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MCAS in the News (week of October 24, 2002)
In the national education press:
"What these tables show is that the majority of students
who have not yet passed both tests are white." - Heidi B. Perlman, director of
communications for the MA DOE.
"All the data demonstrates is that most of the people
in Massachusetts are white." - Roger Rice, executive director of Multicultural
Education, Training, and Advocacy Inc.
For more, see:
http://edweek.org/ew/ew_printstory.cfm?slug=08mcas.h22
In newspapers from around Massachusetts this week:
- Massachusetts files to dismiss students' MCAS lawsuit
and launches more pro-MCAS advertising;
- Joining nearly 50 other school committees, school boards in
Agawam, Medfield,
Mendon-Upton, and Dartmouth
vote to oppose MCAS graduation requirement;
- Despite objections of some 200 education leaders, the MA Board of Ed approves
new history/social science standards, asserting
that test content should dictate what's in the standards;
- More flexibility for vo-tech students discussed;
- New Bedford turns to more computer-based
MCAS prep and Boston
announces an outreach program, while
teacher layoffs cut extra help available for
students in Milton, and
Agawam parents complain that MCAS has too much
effect on curriculum and instruction;
- In Greenfield, community college officials worry
that students who fail MCAS may seek to attend
classes but will not be eligible for financial aid;
- MCAS appeals process is daunting where
large numbers fail MCAS in Brockton, Boston, and New
Bedford - and where official gatekeepers respond in different ways;
- Community poverty and wealth are correlated to district
MCAS scores in Lowell area schools;
- Local policies use MCAS scores to
assess performance of
Springfield's superintendent and distribute bonuses
to teachers in Milford;
- Gubernatorial candidates O'Brien and Romney still
supporting the MCAS graduation requirement, while MA board of ed chair
Peyser consults to Romney.
Boston Globe, 10/24: State files motion to dismiss MCAS
suit
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/297/metro/State_files_motion_to_dismiss_MCAS_suit-.shtml
In a stinging response to a federal lawsuit charging that
the MCAS graduation requirement discriminates against minority, limited-English,
and disabled students, state education officials filed a motion to dismiss the
case yesterday, saying they will not ''abandon'' students who have yet to meet
the graduation requirement.
Stressing the state's legal responsibility to implement
education reform, the 50-page filing from Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly's
office on behalf of state education officials emphasizes that ''intensive
English and math remedial programs are underway across the state.'' ....
.... ''Given these continuing opportunities,'' the document said, ''those
students will have ample chance to overcome the `culture of low expectations'
and to acquire the critical skills measured by the MCAS.''
The state's lawyers took pains to rebut the plaintiffs'
assertion that the poorest school systems lack the resources to prepare students
for the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exam. The state
acknowledged that inequities exist between school systems, but pointed to the
$24 billion in increased state money spent since 1993 in part to revamp those
struggling school districts.
And the lawyers questioned the premise of the lawsuit,
asserting that students may have a right to an education - but not to a diploma
that they do not earn. ....
...... The students' lawyers received the filing just before 5 p.m. yesterday
and said they were not surprised at the state's response.
''They don't want to give these kids their day in
court,'' said Roger Rice, one of the four plaintiffs' attorneys. ''The DOE looks
the other way while they drop out of school.'' .....
...... State officials also supplied affidavits written by superintendents
Thomas W. Payzant of Boston, James Caradonio of Worcester, and Joseph E. Burke
of Springfield to bolster their position by touting the ''fundamental
improvements'' in student preparedness that resulted from the MCAS graduation
requirement. .....
..... Tom Frongillo, also one of the students' attorneys, said te filing matches
the state's attitudes toward his clients.
''Given the attorney general's previously published
concerns about the severe injuries caused by the MCAS exam to the Commonwealth's
schoolchildren, we are disappointed and surprised that the state is not seeking
to defend its actions on the facts of the case,'' Frongillo said. ''We believe
that the stte's motion will be denied, and ultimately the state will be forced
to defend its actions in court.''
This story ran on page B1 of the Boston Globe on
10/24/2002.
AP wire/Boston.com, 10/24: Lights, camera, MCAS!
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/297/region/Lights_camera_MCAS_:.shtml
Also posted at:
http://www.masslive.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?g0461_BC_MA--MCASAds&&news&newsflash-massachusetts
Teenagers who think they can escape the MCAS exam by
going to the movies or flipping on the radio are in for a surprise the state is
spending $350,000 as part of a promotional campaign to run ads in theaters and
on the airwaves.
