anti-MCAS student writes governor, 30 will boycott
http://www.telegram.com/news/page_one/109rynick.html

Thirty of the 50 sophomores attending the Accelerated Learning Laboratory school have agreed to boycott the history
section of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests when it is given this month.
Sophomore Rachel B. Rynick, 14, a first-honors student at the ALL school and the organizer of the boycott, said
yesterday the action is being taken because the MCAS exams are not an appropriate criteria for graduating from high school.
Miss Rynick said the 30 10th-graders have agreed to take the English and math sections of the test next week....
... “We will sit there for the duration of the test,” she said of the boycott. “The school is aware, and we have talked with the
principal who, of course, does not want us to do it. We took a vote and overwhelmingly the kids wanted to do it.”....
.... The test, Miss Rynick wrote in a letter to Gov. Jane M. Swift, is filled with many questions that adults can't answer.
Miss Rynick is supported by her parents, Melissa A. Blacker and David Rynick..... 
.... Miss Rynick and many other students involved in the boycott have aligned themselves with organizations opposed to
MCAS. She is a member of SCAM, which stands for Student Coalition for Alternatives to MCAS....
.... The Alliance [for High Standards NOT High Stakes] is holding a press conference at 10:30 a.m. Monday at the Statehouse
where data will be distributed indicating that public support for the MCAS tests is declining.Miss Rynick said that there will be
a student rally at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday on Boston Common. 


Springfield Union News, 5/12: Students advised to focus [on MCAS]
http://www.masslive.com/newsindex/springfield/index.ssf?/news/pstories/se512mca.html

New England Revolution midfielder Yari Allnut told several hundred Central High School students yesterday that they can
pass the MCAS tests. 
Allnut was the guest speaker at a school rally sponsored by Business for Better Schools. Several hundred sophomores
and freshmen attended....
.... Robert L. James, a sophomore, expects to pass the test. "We prepared for it in classes," he said. "I don't think it's going to
be as bad as everyone is saying." ....
.... William S. Edgerly, chairman of Business for Better Schools, told the students, "When you get that diploma in 2003, it
means you have the skills to succeed in life." 
He said that one of the things MCAS does is to ensure that everyone has an equal chance, regardless of which school they
come from....
.... Business for Better Schools is an organization of businesses that supports uniform educational standards and opposes
proposed legislation to eliminate passage of the MCAS as a requirement for high school graduation.


Providence Journal, 5/11: For sophomores, test tension is adding up
http://www.projo.com/cgi-bin/story.pl/education/05458292.htm

SWANSEA -- Across Massachusetts, educators are using pep rallies and other devices to prime this year's crop of 
sophomore students for a second round of high-stakes testing next week. 
At Case High School yesterday morning, geometry teacher Crystal Torres kicked off a last-minute tutorial session with a
little swagger. "The Class of 2003 Rules" declared a projection on the teacher's screen. 
For the most part, though, Torres is staying away from teaching gimmicks and emphasizing sound test-taking strategies on
the eve of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exam....
.... The guidance was part of a 40-minute session that focused on tricky geometry questions and methods for tackling the test. 
Students are learning how to pace themselves. Teachers are stressing an important difference between MCAS and the
SAT: MCAS test-takers are not penalized for guessing....
.... "You sit down," she says. "You relax, and you answer everything you can." 
A few of the students in Torres's classes have spent time at special study sessions after school and during the summer. 
The special tutorials allow students to use a computer to diagnose their weakest areas. Meanwhile, the school's curriculum
has been geared toward the challenges posed by MCAS. ....
.... Many of the students took MCAS in the eighth grade. As a result they have some familiarity with their ability....
.... The principal at Case High School, Joseph Santos, said about 150 sophomores will take the test on Monday. He said
teachers sense that the students are nervous.....
.... Dawn Poirier, a 16-year-old who would like to be an artist or a photographer some day, feels her skills have improved
since eighth grade. 
"I'm kind of confident about MCAS," Poirier said. "I'm just hoping that I won't blank out." 
Monica Ferreira, 16, said she finds some of the geometry challenging, but she believes she can pass. 
"I thought last year that it was going to be a lot harder than it really is," Ferreira said.....

