Massachusetts tragedy:
More than 5,000 seniors denied diplomas

 The high-stakes MCAS test prevented thousands of high school seniors from graduating this June. Despite four years of intensive campaigns by parents, teachers, students, and school committee members calling for suspension of the MCAS graduation requirement, state officials have turned a deaf ear. The state Board of Education has refused to amend its regulation requiring students to pass the math and English portion of the MCAS in order to graduate, and the Legislature so far has failed to make it do so. Many graduation ceremonies across the Commonwealth were marked by the sad awareness that thousands of fellow classmates were not receiving a diploma. In some ceremonies, students made speeches wishing them well and asking for a moment of silence or, in one case, a standing ovation. 

 More than 5,000 seniors, or about 10% of the class of 2003, have not passed the MCAS. Even more students – about 22% of the 68,000 who entered ninth grade four years ago – have been lost along the way, due to dropouts, pushouts, grade retentions, and transfers.  Altogether, only 71% of those who started in the class of 2003 actually graduated on time this year, down from a 77% graduation rate before MCAS began. The MCAS had an even more harmful and discriminatory impact on the very students that education reform was supposed to help the most— low-income, minority, special education, voc ed, and bilingual students—who failed the test at much higher rates and therefore were denied diplomas at much higher rates.

 Lawsuits have been filed on behalf of student plaintiffs in both state and federal court, and will be moving ahead in the months to come. But the students’ lawyers were unable to win an injunction in either state or federal court which would have prevented the state from enforcing the graduation requirement this spring.

 In one bright spot, the Legislature has passed a budget amendment which would create a more fair and open MCAS appeals process for special education students. Gov. Romney has vetoed the measure, but an override vote could come up during the week of July 7. Please call your legislators and ask them to vote for an override of the veto!!

 Despite these defeats, the anti-MCAS movement in Massachusetts has created a climate which has led to significant concessions by the Department of Education: limiting the test to math and English; instituting easier and repeated retests for those of fail the full exam; backing off the plan to put MCAS scores on student transcripts; allowing districts to grant “certificates of completion” so students can walk across the stage on graduation day with their friends; and introducing an appeals process which has let some students to graduate who could demonstrate competency in ways other than passing the test. 

The battle is far from over. Over the next year, MassCARE will be trying to develop means of reaching and assisting students who did not pass the MCAS. We will continue to organize parents and teachers and students to affect MCAS policy.