The program funded from $50 million in MCAS remediation
funds approved this year by the Legislature aims to remind students and parents
that the class of 2003 is the first that must pass the
Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exam to graduate. ....
.....Mass Insight Education won a $300,000 contract, and $50,000 will be spent
on the movie and radio campaign.
The one-minute spots began airing this week on news
station WBZ-AM and oldies station WODS-FM, and are aimed mainly at parents. But
they will air beginning next month on WJMN-FM, the highest rated Boston station
among teenagers. The movie ads will run in December.
In the radio spots, two Fall River teenagers tell their
story about how they got extra help and eventually passed the MCAS, and
encourage peers to follow suit. They will air for two weeks, and again later in
the school year. The ads also will air during some Boston Bruins hockey
broadcasts on WBZ.....
..... The MCAS exam will join other reminders shut off your cell phone and keep
quiet in still-frame ads to appear before movies at Showcase Cinemas. They
primarily will appear in western Massachusetts, out of reach of Boston radio
stations.
The radio and cinema ads direct parents and kids to an
online tutorial on the Education Department's Web site. ....
..... Mass Insight, a nonprofit organization formed in 1997 as an arm of Mass
Insight Corp., is a pro-MCAS group that has contracted with the Education
Department.
''It's all part of a larger effort to bring parents into
the process,'' said William H. Guenther, the group's president and founder.
Polling numbers show that parental support for the
graduation requirement increases when they know there are retests available, he
said. ....
.... The expenditure is part of a three-year $1.2 million spending plan for
outreach.
Springfield Union-News, 10/23: Agawam School Committee
opposes MCAS graduation requirement
http://www.masslive.com/metrowest/unionnews/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1035360610117313.xml
The School Committee yesterday endorsed a nonbinding
resolution opposing the use of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System
test as a requirement for graduation....
.... The resolutions voted on at the meeting were forwarded to the committee by
the resolutions committee for the Massachusetts Association of School
Committees.
[School committee member Rosemary] Sandlin spoke in favor
of the resolution to not make the MCAS test a requirement for graduation. "A
single test is not adequate," Sandlin said. Rather, she said she supported
"multi-testing for different learning styles." ....
New Bedford Standard-Times, 10/23: [Dartmouth] School
Committee agrees with superintendents on MCAS
http://www.s-t.com/daily/10-02/10-23-02/a10lo077.htm
The Dartmouth School Committee doesn't feel MCAS alone
should determine whether a student graduates from high school.
The board decided at its meeting Monday night to endorse
the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, which also feels that
the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System test alone should not
determine whether a student graduates.
With only member Christopher Pereira opposed, the School
Committee instructed its chairwoman, Judi Boles, to express its opinion at the
annual convention of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees on Oct.
30.....
TownonLine.com, 10/23: School committee criticizes MCAS:
Members say it shouldn't decide whether or not a student receives a diploma
http://www.townonline.com/medfield/news/local_regional/wp_newsmdmcascriticized10232002.htm
The Medfield School Committee endorsed a Brookline
resolution Monday, calling for the state to recognize individual schools' rights
in deciding which students can receive graduation diplomas, regardless of
performance on the state's MCAS test....
Milford Daily News, 10/22: Mendon-Upton board plans vote
on MCAS
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/local_regional/upto_mcas10222002.htm
.... "Sometimes there is no diploma even if there is significant
academic development. It doesn't take into account different learning styles,"
said Cynthia Robertson, the committee member who will represent the Mendon-Upton
Regional School Committee at the MASC meeting along with Superintendent Paul
Daigle.
School committees from across the state will gather to
discuss three issues: eliminating the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment
System tests as a graduation requirement, supporting an equal education funding
study, and ending the current bilingual education curriculum.
Robertson said the seminar's purpose is to bring to the
state Department of Education the collective opinions of school committees
statewide.
The committee unanimously recommended that Robertson vote
for the resolution at the daylong seminar. The results of the voting will be
passed along to the DOE for review, committee members said....
Boston Herald, 10/23: Ed panel may ease MCAS burden for
voke students
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/mcas10232002.htm
Signaling the first official step toward aiding students
that have struggled with the MCAS exam, Board of Education members said
yesterday they may file legislation to limit the testing subjects for vocational
students.
Board member William K. Irwin surprised members at the
close of the board's monthly meeting when he recommended filing legislation
limiting the high-stakes high school exams for the state's vocational students
to math and English, the only two now required for graduation.
``I think it is unfair to expect the vocational-technical
schools to do all areas of MCAS. It's math and English that are the most
important,'' said Irwin, who oversees the New England Carpenters Training
Center.....