[Query: The article refers to 150 10th graders who will take the MCAS in 2001. Last year, 182 students were enrolled in the
district's 9th grade. Where are the "missing" 32 students, and who are they?]


Berkshire Eagle, 5/10: Williams professors decry harmful effects of MCAS
HTTP://WWW.BERKSHIREEAGLE.COM/S-ASP-BIN/REF/Index.ASP?puid=2182&spuid=2182&Indx=851879&Article=ON&id=55001786&ro=10

Five Williams College professors charge that the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests fall far short of
their purpose and may ultimately create a class of "cheap labor." ....
.... Stewart Johnson, an associate professor of mathematics, said exempting private school students from the test is a "classist"
maneuver..... Financially secure families have the option of bypassing the test by enrolling their children in private schools, while
low-income families are forced to keep their children in public schools. Those children who fail the test and are unable to
graduate will be "forced into cheap labor pools," Johnson said. 
Both of Johnson's daughters attend public school, with one currently in the fourth grade and one in the eighth. Neither will
be taking the MCAS this year, he said....
.... College professor Karen Kwitter, who teaches astronomy, said the questions are often ambiguous and that open-ended
questions are graded subjectively....
.... Mistakes occur in the test questions, Kwitter said. 
Using a 1999 Grade 10 test, Kwitter pointed out examples of test errors and questions with several possible answers.....
.... Fatma Kassamali, director of career counseling, said she does not understand why the business community has supported
the test, because there isn't much in the test that would be helpful to business employees or the businesses themselves....
.... Alex Willingham, professor of political science and director of the college multicultural center, said he fears the testing is
going to close doors that anti-discrimination laws have opened....
.... Psychology professor Susan Engel, who also heads the teaching program at the college, said the brightest students more
often boycott the test, which affects a school's overall scores..... 
.... Engel said no test will, on its own, convert a struggling student or school system into a success story. 
"Tests aren't going to make schools better," she said. "A lower teacher-student ratio, teachers that are better trained, better
working conditions for teachers, this all sounds so simple when you are saying it. Most of the things that would improve schools
are easy, a commitment and money, but we don't manifest them." 


Springfield Union News, 5/10: 9 principals get bit extra in paycheck
http://www.masslive.com/newsindex/springfield/index.ssf?/news/pstories/raises3.html

In her final month on the job, acting Superintendent Teresa E. Regina has given raises to nine principals of schools where
students have performed well. ....
.... The principals did not ask for the raises. 
Regina said she decided to make the move based on their success in several areas including student scores on the
Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests and the Iowa Test of Basic Skills..... 


Springfield Union News, 5/10: Education 'convergence' leads to divergence
masslive.com/newsindex/hampfrank/index.ssf?/news/pstories/hf510con.html
At an event billed as a "Convergence" of public and charter school educators, the common ground was shaken by protest. 
A Springfield elementary school principal refused to participate as an invited panelist because the scheduled appearance of
Alfie Kohn, a critic of the state's MCAS test, was canceled. 
The Convergence 2001 conference, which began yesterday at the Inn at Northampton and continues today, features panel
discussions and workshops that focus on charter schools, public schools, School Choice and an array of practices and
innovative educational ideas. 
"It's an attempt to create a dialogue between those groups," said Marc D. Kenan, director of the Massachusetts Charter
School Association....
.... Principal Leslie B. Edinson of Springfield's Brightwood Elementary School was to be on a panel of a workshop entitled The
Creative Classroom. Edinson, however, announced at the outset of the conference that he chose not to participate because of
the decision to cancel Kohn. 
Kohn was hired as the keynote speaker, but the state Department of Education forced event organizers to cancel the
MCAS opponent's appearance. 
"While I don't agree entirely with Alfie Kohn, I do respect his passionate defense of children and quality education,"
Edinson said. "This stifling of dissent is morally reprehensible to me . . . The real story is not me; it's why Alfie Kohn was
disinvited, who made the decision and what interest did they serve. Certainly they're not serving the children." ....


