the education reform Act of 1993 established curriculum frameworks for our public schools and mandated a way “to measure outcomes and results regarding student performance, and to improve the effectiveness of curriculum and instruction.”
It also required “a variety of assessment instruments…assessing whether students are meeting the academic standards…as much as practical, such instruments shall include consideration of work samples, projects and portfolios, and shall facilitate direct and authentic gauges of student performance.”
The assessment that was created, however, is the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS), a set of standardized tests used both to evaluate school performance and to determine individual student competency. The tests, as implemented, meet neither the intent nor the objectives of the Education Reform Act, and using MCAS in a high-stakes manner directly counters many of the goals set forth in 1993.
After five years of MCAS as a high-stakes graduation requirement, we now have enough information and experience to know how it is succeeding and where it needs to be refined. We have seen better allocation of resources to struggling school systems, and many students who previously would have been ignored or written off are now integrated into the classroom and challenged to achieve.
However, we have also seen the unintended consequences of high-stakes testing, such as narrowing of the curriculum, increasing numbers of drop-outs, and high school graduates who are still not well-prepared for higher education or the workforce. We can and must do better.
Testing in and of itself is not a bad thing, and we are not advocating for the removal of MCAS testing in our schools. We do, however, believe that there are more appropriate ways to implement and use the tests. To address these issues, House Bill 561—the MCAS Reform Bill—was filed in the state Legislature by over 30 representatives and senators and with the support of a wide coalition of organizations.
The bill creates a committee of 31 members, drawn from diverse backgrounds in education, business, and testing to develop a system that incorporates multiple relevant measures of performance. By taking the decision out of the Legis-lature and beyond the Board of Education, we hope to end up with a system that will best serve all students.
In states throughout the country, student assessment is done with multiple measures including course work, projects, in-depth study, and grades, along with standardized test scores. By gauging student achievement and competency in a number of ways, we give students opportunities to demonstrate their strengths, not limit them to their weaknesses. Multiple measures can ensure that high school graduates not only succeed in passing a test, but are actually well-prepared to succeed beyond the 12th grade.
our current testing system has created an educational environment in which passing MCAS is not only the primary objective; it has become the be all and end all of what students are offered. We have seen numerous districts in which schools, trying to allocate scarce resources, have cut programs for arts, AP classes, physical education, extracurricular activities, and other non-tested subjects in order to hire MCAS remediation teachers and offer extra test preparation classes.
In Waltham, a revised schedule this spring cut music, drama, art, and even health classes in the name of preparing students for MCAS.
In Winchester’s McCall Middle School, expanding school enrollment and a shrinking budget have led to a strategy known as “retreating to the core,” where non-tested subjects are sacrificed to maintain high MCAS scores.
The narrowing of curricula can also be linked to a lack of interest in education among those students most at risk for dropping out. Districts struggling to improve their MCAS scores wage a parallel battle to keep students in school; a battle that MCAS is forcing them to fight with one hand tied behind their back.
Data from the Department of Education shows that students who have not passed MCAS are ten times more likely to drop out of school. Furthermore, a four-year decline in the dropout rate ended in 2002—when MCAS became a graduation requirement—and we have since seen a 32 percent increase in the annual number of students who drop out of school.
These numbers only degrade further when looking at students of color. African American students are more than twice as likely to drop out of school as their white counterparts. For Hispanic students, the likelihood is three times higher. Sadly, these achievement gaps were narrowing before 2002 and have since risen to pre-1999 levels.
Among students with limited English proficiency (LEP) the dropout rate increased by over 50 percent between 2002 and 2005 alone and is almost three times higher than the rate for non-LEP students. Students from low-income families follow a similar trend, with a 25 percent increase over the same three years and a rate over twice as high as their non low-income counterparts. Supposed improvements in MCAS scores mean little to those students who are being shown the door.
A lack of educational stimulation was directly cited in a 2006 report on youth violent crime by the Boston City Council. The report asserts, “Students that participated in the forums and other discussions expressed massive frustration and boredom with the endless drilling and practice of the MCAS test and test preparation. Electives have been replaced with test preparation. After-school programs teach MCAS preparation. Far too many students describe their school experience as an MCAS-centric environment…Given the large number of annual dropouts (nearly half the number of students that graduate), as well as the pressure on teachers to improve test scores, the incentive for students to remain in school is tenuous.”
In June of this year, the Boston City Council passed a resolution endorsing the MCAS Reform Bill by a 9-3 margin.
One key way to assess the success of MCAS as a graduation requirement is to examine whether high school graduates have since improved in college and business performance. As Education Reform called for, have we improved “the effectiveness of curriculum and instruction?” Not surprisingly, higher MCAS scores have not been matched by improvements in real-world skills.
A 2005 review of freshmen entering Massachusetts state colleges showed that 37 percent of those coming from public high schools had to take remedial courses in reading, writing, or math. This was a decrease of only 2 percent from the freshman class of 2002, the last class that graduated without having to pass MCAS. In community colleges, which accept all students with a high school diploma or GED, 65 percent of students required remediation in 2005, a decrease of only 3 percent from 2002.
MCAS has also shown little to no improvement in the quality of graduates entering the workforce. The Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education (MBAE), a coalition of businesses that strongly supports the MCAS tests, released a report in 2006 of employer perspectives on work readiness skills. Focus groups, asked to discuss perceived hiring trends relating to high school graduates, were unable to come to consensus that there was any improvement in workforce preparedness of high school graduates since the MCAS graduation requirement was implemented.
When examining job applications, “none of the employers were interested in MCAS scores.” Furthermore, the skills demanded by employers include problem-solving, carrying out multiple tasks, self-confidence, and adaptability, none of which are measured by MCAS and many of which are discouraged in an educational environment focused on test preparation. While MBAE may continue to defend MCAS as a high-stakes test, their own data beg the question, “Isn’t it time to test the test?”
These results from businesses and institutions of higher education show that while MCAS scores may be useful as a measure of school performance, they do not indicate that a student has learned the necessary skills to thrive beyond high school.
the task before us is to achieve high standards while better measuring student ability. A system of multiple assessments will keep MCAS in place and intact while giving students more opportunities to excel. Schools, while still striving to maintain high test scores, will be given greater flexibility to meet students’ individual needs and goals, providing them with broader opportunities to learn and prepare for life beyond test-taking.
A true multiple assessment, in line with the original intent of the Education Reform Act, could take many forms, as evidenced by those in place and proposed throughout the country. It could look like a recent Washington State proposal that incorporates GPAs in state and locally required courses, a final project, a long-term education plan, and yes, a standardized test. It could resemble Rhode Island’s approach, where students demonstrate real-world skills application, expand their studies in an area of personal interest, and once again, take a standardized test.
A job interview is not multiple-choice. A driver’s license test includes a standardized portion and a real-world evaluation of skills. Why do we think a standardized test is good enough to measure our students’ education?
The Education Reform Act and, later, MCAS, brought much-needed improvements to public education in Massachusetts. But once MCAS was implemented, it became sacrosanct, untouchable for fear of reverting to a time before “accountability.”
Accountability means being held responsible for the results of one’s actions. If we are to be accountable for creating good public schools for all students, then we need to examine MCAS’ flaws as well as its successes. Anything less exposes us as leaders unwilling to hold ourselves to the same standards that we demand of our students.
Carl M. Sciortino (D-Medford) is the state representative from the 34th Middlesex District and lead sponsor of House Bill 561. Martin S. Kaplan served as chairman of the Board of Education from 1992 through 1996.