.... Irwin, who has been steadfast in his insistence that the trade schools be
held to the same standards as students in college-preparatory schools, said
their students already face a range of challenges....
.... Board members said they were open to the idea of filing legislation, but
asked Commissioner of Education David P. Driscoll to look at the possibility of
requiring the students to take and pass the history exam as well.
Driscoll said he will report back to the board in the
next month. The deadline for the agency to file legislative proposals is Nov.
15, but a lawmaker could file the proposal on behalf of the board.....
Boston Globe, 10/23: History standards for schools OK'd
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/296/metro/History_standards_for_schools_OK_d-.shtml
......
In urging the board not to delay, Education Commissioner David
P. Driscoll defended the guidelines and the nearly two-year process of
developing them that included 20 forums and meetings with community groups and
teachers.
' 'I am enthusiastic about this document, and feel it
represents a great move forward,'' Driscoll said, but added he was concerned
about recent criticism from nearly 200 educators, many of them superintendents,
that came after he thought the guidelines had been fully examined.
The new history blueprint, which has drawn fire while
undergoing several revisions, is meant to guide history instruction in
elementary through high school. At the same time, it's designed to beef up
American history taught in the upper grades, where students will eventually have
to pass a test on the subject in order to graduate.....
.... “The Mass. Assn. of School Superintendents…criticized the curriculum
blueprint for focusing too much on history, rather than other social sciences….
But state officials said that because the high school exam will cover history,
it’s appropriate for the curriculum to center on that area.”....
.... ''There's still a real drive to focus on Western cultures. And it is
incredibly fact-riddled,'' said Kathy Ennis, executive director of Primary
Source, a nonprofit organization that trains teachers in providing instruction
that is ethnically diverse and inclusive.
Given the United States' historical, social, and
democratic roots in Europe, board chairman James A. Peyser said the state was
''entirely justified'' in crafting a history blueprint in which about 60 percent
of the standards address Western civilizations and history....
.... But Hudson Schools Superintendent Sheldon Berman said school administrators
felt ignored. ''A curriculum that is a mile wide and an inch deep does not serve
our children well,'' said Berman, president of the Massachusetts Association of
School Superintendents, who delivered a letter to board members signed by about
200 administrators opposing the history guidelines. The standards show ''little
evidence of any effort to promote critical thinking,'' the letter said....
This story ran on page B1 of the Boston Globe on 10/23/2002.
Quincy Patriot-Ledger, 10/23: Teacher layoffs hit
Milton schools hard; most serious effect felt by MCAS test students
http://ledger.southofboston.com/display/inn_news/news11.txt
The elimination of 35 Milton public school positions last
year is having dire consequences in the classroom, particularly for students who
need help to pass the MCAS exams.
That was the assessment of Mary Gormley, the assistant
superintendent for curriculum, gave during last night's school committee
meeting....
...... Gormley said the school system's MCAS exam preparation efforts were
particularly hard hit by the layoffs. She said the middle school laid off a
full-time MCAS support teacher who met during the school day in a separate and
smaller classroom with students who have scored in the ‘‘failing'' or ‘‘needs
improvement'' ranges of the test. The high school reduced its full-year MCAS
class aimed at students who need extra test help to a half-year class.
‘‘It's very depressing,'' said School Superintendent Mary
Grassa O'Neill. ‘‘On one hand, we're telling you we're doing all we can to help
our students with MCAS, but then you hear we're eliminating positions and
cutting programs.''
School committee member Laurie Stillman agreed.
‘‘This is devastating. This is horrible,'' she said.
‘‘How can we have a graduation requirement for MCAS if we don't have the support
for them.''
Other cuts included the loss of two full-time and one
part-time physical education teachers, which means juniors and seniors have no
gym classes. Gym and health classes in the elementary schools have been reduced
from two classes a week to one.
The Pierce Middle School lost its librarian, which
Gormley said means the library is rarely used, despite the addition of 25 new
computers last year intended to be used by a librarian to teach Internet
research. Two librarians were also cut from the elementary schools....
New Bedford Standard-Times, 10/23: High school shows off
MCAS prep system
http://www.s-t.com/daily/10-02/10-23-02/a04lo044.htm
..... The prototype program, introduced to New Bedford in June, is
called JFYNet and is backed by federal and state governments and by private
foundation grants.
As [US Congressional] Rep. [Barney] Frank and the others
got a briefing on the project, the two students, along with 28 others in the
room full of computers, navigated a series of math problems. The sophomores will
take the 10th-grade MCAS test in the spring, but they were in this class because
their eighth-grade MCAS scores indicated that they might be headed for trouble.