Springfield Union News, 5/9: Northampton crowd protests MCAS
http://www.masslive.com/newsindex/holyoke/index.ssf?/news/pstories/ae59ralm.html

Rallying against the MCAS exams on the steps of City Hall yesterday, Virginia R. Schulman held up a sign that read "For
sale — democracy." ....
.... Schulman was one of more than 100 protesters who attended the hour-long rally, which organizers billed as an event to
support public schools while speaking out against the MCAS exams, teacher testing and charter schools run by for-profit
groups. 
Some speakers charged that the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests are designed to create high
student failure rates, thereby sullying the image of public schools and paving the way for companies to take over operations.....
... State officials, from acting Gov. Jane M. Swift on down, continue to stress that the exams are here to stay. The tests, part of
the 1993 Education Reform Act, ensure that all students receive the same quality of education, supporters say. 
The business community called on the state to reform education in Massachusetts because they said students were leaving
high school lacking basic skills....
.... Residents in the region continue to make their anti-MCAS statements in a variety of forms. Over the past two weeks,
residents of Amherst, Leverett, Shutesbury and Pelham took another approaching by approving town meeting resolutions to
register their protest.....


Boston Herald, 5/8: Judge clears way for math teacher test
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/math05082001.htm

The Bay State moved a step closer to giving competency tests to veteran teachers yesterday when a Superior Court judge
quashed a move by two teachers unions to block a skills test for educators in districts where student math scores don't add up.

Suffolk County Judge Patrick J. King issued a declaratory judgment that rejected the claims of the two unions that the Board
of Education's math teacher testing plan overstepped its authority and violated the constitutional rights of the state's 120,000
teachers....
... ``I'm certainly encouraged that we can move forward with a policy the board adopted a year ago,'' [Board of Education
chair] Peyser said.... 
The board voted to require the testing of math teachers in districts found to have ``low performing'' mathematics programs
where more than 30 percent of the students - minus non-English speakers or new arrivals - fail the math section of the
Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exam....
.... On the 2000 MCAS, 45 percent of the 10th-graders failed the math exam, a startling number, since high-schoolers will
need to pass both the math and English portions of the exam in order to graduate beginning in 2003. 
That same year, 39 percent of the eighth-graders failed the MCAS math exam, revealing a stunning drop off from the skills
of fourth-graders, who passed the math exam at a rate of 82 percent that year. 
``The court has said the board has significant authority to make these decisions, especially where there is fair reason to
believe a weakness needs to be addressed,'' Peyser said. ``I'm encouraged the process set in place will go forward now.'' 


Boston Globe, 5/8: Judge gives state OK to test some teachers [based on MCAS scores]
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/128/metro/Judge_gives_state_OK_to_test_some_teachers-.shtml

.... Rejecting a legal challenge filed by the state's two teacher unions, Judge Patrick J. King ruled that the regulations governing
the tests are ''constitutionally sound.'' Last May, the Board of Education voted unanimously to give the first-in-the-nation tests
to some teachers in middle and high schools where at least 30 percent of students failed the math portion of the Massachusetts
Comprehensive Assessment System exam....
.... State Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll hopes that testing will begin this fall. ''If teacher testing can result in
improved skills on the part of teachers and therefore improvement for students, then that's a good thing,'' he said. 
The two unions will decide whether to appeal. Catherine A. Boudreau, vice president of the Massachusetts Teachers
Association, said that the union is disappointed with the ruling and that classroom evaluations are the best way to gauge
teachers' performance. 
''Posing a test makes it harder to attract and retain qualified teachers when there's a teacher shortage looming,'' Boudreau
said. 
This story ran on page 3 of the Boston Globe on 5/8/2001. 


