To the editor:
Such leaders as Governor Maura Healey, Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler, and educator Bob Schwartz are urging voters to vote “No” on Ballot Question 2, which seeks to drop the MCAS graduation requirement. Reasons include the importance of a statewide student-learning measure, the multiple opportunities students have to pass the 10th grade assessment (think about that for a minute), students’ need to also meet district graduation requirements (however rich and rigorous they are), and the added challenge passage of Question 2 will pose to closing the achievement gap. Massachusetts also has virtually no statewide high school graduation curriculum requirements, and half our high schools don’t require the recommended courses the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education deems important for college and career success.
Proponents argue that teachers shouldn’t have to “teach to the test.” If they are covering the scope and rigor of the state’s education standards well, they shouldn’t need to. Classroom instruction should address as many of the standards as possible. The MCAS assessments are aligned with the standards. They are not designed to trick students, but rather to understand what they know and can do with regard to a sampling of the standards (a single assessment couldn’t cover them all). The assessments go beyond basic knowledge to measure higher-order skills needed in college, career, and life. And state education staff and teachers actively participate in creating them each year and provide guidance in avoiding biases and insensitivities.
The tests involve more than filling in bubbles. MCAS assessments have always included items to show student work and evaluate higher-order skills. These items reveal far more about student learning. Indeed, the assessments have long been considered among the best, if not the best, in the nation.
I feel for students who don’t graduate. Can’t we do more to help them? Must we eliminate the only statewide measure of student learning because we haven’t done enough?
MCAS assessments are administered late in the school year. They aren’t intended to be individually diagnostic or to immediately influence classroom teaching. Rather, they should help schools improve education programs going forward. The results can help schools enhance learning for all and narrow the performance gap. However, if Question 2 passes and students blow off the 10th grade assessments, how will educators use the results to enhance instruction? Might more resources and student time be devoted to basic rather than higher-order skills? Do we really want this for our students?
Please vote “No” on Question 2.
Peter Hofman
Lee
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