They were all business as they worked, and both said they believe the Plato
system helped them greatly.
They were aided by student volunteer "peer mentors'" such
as junior Molly Samson, who said her academic strength is in math.
Unlike MCAS preparation offered online by the state
Department of Education, they were networked to a 10 gigabyte database with a
vast store of instructional materials designed to teach, not just identify,
material in areas where a student has a weakness.
Plato was developed decades ago for use by the Defense
Department. Mr. Kaplan said it was chosen for its proven effectiveness, and he
said that in the two years it has been in use, it has been shown to increase
test scores by 20 percent in a matter of weeks.
One key is its user interface, with colorful screens and
easy-to-follow instructions. It is not an MCAS testing drill, but rather
teacher-coordinated lessons in areas of concern to individual students, each of
whom has a learning plan developed by the high school to help them clear the
MCAS hurdle.
Mr. Kaplan gave New Bedford school officials credit for
seizing the chance to use the system, which also is being used in Brockton,
Chelsea and Boston. Where other cities delayed, he said New Bedford decided
almost immediately to use the system.
High school Headmaster Joseph Oliver said the $25,000
paid by the city came from state grant money, credited by Mr. Kaplan to the work
of Sen. Mark C.W. Montigny, D-New Bedford. It matches the federal grant that
supports the limited program. Mr. Oliver said the number of user licenses at the
high school will soon be doubled to 60, and it is hoped more beyond that. Mr.
Oliver said 120 of the 167 students in the class of 2003 who failed a portion of
their 10th-grade MCAS test are using the new system......
This story appeared on Page A4 of The Standard-Times on October
23, 2002.
Boston Globe, 10/24: MCAS outreach program
announced
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/297/metro/MCAS_outreach_program_announced-.shtml
Boston city and school officials announced yesterday a
new campaign of phone calls and home visits to high school seniors who are in
danger of not graduating because they have failed the MCAS.
Flanked by leaders from community and religious groups,
higher education, business, and sports, Mayor Thomas M. Menino and
Superintendent of Schools Thomas W. Payzant asked for help to contact the
parents and guardians of the 1,600 students in the class of 2003 who have failed
to conquer the MCAS hurdle.....
.....
''We're going to do everything we can to get people together to
say you've got a chance,'' Payzant said.
In early November, volunteers will participate in a
two-day phone-athon to contact the families of failing seniors and determine if
parents understand that students won't be able to graduate, and that support is
available to help students pass. ...
.... Volunteers may ask permission to visit the home, especially those of
chronically absent students who comprise about half of the 1,600. ....
.... Community groups also will hold meetings for parents......
..... School officials remain optimistic about getting more students over the
MCAS bar since about half are only a few points away from earning the 220 score
(out of a possible 280) required in each subject.
Yesterday, Menino appealed to the community to help
students in the class of 2003, and he urged employers of students with
after-school jobs to allow them time off to study.....
Springfield Union-News, 10/24: Parents in Agawam receive
update on MCAS scores
http://www.masslive.com/springfield/unionnews/index.ssf?/base/news-2/103545061523471.xml
AGAWAM - Thomas W. Judd wishes that the curriculum for
his sixth- and eighth-grade daughters was not centered around the Massachusetts
Comprehensive Assessment System test.
But he and several other city parents said yesterday that
they think the Agawam School District is doing a good job of trying to prepare
students for the standardized state test, which students must pass in order to
graduate from high school.
"I think the whole MCAS testing is unfair," said Deborah
A. Pisano, whose daughter is in the 10th grade. "But the town is making a decent
attempt to help these kids." .....
..... [T]utoring programs are being offered during and after school to high
school students. Students also have access to an on-line computer MCAS tutoring
program that they can use in school or at home.....
..... But parent Kerry A. Jedziniak, who has a daughter in the 10th grade, said
he feels the MCAS test has forced teachers to try to squeeze too much material
into each class.
"They rush through the information so quickly," he said.
"They (the students) can't pick it up."
Springfield Union-News, 10/22: GCC concerned for MCAS
failures;
Those who fail to get a high school diploma or its
equivalent are ineligible for admission and financial aid
http://www.masslive.com/hampfrank/unionnews/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1035274241174831.xml
Greenfield Community College will look for ways by which
students who have failed the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System test
can attend college.
The college has to face the possibility that as many as
200 students in Franklin and Hampshire counties students that might attend GCC
may not get high school diplomas because of poor MCAS scores, GCC President
Robert L. Pura told trustees yesterday.....