Springfield Union News, 5/8: [Springfield's] Johnson Middle School to close
http://www.masslive.com/newsindex/springfield/index.ssf?/news/pstories/se58john.html

The middle school section of Rebecca Johnson School is depicted as riddled with problems, including poor leadership and
inadequate plans for improvement, according to a report from the state Department of Education. 
The 12-page report, made public yesterday, led to the decision by the School Committee Thursday to close the middle
school section at Johnson, effective in September....
.... Some parents, meanwhile, are frustrated that their children will suddenly be moved to the new Van Sickle Middle School,
and upset that they learned of the decision last week by reading the newspaper....
.... The middle school sections at Johnson and Elias Brookings schools were placed under state review in January after both
schools logged three years of sliding scores on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests. 
At Brookings, improvements and a clear focus by staff won praise in the state report and an end to the threat of being called
an underperforming school....
.... But Johnson's report said there is little evidence of the kinds of measures that are needed. 
"The . . . school improvement plan is lacking the detail and clarity to provide guidance for the school's improvement efforts. The
plan's definition of student academic needs is based on an insufficient analysis of the school's programs and practices," the
report said. 
Among the findings: 
Insufficient use of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System test scores and information to drive changes in
the curricula. 
Weak connections between data analysis, proposed recommendations and the reasons mentioned by school staffers for the
low performance. 
What teachers reported as inconsistent approaches to student discipline and ineffective leadership as barriers to success. 
Weakness in teachers' content area knowledge, as described by district administrators. 
What students described as a lack of interesting classroom activities, except on the days when district and state officials
made their visits. 


AP wire/Daily Hampshire Gazette, 5/8: Teachers launch TV campaign
http://www.gazettenet.com/05082001/schools/1729.htm

.... The anti-MCAS ad prompted a response from the Department of Education. 
The state last month launched a $500,000 advertising campaign promoting the MCAS tests. The ad, featuring testimonials
from teachers who support the test, will run in English and Spanish through June. 
Last week, MCAS opponents in the House of Representatives failed to push through two budget amendments that would
have blocked the Department of Education from continuing the ads. 
The MTA, which represents about three-quarters of the state's teachers, says 85 percent of its members oppose the
MCAS as a graduation requirement.....


Springfield Union News, 5/7: Math teachers play odds for new 6th grade MCAS
http://www.masslive.com/newsindex/springfield/index.ssf?/news/pstories/ae57neww.html

Faced with an unknown variable — the new sixth-grade math MCAS exam — David J. Socha has done what other
educators in the area say they have done. 
Solved the equation with the known variables....
.... Socha said instructors at his school are teaching the same skills they would be teaching without a test called MCAS, but
honing in on math problems that require students to explain their work in light of the MCAS.....
.... The sixth-grade math exam comes in three sections. The tests are untimed, but the state estimates each section will take
about 45 minutes to complete. 
Sixth-grade math is a time to review the basics — addition and subtraction — while working on fractions, decimals and
percents, Socha said. Students also get introduced to geometry and algebra. 
One of five sample sixth-grade MCAS questions published by the state Department of Education is a short-answer
question that has students compute 3,252 divided by 16. The correct answer is "203.25 or its equivalent." 
The open-response sample question gives the record for two basketball teams, the Blue Jays and the Yellow Hornets.
Students must write down the ratio of wins to games played for each team. The last of the three-part question asks, "Which
team had a better record? Explain or show how you know." 
Socha, who works through a series of open-ended questions with his students every week, said math classes in the state
are generally focused more on the writing and explaining component as a result of the tests. "We've been relentless in that
pursuit," he said.....


