Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 9/29/2021
WESTERN MASS. – With legislators across the state filing bills targeting Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) testing in schools, Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester County state Sen. Jo Comerford is sponsoring a bill that would remove passing the 10th grade MCAS as a graduation requirement.
Comerford said one of the primary goals of the bill is to delink MCAS testing as a requirement for graduation.
“We really are focusing there because we believe we should and can win the delinking of MCAS from a graduation diploma as part of this year’s gains in public education. My imperative here comes from constituents, I had outreach from educators, principals, caregivers and students about the impact of high-stakes testing on their lives,” she said.
One of the biggest concerns Comerford said she has with MCAS testing is that the test can foreclose a student’s future depending on if they pass or fail.
“The MCAS can decide if a student can get a certificate of attendance, or a high school diploma and it is just a single test. With this bill we are saying it is wrong to foreclose on a students’ future because of the results of one test and we are saying we must rethink the MCAS exam,” she said.
Since the beginning of MCAS testing, Comerford said the gap between general education and special education has grown.
“The data shows the test is not closing the gap between special education and general education students. The gap has widened during the same time we have been giving the MCAS exam,” she said.
While this bill would not put a system in place to replace the MCAS, Comerford said she hopes it paves the way for community discussion and brainstorming to come up with alternatives.
“I do not think it is possible for the legislation to do that nuanced piece of work. It sets up a very credible system of piloting different ways to assess and evaluate schools, educators and students that would involve several different stakeholders. I am hopeful we will get some bill out that will allow for a robust process,” she said.
Along with removing passing the MCAS as a graduation requirement, Comerford said the bill will also include grant funding for districts to participate in pilot programs for new alternatives to MCAS.
“I think it is a good idea if we are asking educational institutions to participate in a pilot program, to offer them some renumeration knowing the funding for public education is not sufficient. I think it is a great leveler so it would mean not only the wealthy districts will feel like they should do this,” she said.
If the bill is passed, Comerford said she hopes it relieves a significant burden on students and families across the state.
“I hope it relieves an unforgivable burden on students and school communities, it is unforgivable, it is rigid, it is puritanical, it is misguided, it is destructive right now what we are doing with MCAS, and research says the same thing. I hope it relieves that burden by allowing a student to do requisite coursework and receive a diploma,” she said.
By removing the MCAS as a graduation requirement, Comerford said she hopes it helps close the gap between general education and special education through a new evaluation system to help the students that need it most.
“Because I care about the vulnerable cohorts of students, I want an evaluation that tells us what we should be doing on behalf of those students to close the gap between general education and special education. Tests have the ability to be guiding stars to show what these students need, and we need a process of evaluation that allows us to be smarter about how to do better for these students,” she said.
While she said she hopes the bill is passed sooner, Comerford said the deadline to move the bill is by the end of 2022.
“We have between now and the end of 2022 to move this bill, which would mean the Education Committee decides it was valuable and moves it favorably. Then each branch would have to decide they want to work on it before moving it to the floor, so there is a huge clock ticking between now and the end of 2022,” she said.
Comerford added that there is an interest across the legislature to change the way the state handles standardized testing.
“Clearly there is legislative interest in those bills because there are so many kinds of bills that have been filed. I am not alone in the legislature about being concerned about MCAS testing,” she said.