... But helping students who have failed the MCAS test won't include any
lowering of the school's standards for admission, Pura said. The school requires
all students seeking a degree to have earned a high school diploma or its
equivalent.
Students taking individual classes not for a degree need
not be high school graduates. But only those in degree programs are eligible for
state or federal financial aid.
Pura said that students from poor backgrounds,
statistically more likely to fail the MCAS, could be doubly hurt by missing out
on financial aid. ...
.... Pura said 244 students did not pass the 10th grade test in the Hampshire
and Franklin County towns that generally send students to the school. He
estimated that that could mean 100 to 200 students that might not pass the exams
by their senior year, thus missing out on their diplomas. A
state policy requiring MCAS proficiency for graduation came into effect this
year.
The state Board of Higher Education is weighing
procedures that would allow students that meet all diploma requirements except
MCAS and still go on to community college.
According to the proposal under review, students who
cannot pass MCAS could gain admission to a community college if they receive a
GED or pass the Ability to Benefit test, a federal exam used primarily to
determine eligibility for financial aid. Another option would be for the
community colleges and local schools to team up on testing preparation programs
to let students retake the exam. .....
Boston Globe West Weekly, 10/24: Some question MCAS
bonus; Teachers leery of clause linking cash, test scores
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/297/west/Some_question_MCAS_bonus+.shtml
As negotiations for a new contract draw near, Milford
teachers and school administrators are divided over a clause in the current pact
that ties a potential bonus to student performance on the MCAS tests.
While administrators and some parents say the
pay-for-performance clause motivates teachers to bring about better scores on
the statewide tests, many teachers are wary of the concept. Some say little has
been accomplished by the bonuses, which they worry could eventually become part
of their cost-of-living salary increases......
.... Three years ago, teachers and the School Committee adopted a
pay-for-performance clause tied to improved scores on the Massachusetts
Comprehensive Assessment System tests. Each year, if scores meet specified
expected state increases, all teachers get a one-time bonus of one-half percent
of their salaries; if scores exceed state standards, an equal boost would become
a permanent pay raise.
''MCAS was sort of a bright line for us because we knew that the entire system
was going to be judged by it, we knew the teachers were under pressure to make
good on it, and we knew that it was measurable in some fashion,'' Fernandes
said.
Milford is one of only three school systems in the state
to have incorporated this incentive into the contract. Blackstone Valley
Regional Vocational Technical High School in Upton still has the incentive, but
the Nauset School Department on Cape Cod dropped it.....
This story ran on page W1 of the Globe West section on
10/24/2002.
Springfield Union-News, 10/22: Achievement gains
crucial test for [Springfield Supt.] Burke
http://www.masslive.com/springfield/unionnews/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1035274286174831.xml
Schools Superintendent Joseph P. Burke will be judged in
the coming months on achievement gains - especially among minority students - on
the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests.
School Committee members have worked out an evaluation
system for the year that began July 1, setting up specific point gains students
must make for Burke to be considered a success. The system will be formally
voted on in November, but appears to have support of members....
.... Burke's success with minority achievement in Miami was a key reason he was
hired two years ago to run city schools.
In Springfield, Burke will be expected to move MCAS
scores up by at least 5 percent per year for the next three years, with greater
gains than that for black and Hispanic children. The goals list made public
yesterday also calls for a decrease in the failure rates by at least 15 percent
during three years.....
Boston Globe, 10/21: Some schools find MCAS appeals
process daunting
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/294/metro/Some_schools_find_MCAS_appeals_process_daunting-.shtml
Brockton High School principal Eugene S. Marrow says the
MCAS appeals process for students who fail the graduation test by a slight
margin is so complicated that he wonders whether state officials made it
cumbersome on purpose.
'Is that what you did? You made it so difficult because
you don't want appeals?'' Marrow asked rhetorically.
Brockton High - the largest school in the state -
estimates it must screen as many as 200 members of the class of 2003 for
possible appeals. ''You're talking about a task that's daunting,'' Marrow said.
But as the first two students in the Commonwealth filed
their appeals last week, state officials defended the new process against
criticism by officials in some urban districts. They said it's crucial that
schools provide an array of evidence - including teacher recommendations and
grade comparisons - to show whether a student who hasn't passed the MCAS knows
enough to graduate.
''We're trying to make it real,'' state Education
Commissioner David P. Driscoll said. ''To suggest that we purposely made it
difficult is ridiculous ... I hope every kid that's deserving of an appeal comes
in.''
