Amherst Regional board backs ending MCAS requirement for graduation

by Scott Merzbach 9 October 2024

AMHERST — A referendum question on the state’s November election ballot seeking to eliminate the requirement that public high school students pass the MCAS test to graduate is being endorsed by the Amherst Regional School Committee.

The committee on Tuesday voted 7-2 in favor of the nonbinding resolution on Question 2 on the November ballot, brought forward by Amherst representatives Jennifer Shiao and Bridget Hynes, who were joined in support by Amherst representatives Irv Rhodes and Deb Leonard, Pelham representatives William Sherr and Sarahbess Kenney and Shutesbury representative Anna Heard. Leverett representative Tilman Wolf and Amherst representative Sarah Marshall voted against the measure.

Shiao explained her reasoning for weighing in, observing how the test affects students’ well-being.

“For me, personally, it was hearing stories from educators about the impact, about students becoming physically ill, headaches, stomach aches, vomiting, due to the stress of taking the test,” Shiao said. “Hearing about the physical toll it takes on students is what solidified it for me.”

Shiao said the measure has support from the Massachusetts Association of School Committees and the referendum’s sponsor, the Massachusetts Teachers Association. “It’s rare for the two organizations to agree on something,” Shiao said.

Hynes said the state’s curricular standards will remain and local graduation requirements will stay intact. Hynes added that schools are spending significant time and energy on getting students to pass, with practice tests and then retakes, and yet some smart and competent students are being left behind.

“I think when we’ve got limited resources, where we use them, how we use and how we put them forward, is something we should really be strategic about, where we can let something go, so we could put something better that supports high quality teaching and instruction, I just think that’s something I’m 100% behind,” Hynes said.

The vote came after a presentation about recent MCAS scores by Superintendent E. Xiomara Hermana. “For me, I believe all data points are useful and it helps us with our programming. But how does it impact the education of students is a different thing,” Herman said.

Amherst representative Deb Leonard said assessments interrupt learning. “This is a huge interruption to an ongoing system of education, and I see no reason that we should perpetuate it now that we have an opportunity to get rid of it,” Leonard said.

But Wolf said it’s important to have a mechanism for statewide standard of academic achievement. “Otherwise there is no external assessment that ensures students and their schools achieve a common learning outcome at graduation,” Wolf said. He added that if MCAS is not an appropriate test to measure achievement, then the test should be changed to something that is, rather than being scrapped.

Marshall said she would like data about how many students in the district are prevented from graduating and whether it’s a big problem. “To throw out the whole thing seems like trying to kill a mosquito with a shotgun,” Marshall said.

Removing MCAS as a graduation requirement would allow all students to be on equal ground to complete their high school education, Sherr said. “How do we tell a student they’ve been here all these years ... and they still can’t get a high school diploma?” Sherr said.

Heard said she is nervous about having MCAS remain a tool. “I think a very inadequate measure can actually do more harm than no measure,” Heard said.

While Rhodes supported ending the MCAS requirement, he wants the testing to remain in place, observing that it’s about having a check to make sure districts, parents, teachers and administrators are doing their jobs. Not having the measurements, he said, would make minorities and low-income students suffer the most, though he acknowledges the tests themselves can be culturally biased.

“Accountability goes two ways,” Rhodes said. “If you throw accountability out, you leave open those ways of having students not being counted in terms of what their achievement is or is not.”

The vote came following several public comments from supporters, including from Max Page, an Amherst resident who is president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, which represents 117,000 educators.

Page, who noted he was the first student member of the Regional School Committee 40 years ago, explained the ballot measure is a top priority and came after the Legislature didn’t act to end the requirement.

“The MCAS will remain, we need to emphasize that,” Page said, “We’re simply replacing the focus on a high-stakes MCAS.”

The requirement currently denies 700 diplomas a year statewide and also narrows curriculum, adds stress and focuses unnecessarily on test-taking, he said.

“What we think happens when we eliminate the high-stakes nature of MCAS, we get to return much more to authentic learning,” Page said.

Amherst resident Phyllis Keenan said the regional schools were a good experience for her children , with capable teachers who offered students extra help and more support when needed.

“I really see that Yes on 2 is a way of acknowledging that our teachers here at this school have capability and competence of determining which students are capable of moving on to the next grade and completing their graduation requirements,” Keenan said.