Standards not at risk in dropping MCAS as graduation hurdle

by Melissa M. Cybulski 21 October 2024

Question 2 on the Nov. 5 ballot seeks the elimination of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exam as a high school graduation requirement.

This would mean that as long as a student meets the graduation requirements of their public high school — including passing their classes — then they are eligible for a diploma.

As the parent of a child in special education, this issue is very important to my family, and it is backed by the Massachusetts Teachers Association.

The MCAS is a series of standardized tests given every spring to all public school students in the state from grades 3-10. They are meant to measure how public school districts are meeting state standards set forth by the Curriculum Frameworks. As things stand, a student must pass the 10th Grade English, math, and science MCAS tests to earn a high school diploma.

These tests are created by committees outside of a child’s school. Some children pass the tests with no extra effort. However, for the many families with students in special education, the MCAS experience is fraught with fear and frustration. It does not matter if our children have passed all of their classes — and regardless of GPA, teacher evaluations, or participation in class activities — if they fail the MCAS they do not earn a high school diploma.

Yes, we are told our child can retake the test, but that will never change the fact that the test is inherently biased against students with learning disabilities who struggle to “show what they know” on a standardized test.

Once you add in the very real anxiety that such high-stakes testing creates, the child is further doomed.

High standards are not a bad thing. The current system of high-stakes standardized testing, however, is. I‘ve seen MCAS from both sides. Before I was a parent, I was a high school English teacher and began my career in the early days of MCAS.

For generations, children graduated high school because they met school requirements, as schools and teachers were trusted to do their jobs. Forty-two other states in the country — including our New England neighbors, for example — trust their teachers’ judgments on what is best for their individual students’ success.

MCAS is one test given to all students, special ed students among them, regardless of what their legally binding Individualized Education Program plans (IEPs) say. There are strict limits to what accommodations a student can be offered on the test. Though a child’s IEP calls for repeating or rephrasing questions on assignments in the regular classroom, that doesn’t matter on MCAS days. A proctor may re-read a set of directions for a child, but they cannot rephrase.

They can only stand before your child and reread the directions as written from a script no matter how many times or ways your child says, “I don’t understand.” It is cruel, and it happens every year in every school in Massachusetts.

I’ve been told to relax over the years. Anyone who finds out in the next few weeks that their child didn’t pass the biology MCAS will have to circle back to biology test prep — a class they have already passed — for “more targeted support” to retake the MCAS — again and again if necessary. The same process goes for English and math.

The fact is, some kids never pass. The language, organization, format and stress of the test are completely counter-intuitive to what their child needs to demonstrate: broad subject matter understanding.

Some may say that removing the graduation requirement will lessen the proven quality of education in Massachusetts. However, a yes vote does not eliminate the high standards of the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks, nor does it eliminate the test itself.

Districts will still be able to gather important data that the test provides as to how students are measuring up to target goals.

Massachusetts schools were leaders before the MCAS graduation requirement, and there is no reason why this would change after giving power back to the teachers and schools to determine who is eligible for a diploma.

There are so many different ways to be smart. There are so many different ways to “show what you know.” Filling in the bubbles on a test booklet or a computer screen should not be so high-stakes.

Melissa M. Cybulski, M.Ed., is a former high school teacher and current high school parent who lives in Longmeadow.