Under the appeals process, students who come close to
passing the MCAS can receive their diploma if they show through other work that
they're performing at the same level as students who have passed it. Beginning
with the class of 2003, students must pass both the English and math portions of
the 10th-grade Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System in order to
graduate.
To qualify for an appeal, students must have failed the
MCAS three times and scored at least 216. A score of 220 is passing. Students
also must have a 95 percent attendance rate and participation in tutoring or
other MCAS help at their schools.
Once they've screened out students who don't meet those
criteria, schools can then build a case for the students who are eligible.
Appeals must include teacher recommendations, work samples, and calculations
that show how the students' grades stack up against those of other students who
took the same courses but passed the MCAS.
Superintendents file the appeals, which a state board of
counselors and educators will judge. The panel's recommendations go to Driscoll,
who has final approval. In work sessions with school districts earlier this
month, state officials said that if schools file appeals by the end of October,
the state will try to make decisions before students would have to take the
December MCAS test. That's the last time seniors can take the exam and get
results in time for graduation....
.... At New Bedford High School, where about 150 members of the class of 2003
still must pass the test to graduate, administrators this fall are meeting
individually with those students' parents and trying to prepare the seniors for
the December retest. The appeals will have to wait until the retest is over,
principal Joseph Oliver said.
''I don't have the staff to take a multipronged
approach,'' Oliver said. ''And we thought it was very important that the parents
become involved early in the process.''
In Boston, where state officials estimate about 1,600
students still have to pass MCAS, some students might be eligible to appeal now.
But Boston also plans to delay filing appeals until after the December retest -
partly in hopes of reducing the volume of appeals paperwork, said Timothy
Knowles, Boston's deputy superintendent for teaching and learning.
''We don't want to write teacher recommendations for kids
who won't need them,'' Knowles said. ''It surprises me that a lot of districts
are gearing this up right now.'' ....
.... ''It does require effort on the part of the superintendent and I think
rightfully so,'' said Jeff Nellhaus, state associate commissioner for student
assessment. ''They're going to have to ask the question right out of the box,
`Is it going to be worth it to go to bat for this kid?'''
If James Bishop hasn't passed the 10th-grade MCAS by the
time his classmates are trying on caps and gowns, it won't be for lack of
trying. The Brockton High senior stays after school twice a week for help on
math, attends an MCAS math class, and occasionally sees a tutor at lunchtime.
Except for math, Bishop, 18, is generally a B student, and he
says he's missed only four days of school in 12 years.
But after three tries at the MCAS test, the math part is
still tripping him up: ''I'm nervous every test I take,'' said Bishop, who
dreams of going to college and then becoming a firefighter. ....
Lowell Sun, 10/20: MCAS: A question of schooling, wealth;
Background, income drive success, failure on state test
http://www.lowellsun.com/Stories/0,1413,105%257E4746%257E937108,00.html
Wealthy towns score far better than poorer communities on
the state-mandated MCAS test.
Likewise, the percentage of residents who have high school or college degrees is
a top predictor of MCAS success.
"There are very different opportunities provided to
different kids," said Monty Neill, executive director of FairTest, an
anti-standardized testing advocacy group. "The test measures both the
opportunities and some limited slice of useful learning."
The Sun looked at two socioeconomic factors the median
household income and the percent of adults who have high school and college
education based on data from the 2000 U.S. Census.
The Sun also totaled MCAS scores for 192 school districts
in grades 4-8. (Grade 10 scores were omitted because of the number of school
district lines that change in high school.)
The analysis showed:
Of the 10 wealthiest communities in the state, seven are
also among the top scorers on MCAS. Carlisle, which had the second-highest
income level in the state, also had the second-highest MCAS scores. Westford,
which ranks eighth in terms of income level, was 14th on average MCAS scores.
The seven worst-scoring districts on the MCAS are all
poor urban areas. Lowell, which ranked in the bottom 10 of MCAS scorers, was
20th from the bottom on the salary scale. In terms of adults who have a high
school diploma, Lowell ranked 345th out of 351 cities and towns.....
.... "By themselves, school districts cannot overcome the effects of poverty. It
is not only mistaken, it is dangerous to assume that they can. It's true that
more resources were provided to those schools, and if they use the resources
well, they can improve what happens in the schools," Neill said. "We know there
are good schools supporting low-income kids, and some excellent and many good
teachers in those schools. The question is how to tap the energy of those
teachers and support them."
