There’s a bit of a firestorm brewing in New Bedford over the requirement that students pass the state MCAS exam as well as satisfying the school’s other requirements before they can receive a high school diploma. The New Bedford school committee, backed by the mayor, voted to allow students who don’t pass MCAS but meet other requirements to receive a “general diploma” (this “general” diploma would be different in some way from the state-sanctioned diploma that you can get only by passing MCAS). The move is apparently not legal under state education law, and Governor Romney has threatened to withhold $100 million of state aid to New Bedford schools (about 92% of their budget) if they persist. The mayor says he doesn’t think Romney will follow through, but Romney said “oh, yes I will,” to which the mayor replied, “oooooohhhh, no you won’t,” whereupon Romney retorted with a swift “OOOOOHHHHHHHH, yes I will.” The mayor then parried with “nuh uh,” but Romney was ready with a devastating “yuh-huh!” We anxiously await the mayor’s next move.
Meanwhile, New Bedford state Rep. Antonio Cabral has filed a bill to allow school districts to do what New Bedford says it wants to do, but it’s unclear if the bill is going anywhere.
Lt. Gov. candidate Deb Goldberg has said that she backs New Bedford’s efforts, and supports Cabral’s bill. From her press release:
âI applaud Mayor Lang and the New Bedford School Committee for standing up for whatâs right. Unlike Mitt Romney, they know whatâs happening on the local level and can see that the MCAS is not working,â Goldberg said. âWe need to dramatically reform our state education policy, and we need to do it now. I firmly support the legislation filed yesterday by New Bedford State Representative Antonio Cabral, which would allow all cities and towns to issue general diplomas like the one offered in New Bedford.â
âI am appalled that Romney has responded by threatening to cut off state education funding to New Bedford,â said Goldberg. âSince 2002, his administration has slashed state aid to New Bedford, and now he wants to cut it off all together. Depriving these schools and kids of the resources they need to succeed is irresponsible and irrational.â
As far as I know, none of the other Lt. Gov. candidates {UPDATE: other than Sam Kelley, who as alert commenter alexwill notes below also supports New Bedford’s stance}, nor any of the Gov. candidates, has weighed in on this controversy. And the thot plickened this morning, as the New Bedford Superintendent of Schools has now said that he won’t sign the “general” diplomas because they don’t comply with state law. Clearly, this intensifying dispute can be resolved only via an internet poll, which appears below the fold.
It’s compliance with the law.
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Hey, if New Bedford is ok with blowing off their obligation to follow the MCAS regs, duly passed and adopted by the legislature, why isn’t it ok for me to acquire an AK-47 in GA and drive it up to MA? I know it’s banned here, but I disagree with the law.
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If New Bedford can pick and choose, why can’t I?
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Deb Goldberg? Anybody?
but diplomas don’t kill people … well, you know the rest.
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Actually, it’s this kind of false analogy that has in part been driving the immigration debate. The Sensenbrenners of the world want to make a person’s presence in the U.S. without appropriate documentation a felony (I think he even wanted it to be an “aggravated felony” at one point, didn’t he?), because they’re “breaking our laws” – as though there were some sort of moral equivalence between being an undocumented alien and killing or raping someone, or being a drug dealer who destroys neighborhoods. The latter are real felonies. I’m not saying that illegal immigration isn’t an important issue that should be addressed. But for God’s sake, let’s keep a little perspective. < /off topic rant>
We can go squirrel hunting together in the Common.
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Deb Goldberg? Anyone?
I just saw this over on Sam Kelley’s site right after reading this, so he’s supporting the town and school too:
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The MCAS is terrible, and the graduation requirement just makes it worse. I think new Bedford is taking an important action of civil disobediance, and I think Romney is absolutely wrong to to cut the towns funding.
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PS: this post got me to finally really check out Goldberg, and she seems like a really interesting and competent candidate. She’s now tied with Kelley and Murray for my second choice, though I’m still leaning strongly towards Silbert.
There are many definitions of “civil disobedience” but I think most people agree that it involves private citizens working to change the public realm (the state) through some form of illegal action as dissent.
