We had a very active debate a few weeks ago regarding the dropping of MCAS as a graduation requirement. WELL, don’t shoot the messenger BUT the Commonwealth of Mass is working on “scrapping” the MCAS testing. YES THAT’s RIGHT “scrapping” it! The state is working towards ending the current Math and English and work towards new testing in conjunction with other states.
Many people do not even realize that the current test that assesses Grades 3-8 and Grade 10 in Math and English costs the state nearly $35,000,000 to administer each year as a single entity test. Developing a new assessment test with multiple states could reduce this number. The newer tests would be starting in school year 2014-2015.
Some people are already calling this a step in the wrong direction for the state’s educational system but many educational experts are favoring looking at the multiple state testing as a step towards national educational standards.
Lee Chauvette is a Democratic candidate for State Representative for the 2nd Franklin District.
I agree that the use on several media fronts clearly shows “scrap” and it is best to use replace.. My review and conversations and information received have all used “scrapped”.
any direct information on the proposed test replacement. It’s doubtful that it will be any better or any more useful.
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p>As a classroom teacher, my only concern is whether or not I have to revamp my test prep and curriculum.
Chester’s memo to the Board of Ed is here. That’s where you can also download a 4-pager on the so-called Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Career, or PARCC. It’s obviously an improvement on MCAS; it’s a longer title and has more letters in the acronym!
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p>But my favorites were the comments from the Worcester parents interviewed by NECN and our own Tracy Novick, from the Worcester School Committee here.
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p>While MCAS supporters worry that we’ll be lowering our standards and nobody seems to recognize the difference between standards and assessments, the overlords of education policy seem to get further and further away from the concerns of parents like those interviewed in Worcester, who worry about the stomachaches caused by test anxiety and the unfairness of judging kids’ whole school careers by standardized tests.
I think we need to have a basic knowledge/skills test for everyone (the kind that makes sure you can do arithmetic without a calculator, identify the US on an unlabelled globe, and indentify George Washington as our first President, for examples). Then maybe a different set for academic vs. vocational tracks, and possibly require passing say three subject tests set up like SAT IIs.
So one battery of tests for ELA/math, and a different battery for science and history. That would be…interesting.
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p>Of course, it’s all pretty much bs, as Paul is dancing to Obama’s “Race to the Top” tune. Once Mass. is frozen out of the money again, I imagine this will be shelved.
MCAS itself is not a villain, and the key point here isn’t whether it’s going to be replaced with another test or not. What’s important is that it not be a graduation requirement, or a way to punish schools financially. It is impossible for any standardized test to serve both as an honest and unbiased assessment, and as a high-stakes requirement. As soon as you add those stakes to the test, it becomes useless as an assessment of how schools are doing, and starts becoming a requirement for what schools must do, as well as a thing to game and distort. We deserve real assessment, and that means our standardized tests must not be a graduation or school funding requirement. It’s as simple as that, and until we fix that, the test is still a horrible idea no matter what kind of test it is.