Urban school districts like Lowell try to put the
emphasis on overcoming the challenges, putting programs in place that ensure
youngsters are well-fed every day, that students are exposed to reading early in
their lives, that older students are building aspirations about their
future.....
Springfield Union-News, 10/20: Hispanic: Student
population rises; Forcing students to pass MCAS to graduate may be driving up
the dropout rate
http://www.masslive.com/springfield/unionnews/index.ssf?/base/news-2/103510145365591.xml
SPRINGFIELD - Enrollment in city schools jumped by nearly
300 this year, an increase due solely to an ongoing rise in the Hispanic
population.
The annual Oct. 1 count of public school students shows a
total 26,900 children in preschool through grade 12, over last year's 26,621.
The additional 279 students represent a mixture of more Hispanics - 526 in all -
and 250 fewer whites.....
...."Our numbers reflect what's happening in the city as a whole. The Hispanic
population is the fastest growing in the city," said School Committee Vice
Chairman Marjorie J. Hurst.
For many, the rising numbers of Hispanic children serves
to intensify a call for programs and learning approaches that will spur a
corresponding jump in academic achievement.
Hispanic children have long held up the bottom end of scores on standardized
tests, including the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests.
Hispanic students also have the lowest rates of attendance and the highest
dropout counts in the system.
"This is no longer a Hispanic issue," said Armando
Feliciano, coordinator for extended adult and community programs for the School
Department.
"If almost half of our children are Hispanic and many of
them are either not achieving or failing, this is an issue that the entire city
needs to think about. It's a matter of economics and the future of Springfield,"
he said. ....
....Racial and ethnic breakdowns for this year's MCAS scores have yet to be made
public.
But last year, Hispanic students were at the bottom,
failing at the highest rates and chalking up the lowest average scores. Black
and Hispanic students failed at or near double the rates of their Asian and
white counterparts.
After the first round of tests, for example,
three-quarters of 10th-grade Hispanics failed the mathematics test, as compared
with 71 percent of blacks, 41 percent of whites and 30 percent of Asians.
And while officials say Hispanics made gains this year on
the tests, Feliciano warned the public to take a close look at the trends.
"We have to be careful before we wave our flags and say
MCAS scores are going up. It may be that the bottom end of our scorers are
dropping out of school," he said. ....
Springfield Union-News, 10/20: Education partnership
celebrated; A 3-year-old program with UMass is expected to raise poor MCAS test
scores as well as groom future Holyoke educators
http://www.masslive.com/chicopee/unionnews/index.ssf?/base/news-2/103510143865592.xml
City officials and representatives of the University of
Massachusetts School of Education celebrated their grant-funded partnership
which will foster leadership in the Holyoke School District and help develope
administrators....
.... Funded with a $783,000 grant from the Department of Education, the program
will train 18 Holyoke teachers and administrators seeking a state license to
serve as principals, provide 10 days a year of professional development to
existing principals and assistant principals, and bring key staffers from the
UMass Department of Education to serve as mentors to principals
and license candidates.
Jeffrey W. Eiseman, associate professor at the School of Education's department
of educational policy, research, and administration, wrote and secured the
grant....
.... The School of Education expects the program to increase student scores on
the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System test, reverse the outflow of
students from city schools, and retain the district's best staff.
New Bedford Standard-Times, 10/20: As education evolves,
so does textbooks' place
http://www.s-t.com/daily/10-02/10-20-02/a01lo003.htm
..... The textbook is not the sacred and singular teaching tool it
once was.....
Today, the state sets the curriculum and schools buy
books that best address those guidelines, [Fairhaven elementary school principal
Christine] Hardman said.
"Now that we're frameworks-driven, we buy a lot of
ancillary materials that support the frameworks," [New Bedford Asst. Supt.
Eileen] Kenney said.
With the world changing so fast, social studies textbooks
are especially vulnerable to the passage of time. That's become a problem for
school systems that haven't updated texts in a while but are waiting for the
state to revise its social studies framework.
Hardman said school systems have had a hard time finding
a fourth-grade social studies book that addresses MCAS concerns.
As a result, she's heard of some school districts
abandoning fourth-grade social studies textbooks altogether, for now. "Teachers
are creating their own materials, instead," she said.
Recently, the Dartmouth parents of a Cushman School
fourth-grader couldn't believe their eyes when they paged through their
daughter's social studies book.
Published in 1988, it calls the Soviet Union the world's largest country, and
refers to "Indians," rather than "Native-Americans," according to the girl's
father, who asked to remain anonymous..... ....
.... Ms. Kenney said the city's oldest elementary school social studies book is
one published in 1993. "We've held off because there have been so many changes
in the frameworks." There is also a math text from 1994.