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I’ve always found it a little disconcerting when mayors, LGs, principals or other government officials commit civil disobedience. I don’t have a problem with civil disobedience, as some do, but I do think it should be a last resort when trying to decide policy of a nation, state, or in this case, the school district.
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Using non-violent civil disobedience as a last resort in a democratic (small d) society indicates three things about dissenters. First, dissenters have a desire to work within a given system for as long as possible, displaying their willingness to abide by laws that are just. Second, dissenters wish to change society towards what they see as a moral good. Finally, dissent indicates a desire to be involved in the civic process they feel they are left out of, which can be good for participatory democracy. The problem with public officials doing civil disobedience is that they’re already heavily involved in the civic process and they have much more power to change policy than everyday citizens. Moreover, they take oaths to uphold the laws, whatever they may be.
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To me, this move by Goldberg seems like a move to get left-wing activists interested in her campaign without having to actually come up with new ideas.
it’s a move to show solidarity with cities and towns who are sick of having unfunded mandates stuffed down our throats when we can’t even pay the bills.
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Frankly, I’m a little surprised, it’s awfully early to be committing to a position on this and Deb the candidate must feel pretty strongly about it. The smart political move here is to wait and see, nobody’s paying attention to the race yet and positions taken now can haunt you down the road.
While I agree with New Bedford in principle, because I think using standardized tests as the main basis for graduation is unfair, there are better ways to speak out.
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Make a public statement or hold a rally infavor of Beacon Hill legislation to change the Education Requirement. If Romney does decide to pull funding, since he isn’t worried about re-election it will only hurt New Bedford in the long run. The local politicians in New Bedford should be looking out for the public interest. By risking the loss of education funding they are not gaining anything. There are legal routes they could have taken.
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Also, I don’t think Goldberg is gaining any real ground by taking a stance on this issue.
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It’s not the MCAS itself that’s the problem. It’s how the schools deal with the requirement. In my experience with the public schools in my area, they spend a lot to time “teaching to the test” rather than teaching the critical thinking skills needed not only just to pass this test, but to get kids ready for higher education.
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And uh… well… this was a deciding factor on why we moved my son from our local school system, to a charter school.
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We need REAL education reform here in Massachusetts (and in the US for that matter) we don’t need the postering and games from politicians, we need a real plan for real results.
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We need Deval Patrick for Governor.
but of course schools are going to teach to the test if they want to keep their graduation rate up. Ideally, they’d teach everyone great critical thinking skills and have no problems in the classroom and every kid would be sharp enough to apply those critical thinking skills to a test they haven’t been prepared for. But in real life?
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I’m not sure what I think about testing and I think there’s a middle ground. But I will say that I’m awfully sick of top-down, unfunded state and federal mandates.
on unfunded mandates. Jeez, talk about political posturing!
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I think there is a place for testing, but I also think that if teachers are given more freedom to teach thinking skills rather than just testing skills more kids would do better on the tests. Some school districts (like the one I live in) are so worried that they really lock down the curriculum. One size does not always fit all.
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That’s just my view as a parent, I don’t have any professional experience.
“Teaching to the Test” has become a major problem in public education around the country. Standardized testing is as much a test of the schools ability to teach as it is the students ability to learn. The problem is the way in which standardized tests are administered, and the span of information covered in standardized tests across the country. In NY all students are required to take Regents Exams in every HS subject (Physics, Chemistry, American History, Math 1, 2, 3). These serve as final exams for students and require teachers to cover specific periods of history or information in order to ensure their students are prepared. I think the tests should be restructured to test for basic critical thinking skills expected at each level.
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Charter schools is the one thing I disagree with Deval Patrick on, though I am supporting him anyway. I feel that money that goes to charter schools and voucher programs could be better invested in our public school system to improve the education our students receive.
Back in my day I seem to recall that you could get a Regents Diploma if you passed enough exams, but you could also opt out and get a “school diploma”. That seems to me to be exactly what the folks in New Bedford are trying to do?
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That doesn’t seem like such a big deal to me. Of course students were better off if they got a Regents Diploma, but not every kid got one.
you can get a Regents Diploma or Regular Diploma, and obviously the latter looks much better when applying for jobs or college.
Oddly enough, I also disagree with Deval on charter schools.