Boston Herald, 5/6: Teens bash MCAS, cast wary eye on cops
http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/mcas05062001.htm

Hundreds of students fed up with the MCAS test and what they see as racial profiling by police gathered to voice their
discontent at Boston's ninth annual Teen Empowerment Peace Conference yesterday. 
More than 800 students and 200 parents, teachers and police officers crowded into John Hancock Hall in Boston yesterday
to hear urban teens' complaints....
.... Conference leaders criticized acting Gov. Jane Swift for turning a deaf ear to objections to the MCAS. 
``We say to Jane Swift, `We've asked to meet with you before . . . are you always too busy to meet with the kids from the
inner city?' '' [Teen Empowerment's Stanley] Pollack said. ``This affects all classes of people. You don't have to be an
inner-city kid to care about the MCAS.'' 


Springfield Union-News, 5/6: Public gets to match wits by taking state MCAS test
http://www.masslive.com/newsindex/index.ssf?/features/pstories/ae56tesw.html

.... A mix of students and adults accepted the opportunity to participate in "Take the Test Day," and were given the chance to
take the 10th-grade MCAS test provided students last year. 
"Mostly, we want people to see the test," said Linda M. Sarage, Western Massachusetts coordinator for CARE and a
public school teacher in Hatfield. "We don't consider it to be a basic skills test, and that's what it's being touted as." 
"It's not about education," she added of the test. "It's about politics." ....
.... A ninth-grader at the Williston Northampton School in Easthampton, [William J.] Bigwood said he plans to attend
Northampton High School next year. After taking the test, however, Bigwood said he was not sure. 
"I thought it was really hard," he said. "It was a little too hard for my liking. I'm a little worried about it, and it's making me
think twice about going to Northampton High School." 
Bigwood also said he is hearing from some students that instruction is geared just toward the test....
.... Cheryl A. Howe and Lynne Cowie are Northampton neighbors whose sons are boycotting the test. Howe took a portion
of the math test yesterday, and Cowie took a portion of the English test. 
Howe's son, Joshua, and Cowie's son, Jacob, are both sophomores at Northampton High. They are also both deaf, and
previously attended Clarke School for the Deaf. 
"One test determining whether you get a diploma or not, that's wrong," Cheryl Howe said. 
The coalition is proposing a system, in place of the MCAS tests, which would include more local control over assessing
students' performance, visiting evaluation teams to assess the quality of a school, and limited standardized testing in English and
math....


AND FOR A NATIONAL OVERVIEW OF PARENT AND TEACHER RESISTANCE:


Salon.com, 5/11: The failure of testing
http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2001/05/11/test_revolt/index.html

..... In just the past two weeks, protests against high-stakes testing have sprung up in Marin County and Oakland, Calif., and in
Scarsdale, N.Y., where an impressive SWAT team of parents managed to get 67 percent of the 290 eighth graders in the
district to boycott the state's standardized tests. (More than 35 percent of students at one Marin high school and more than 22
percent at another boycotted tests last week.) 
More demonstrations are planned for this month at schools in Seattle, Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, Albany, N.Y., and
Tucson, Ariz. -- just the latest round of rebellion to follow a pioneering spate of protest in states like Massachusetts, Ohio,
Wisconsin and Florida over the past three years.....
... Initially, concerned teachers and parents believed that test scores' proof of a gap would lead to an infusion of resources
into low-scoring schools. But now many of them believe that the scores -- taken alone -- have been used to discredit the
schools and unfairly penalize the teachers and students for their poor performances. Says Allen Flanigan, a parent active in
test protests in Virginia, "High-stakes testing applies a crooked yardstick to mismeasure schools. It doesn't tell us anything
about schools we don't already know from the massive amount of testing already done." .....
.... Says Flanigan, "Learning to be a good test taker is poor preparation for life. Accountability and testing have been tried
before, and resulted in the 'Lake Woebegon' effect: the appearance of improvement without any actual improvement."....
.... "Most of the people volunteering to work with CARE [an organization that has collected more than 12,000 signatures on a
petition asking state legislators to back down from demands to use MCAS as the single evaluation for graduation] are not
normally activists," says Jackie Dee King, CARE coordinator in Boston. "Many people stand up in the audience where I give
talks, in towns like Swampscott or New Bedford, and say, 'I'm not that kind of a person, but this thing has gone too far.'" ....