"I'm more concerned about upgrading math than social
studies," Ms. Kenney said, "because that's one of our weak areas, and we want to
align books to the frameworks.
"It's very, very costly. You can't do a $1 to $2 million
adoption and then say, 'Gee, it doesn't match the framework,'" she said, adding
that this is a change for the better. "It's better to have the frameworks
telling us what to teach than having the textbooks telling us."
Social studies texts are generally seen as the ones
requiring the most frequent updates. But they've taken a back seat to English
and math books, thanks to the MCAS push on those subjects. ....
WashPost/New Bedford Standard-Times, 10/20: Star educator
gives anti-MCAS movement credibility
http://www.s-t.com/daily/10-02/10-20-02/b06wn077.htm
Deborah Meier did not have to worry much about
standardized tests when she created the now-famous Central Park East School in
East Harlem. It was 1974. Neither American educators nor American newspapers had
begun what today is intense annual scrutiny of test results.
Few people expected much out of Meier's low-income
students. Administrators were willing to let her experiment with having children
learn the way graduate students do -- in small seminars, debating key points
with enthusiastic teachers and researching questions of their own choosing. Her
principal assessments were reviews of written work and interviews of individual
students about what they had learned.
The startling fact that this worked, that Central Park
East graduates went on to success in college and the workplace, is now a major
irritant for the federal plan to improve schools through standardized exams.
Meier, distressed at the effect of such tests on her new Mission Hill School in
Boston, is giving the small and politically weak anti-testing movement an
authority and credibility it has never had. ....
.... William C. Cala, superintendent of the Fairport (N.Y.) Central School
District, said new data are revealing the dangers of relying on standardized
exams to determine school ratings and student promotion.
In New York, he said, "the gap in performance between
large urban centers and other public schools has widened. ... Staff development
no longer addresses teacher improvement, but rather test scoring and alignment
of curricula to the tests."
And nationally, he added, good teachers are fleeing the
profession and students are dropping out of school.
Cala cited several New York City schools, including the
Urban Academy, Fannie Lou Hamer High School and the El Puente Academy, that
"serve the poor, people of color and English language learners and beat the hell
out of any school using high-stakes testing." ....
Fitchburg Sentinel and Enterprise, 10/20: O'Brien, Romney
aim to break mold on education
http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/Stories/0,1413,106%257E4992%257E937043,00.html
Democrat Shannon O'Brien and Republican Mitt Romney both
say education is among their top priorities if elected governor, and each has
proposed a plan to remove the obstacles they say are blocking some
schoolchildren from receiving a top-quality education.
Regardless of which candidate is elected, the next
governor will take over at a time of budget crisis, which will have an impact on
his or her ability to make changes, said William Guenther, president of Mass.
Insight Education, a nonprofit corporation focused on improving student
achievement in the state's public schools......
..... There are some areas where the candidates agree: Both support a
standards-based curriculum and would maintain the MCAS test as a graduation
requirement, for example.
On at least one major point, they disagree: O'Brien
supports a revised bilingual-education law adopted earlier this year that gives
choices to school districts in teaching English to students who aren't fluent in
the language. Romney supports a ballot initiative going before voters on
Election Day that would mandate students be placed in a one-year English
immersion program before moving into English-speaking classrooms....
AP wire/New Bedford Standard-Times, 10/20: Ed board
chairman preparing to move on
http://www.s-t.com/daily/10-02/10-20-02/b06sr076.htm
Jim Peyser doesn't need an MCAS tutor to read between the
lines of the upcoming gubernatorial election.
If Democrat Shannon P. O'Brien defeats Republican Mitt
Romney, it's likely the end of the Peyser era as chairman of the Board of
Education.
"I've got to operate on the assumption that come January,
I might need to find a new job," Peyser said.
If the Republicans do keep the office they've held for
the past 12 years, Peyser's roles -- board chairman and acting Gov. Jane M.
Swift's top education adviser -- could expand under Romney. He's already serving
as a campaign adviser.
Other state leaders are certain to be replaced no matter
who wins Nov. 5, but few make an impact on their field as much as Peyser, who
also heads the Education Management Audit Council, an autonomous state board
that evaluates school performance.
"All roads in public education seem to lead to Jim Peyser,"
said Catherine Boudreau, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association,
which backs O'Brien. "He advises the governor as to what policies should exist.
He is in charge of the agency that implements the policies. He is in charge of
the agency that evaluates (performance). That is not healthy for any system."
.....
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