When MTA member Jack Schneider spoke on the impact of the MCAS exams at a State House press conference in December 2022, he teared up at the emotional toll the standardized test has had on his children.
The high-stakes nature of the test, he said, "incentivizes schools to game the system, to do things like teach to the test and narrow the curriculum."
Schneider, who is also a professor of education at UMass Lowell and who studies the impact of MCAS and school rankings, recalled the painful experience the high-stakes test had on his daughter.
"We’re incentivizing schools to teach to the test, narrow the curriculum, the sort of things that pain me personally, as the father of a seventh grader in the public schools who used to love learning," said Schneider before pausing, and tearing up. "The thing that’s worse is that it exacerbates segregation. After you leave, go on (to real estate platforms) and see how they use ratings of schools to steer people toward particular neighborhoods."
The fight over high-stakes testing in Massachusetts was coming to a head in January as the MTA unveiled its five-prong legislative plan, among them, to end the destructive and punitive use of the MCAS. The high-stakes test has been a hot-button issue for students and educators since the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993, which created the MCAS accountability system.
Educators have long called for an end to high-stakes testing, saying a student’s future should not be determined by their ranking on a standardized test, but instead by their performance in high school classes.
In the new year, MTA and its allies are continuing the fight by raising public awareness about the negative impact of high-stakes testing on students. Most recently, educators and supporters are advocating for legislative approval of An Act Empowering Students and Schools to Thrive, a new bill that would end the state’s MCAS-based high school competency determination.
The Thrive Act would replace the MCAS graduation requirement with one that allows students’ districts to certify that they have satisfactorily completed coursework showing mastery of the skills, competencies and knowledge required by the state standards.
It also would eliminate state receiverships and reinstate democratic control to communities and school committees.
MTA Vice President Deb McCarthy, previously a fifth-grade teacher for 25 years in Hull, spoke at the MTA legislative briefing about the harm the high-stakes test had on her students.
"This is part of a broken system that has been going on for far too long," said McCarthy. "I needed to leave the classroom because this system is harming students and it is time to remove the harmful, high-stakes, punitive, rank-and-shame accountability system that has not done anything to address the achievement gap."
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