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Deval supports Horace Mann Charter Schools which is fine, but I also support Commonwealth Charter Schools. The differences, as well as other issues related to charter schools can be read here at IssueSource.org
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Charter schools can be laboratories for learning that can be applied to non-charter public schools. My son’s school is part of the Essential Schools Coalition which has partnered with Leominster High School to create five smaller schools that follow the common principles of The Coalition of Essential Schools. I don’t think there should be unlimited amounts of charter schools opened, but I do think they serve an important purpose.
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For my family it boiled down to this: my son is not a genius, but he is bright and inquisitive and those traits were not valued at his former school. We wanted a learning environment where he was challenged and supported and at his school he is.
So Deb Goldberg and Sam Kelley support New Bedford’s efforts to graduate kids from high school who can’t read, write, add, or subtract at an absurdly low level? That helps this (disclosure – Patrick-supporting) delegate whittle his choices down to Silbert and Murray.
The students at issue here have passed their courses and fulfilled all of the graduation requirements from the New Bedford Schools. They simply can’t pass the MCAS test. (For whatever reason.) The “high stakes” aspect of MCAS is the problem here. To say Goldberg and Kelley want to let underperforming students graduate is a mischaracterization of their positions.
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In full disclosure, I’m a Kelley supporter and have done work for his campaign. He wants to see students held to a high standard (and the students in this particular case have met that standard) but does not want a HS diploma to rest solely on a standardized test. That’s why he came out in support of the New Bedford School Committee and why he still has my support at the convention.
“He wants to see students held to a high standard (and the students in this particular case have met that standard)”
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Sorry, but any kid who can’t pass the MCAS has not been held to any kind of standard, low or high. The MCAS bar is incredibly low. Go to the DOE site and see what kind of poor work gets a passing grade on MCAS.
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The sad reality is that our schools have failed far too many kids for far too long, some of whom graduate from high school functionally illiterate, and who are going to be left without the skills they need to succeed in life. As a school parent, I can unquestionably say that MCAS has improved public schools. I think there is still much hard work to do, but MCAS works, and any Dem who opposes MCAS will not get my vote.
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I’ll know I’m going to hear complaints back about the horrors of “teaching to the test” – in my book, at least they’re teaching something.
A minimal level of accountability is critical. MCAS is a very reasonable minimal standard. It should not, however, in my view be confused with a maximum standard. Schools should — must, for our future prosperity — teach the skills required to pass MCAS and also critical reasoning and all of the other important skills required for future success. The discussion should be about how to improve the schools so that existing standards can be toughened, not about how to reduce or eliminate the minimums that have been put in place.
I can’t really agree with any of the choices in the poll. For me, it really depends on what the other requirements for graduation are. If, as yellowdogdem says, this results in kids who “can’t read, write, add or subtract at an absurdly low level”, then of course I oppose it.
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But if NB has an entirely reasonable set of requirements that prepare students for the world at large (meaning, in other words, that they may have failed the MCAS narrowly, or that the district was not teaching to the test), then I think in principle, this is perfectly valid.
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As for the actual situation and the whole “civil disobedience by a city government” angle, I’m not sold either way…
I’m a senior in high school and find the MCAS to be reassuring. I know plenty of kids who have survived in high school only through their peers help and cheating in their classes. Alot of these kids got a wake up call when they failed the test as others in their class passesd. Students who just paid remote attention to class passed the MCAS. This test was so easy I wondered why I was nervous at all. Maybe its because from grade four on administrators and teachers just put too much emphasis on this test. Even if you fail the test the first time I believe the test gets easier than the original, but I’m not sure. So my advice is that teachers teach the classes without always bringing up the MCAS as a scapegoat for why your kids don’t gradute. MCAS is a way of setting the bar for students who slipped through the cracks. There are MCAS training classes in schools which helps kids learn skills which they other wise wouldn’t know.
Where are you from Smitty? I ask because the MCAS definitely holds a different level of significance depending on how good thet school system was beforehand. I remember when I took the MCAS I thought it was a complete waste of time and a joke. But the truth is, a good deal of kids don’t pass it, and not for the reasons you list.
the poll is supposed to be a joke – the possible answers should have tipped you off! 🙂
Is passing the MCAS a state requirement for graduation? If so, how can New Bedford decide to graduate kids without having passed the MCAS?
