Letters: Listen to teachers: MCAS must go

Get rid of MCAS

There are so many problems with your editorial (“Sadly, the MCAS ballot-question battle is on,” Page K6, June 30), it is hard to know where to begin. I worked in the public schools for 39 years, and I have witnessed firsthand the destruction that this high-stakes, one-size-fits-all standardized test has imposed on our schools. Do you think that it is just a few MTA leaders who are forcing this fight? Think again. Eighty-two percent of teachers in Cambridge Public Schools supported this ballot question. Why do the vast majority of teachers — people on the front lines of education, not politicians or pundits — support this? Because we have seen how it narrows curriculum, creates a climate of stress and fear (not conducive to learning), discriminates against English-language learners and students with special needs, and squeezes out the kind of education that our businesses say they need: people with creativity, collaboration skills, flexible thinking, and more. Before people listen to the Editorial Board of The Boston Globe, try asking an expert — a teacher.

Kathy Greeley, Cambridge

Keep MCAS, but only as an assessment tool

The article by Cynthia Roy and Shelley Scruggs (“Students don’t need a one-size-fits-all approach to assessment,” Page A9, July 1) makes good sense. No matter how carefully it is designed, a standardized test can never accurately or fairly assess every student’s learning or their potential.

The referendum on MCAS, as Roy and Scruggs note, would keep it as an assessment tool but allow school districts to use broader criteria in awarding diplomas.

Getting rid of the MCAS requirement will allow schools to expand educational development, not constrict it. Students, teachers, and our communities will benefit.

Ben Jacques, Stoneham