As teachers, we see the MCAS graduation requirement doing more harm than good

by Vincenza Goodwin and Michelle Ervin 10 October 2024

PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATORS across Massachusetts have been working alongside parents and community activists for more than a year to eliminate the MCAS graduation requirement because we see it as antithetical to the goals of public education.

The high stakes of MCAS do not close achievement gaps, do not protect academic standards, and do not prepare our students for the workforce or higher education.

The high stakes of MCAS do, however, deny more than 700 students each year a diploma, do contribute to the high school drop-out rate, and do narrow what we as educators can teach students once they begin taking these exams in third grade.

In Revere, where we teach, more than 70 percent of the students do not speak English as their first language and 65 percent come from low-income households. Our students require – and deserve – a range of comprehensive services to have a successful public school experience. MCAS exams do not address this, and placing such high stakes on the tests is simply not fair.

Public education must be about lifting up our students, and we do that by basing our work on the academic standards that are adhered to by every school district in Massachusetts.

Every student in a Massachusetts public school should receive a high-quality education that readies them for their future, whether that is in the workforce, career training, or college.

But there are myriad ways to achieve that goal since our students present a variety of learning styles and have relative strengths and weaknesses. As educators, we are better able to teach content by employing diverse strategies; our goal should never solely be to prepare students to be test takers, putting more emphasis on the measuring tool than on the material that needs to be learned.

A one-size-fits-all standardized test can be a useful, uniform diagnostic tool to use alongside all of the other standards-based data collected throughout the school year.

Voting yes on Question 2 keeps the MCAS in place and does not disrupt access to the data we currently receive from the exams. Voting yes on Question 2 will, more importantly, allow educators and students to focus less on test-taking skills and delve more deeply into content.

Our science and math educators have been making the case that the time devoted to MCAS prep and the format of the exams cut into their ability to present more hands-on and project-based learning. Teaching a formula or theory is one step that preferably should lead to useful and interesting applications of that material. Some of our brightest students have remarked, “Why do I need to know this?” when we don’t let them play and explore with the concepts we teach them.

Perhaps some think that “playing” and “exploring” don’t belong in the classroom. But we disagree.

Not only do we want every student to understand the basics of math, science, and English language arts, but we also want them to be critical thinkers, problem solvers and contributors to teamwork.

As educators, we embrace academic standards. Our lesson plans and grading are based on the statewide standards and curriculum frameworks. District evaluations of our job performances are likewise grounded in the state standards, as are teacher preparation programs.

There are many checks and balances in place to ensure students, no matter where they live, are receiving a high-quality education. Achievement gaps persist, and we maintain that such disparities require a more varied approach to teaching, not a narrowed one, and an honest appraisal of resources supporting students and educators.

MCAS exams arrived in the same 1993 legislation that brought in more funding for public education and uniform academic standards. The standards are constantly undergoing revision. The funding model was overhauled in 2019 after years of lobbying by educators and public education advocates who pointed out how the formula used to determine state aid to public schools was woefully out of date. MCAS, too, deserves to be reexamined.

Replacing MCAS exams as a high school graduation requirement with local certification that a student has completed coursework aligned with the standards will end a punitive and restricting practice that does more harm than good.

Vincenza Goodwin and Michelle Ervin are English as a Second Language teachers in the Revere Public Schools.