MCAS

As a parent and a former Cambridge School Committee member who cares deeply about setting up our children for success, I am deeply concerned about the proposed elimination of the 10th-grade assessment as a high school graduation requirement.

Last month, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education heard MCAS scores trended down. Better data was expected following a recent cash infusion kicking-in and the end of the pandemic.

Last week, test scores reported to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education missed the mark. The accountability system designed to ensure ever-improving outcomes is falling short.

Coming up on the Nov. 5 ballot is a question that will decide whether the longstanding MCAS test will remain a requirement for high school graduation statewide

Flexing its political muscle, the Massachusetts Teachers Association turned in 135,000 signatures, far more than expected, to the Secretary of State’s office in support of a ballot question that intends to remove the controversial high school graduation requirement tied to MCAS testing.

The latest MCAS scores are out, and the results are definitely alarming. Scores are significantly below pre-pandemic levels. At current trends, it would take at least eight years for Massachusetts students to catch up.

Proposed laws lifting the statewide ban on rent control, decriminalizing psychedelics, decoupling the MCAS exam from high school graduation and imposing voter-identification requirements have moved a step closer to being included on the 2024 ballot.

As a longtime teacher who has taught in both Boston and the suburbs, I have seen from all sides that MCAS has not equitably served the students of the Commonwealth and actually harms the vulnerable students the test purports to serve.

The Massachusetts Teachers Association is continuing its push for legislation that would remove MCAS exams as a graduation requirement, end state receiverships of underperforming school districts and implement performance-based assessments.

A recent paper from MIT Blueprint Labs relies on MCAS results in arguing for what would be a historic policy change: a full return to neighborhood schools.

In January, Boston Public Schools Superintendent Brenda Cassellius announced interventions in three high schools where lower-than-average standardized test scores and graduation rates could trigger state takeovers of the schools.