"Massachusetts Students Need Deeper Science Education, Not Another MCAS Test"
May 26, 2005
To Our Senators and Representatives and the State Board of Education:
As scientists and science educators we understand and deeply value the
importance of an excellent education in the basic sciences for all
Massachusetts middle and high school students. In "Science for All Americans1"
and other authoritative reports, our national scientific leadership clearly
identified the need to replace rote learning methods with inquiry-based
instruction. Such teaching places scientific method - experiments, data
gathering, observation and interpretation - at the center of instruction. This
requires investment in laboratory facilities and supplies, teacher training
and professional development, computer access, and resources for projects and
field trips.
Tragically, the proposal from the State Department of Education to
institute a science MCAS test as a high school graduation requirement will
undermine quality science education. It runs counter to the recommendations of
the great majority of professional groups with expertise in science teaching
and learning. High stakes exams are among the most effective means of
alienating students from science. Such tests replace direct experience,
observation, and performance with rote learning and drill-and-kill
instructional methodologies.
The proposal from the Dept. of Education will not raise the standard for
science education; rather it will almost certainly lower the quality of the
instruction. The multiple areas of science and technology are too important
for our economy and society to be relegated to one-size-fits-all standardized
tests. The National Academy of Sciences has stated that high stakes decisions
should not be based on standardized test scores.2
We cannot narrow the achievement gap by replacing teaching with test
preparation. Rather, narrowing the gap requires a system that enriches the
educational experiences of low-income and disadvantaged students and does not
penalize them for gaps in their background. Massachusetts school districts
vary greatly in science and laboratory resources and accessibility; thus,
there is little possibility that a standardized test could provide a fair,
accurate or equitable form of student assessment.
The world of the 21st century requires students be able to
observe accurately and think critically, and to apply their education in the
sciences to pressing social and economic needs. The appropriate assessments
for these skills are performance and experience based. They include research
projects, study design and conducts, lab reports, poster presentations and
model building, with limited and judicious use of standardized exams.
Performance-based assessments have a long tradition in vocational education,
the arts, and natural sciences.
We urge you our elected officials and the Board of Education to:
1) Suspend the premature and unsound proposal for high stakes science MCAS
tests;
2) Focus on ensuring that every Massachusetts middle school and high school
has the material and staff resources to provide authentic laboratory
instruction and field experience;
3) Implement the intent of the 1993 Education Reform Act calling for
multiple assessments of student achievement, through the development of
performance-based assessments in the sciences as well as other subject areas.
1
Science for all Americans, Project 2061, American Association for
the Advancement of Science, Washington DC 1989.
2
High Stakes: Testing for Tracking, Promotion and Graduation,
(Edited by Jay P. Heubert and Robert M. Hauser), National Research Council
(1999)
Jonathan King (Chair)
Prof. of Molecular Biology
MIT
Prof. Jeanne Bamberger, emerita
Former Director, Teacher Education Program
MIT
Meg A. Bond, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
Director, Center for Women & Work
University of Massachusetts Lowell
Barbara Bryant
Associate Director, Millennium Pharmaceuticals
Vice President, International Society for Computational Biology
Sean Decatur
Professor of Chemistry
Mount Holyoke College
Eleanor Duckworth
Professor of Education
Harvard University
June Foster
Senior Scientist, Center for Science Education
Education Development Center, Inc.
Robert L. Fried,
Associate Professor of Education,
Northeastern University School of Education
Dr. Eugene D. Gallagher
Associate Professor
Dept. of Environmental, Earth & Ocean Sciences
University of Massachusetts Boston
George E. Hein
Professor Emeritus
Lesley University
Bruce Jackson
Associate Professor,
Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology
UMass/Lowell
Melissa Kosinski-Collins
Biology Teaching Fellow,
MIT
David E. Krebs, DPT, PhD
Director, MGH Biomotion Laboratory
MGH Institute of Health Professions
Toby Kusmer, Esq
Patent Attorney
Brookline
Ronald Latanison
Prof. of Materials Science and Engineering
MIT
Edward Loechler
Prof. of Biochemistry
Boston University
Bradford R MacGowan, Ed.D.
President, New England Association for College Admission Counseling
Benadette Manning
Secondary Mathematics Teacher
Boston Public Schools
Monty Neill, Ed.D.
Co-Executive Director
National Center For Fair & Open Testing, Inc.
Joseph A. O'Sullivan
Award Wining Earth Science Teacher
President, Brockton Education Association
David Ozonoff, MD, MPH
Boston University School of Public Health.
Jacqueline Piret
Prof. of Microbiology
Northeastern University
Laura Punnett, Sc.D.
Professor, Department of Work Environment
Center for Women and Work
Univ. of Mass. Lowell
Gilly Puttick
Senior Scientist
TERC
Cambridge, MA
Stephen Raso
Sr. Research Scientist
Analytical Biochemistry and Biophysics
Wyeth BioPharma
Madeleine Kangsen Scammell
DSc. Candidate
Boston U. School of Public Health
George Stiny
Professor of Architecture
MIT
Rhoda Unger
Resident Scholar, Women's Studies Research Center
Brandeis University
Graham Walker
American Cancer Society Prof of Biology
Howard Hughes Medical Research Institute. MIT
R. Bruce Ward, Ed.D.
Director, Projects ARIES and SEDNet
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