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Is there a provision in the law which allows cities and towns to opt out? If so, are there any consequences to opting out? What are they?
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Our legislature passed the law. Why can’t towns and cities follow it?
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Can I buy my scary AK-47 now? I know it’s “banned”, but I don’t agree with the law.
If we can get a weapon with an automatic setting, we should be able to clear most of the Common after a morning of determined effort.
Passing the 10th grade MCAS test in Language Arts and Math is a requirement of the public schools in Massachusetts. Cities and towns could could make their own localized diploma (as New Beford is doing), but they would face sanctions by the state.For example, the Commonwealth supplies money to schools to make a “foundation budget”; that is, a per-student payment that guarantees a certain level of funding for each kid in every school system. If a poor district like New Bedford got no Chapter 70 funding, it would be the kiss of death. Those schools simply can’t operate without state assistance…but along with the assistance comes the MCAS requirement. Also, I suspect that the U.Mass system would not recognize a diploma from a public school in Massachusetts that did not have the MCAS test. Private schools, pilot schools, charter schools have much more flexibility.
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As far as the “teaching to the test” charge that is constantly bandied about, try and understand what the curriculum frameworks are in this state. Essentially, every subject–Language Arts and Math in particular, but more are coming–has a curriculum framework that is broken down by skill, knowledge, and grade. If teachers are teaching using the frameworks, then when the kids take the MCAS test, they will be fine. The frameworks don’t tell teachers how to teach, nor does it prescribe a day-to-day regime of what must be taught. The frameworks are a comprehensive, reasonable guide for what kids in Massachusetts need to learn in order to get out of high school. There is no mystery here, and if a teacher is “teaching to the test” then they are not doing their job because, if they teach using the frameworks, the test will take care of itself.
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There are two conditions statistically associated with passing the MCAS test: attendance, and grade level promotion. In other words, if a student shows up regularly and is promoted from grade to grade, they have a 95% chance of passing the MCAS test. 95%. That’s pretty damn good.
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I attended the Massachusetts public schools K-12, and now I’m a teacher here. The positive difference these frameworks and testing have made is remarkable. There are always going to be kids who, for one reason or another, don’t test well. There is an appeal process in place for kids who work hard, show up, do well, and just can’t get past the test. I can tell you that the level and quality of education being offered now in Massachusetts is about a thousand times better than when I was here. The schools have better funding, better teachers, and much greater accountability. No system is perfect, of course, and there are always going to be gliches and problems. That said…so far, so good.
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The kids in school today need to be able to compete in an economic environment that requires a lot of knowledge and skills. In the past, Massachusetts may have had the luxury of simply pushing kids through school and hope that they would surive out there in the world. We don’t have that option now, and we don’t have the right to make school easy for anyone. There are still big, big challenges, especially in regards to poor school districts and urban schools. So…let’s fix the problems and keep marching forward.
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So says me. New Beford is making a mistake. It’s the kids who will suffer.
Not that long ago, New Bedford got about 110% of its education money from the rest of us in the state and used the surplus to buy fire trucks! It STILL gets 92% from the state – why should that be? Why should my tax dollars completely subsidze the educational expenses of a town where I do not live? My school system gets about 14%.
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They don’t want that money? GREAT! WE’LL take the trickle down, maybe get 19%. It would be the best we did in YEARS.
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As far as teaching to the test goes – if they teach to the test, at least we know they are taught THAT much. Before it was up in the air.
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BTW – we have a great charter school here in Orleans, and my own child went there.
“Why should my tax dollars completely subsidze the educational expenses of a town where I do not live?”
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Because you live in the same state and country as the kids in New Bedford do. You’ll be sharing space with them in the same economy, the same political arena, and in our civil and civic society. Try a little enlightened self-interest, Lord Porcupine. The peasants will thank you for it.
And they don’t need to share with us because…Why?
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Did you know there are more kids as a percentage of pupils in the Federal school lunch program, an objective measure of poverty, in my regional school system than there are in Lowell?
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Spare me the noble arguments. The formula was written for Montigny, Birmigham and Creedon – and we’ve been paying for it for 14 years.