Worcester School Committee takes stance on removing MCAS as graduation requirement

6 September 2024

WORCESTER — The School Committee on Thursday made a declaration in support of removing the MCAS test as a graduation requirement, ahead of a statewide question on the November ballot.

A resolution vote was pushed by the Educational Association of Worcester, the teachers' union, that the committee adopt a public stance on Question 2, a ballot question that requests the removal of a student needing to pass the MCAS exam in both English and mathematics in order to receive a high school diploma.

Melissa Verdier, president of the EAW, presented the petition.

"I had a student who I know was capable of passing the test, but the pressure of a taking a standardized test made it difficult for them to pass the test," she said to the committee. "When they graduated high school, they didn't get a diploma. They came back for four years to take the test each time, eventually passing."

Other members of the EAW also spoke in favor of removing the passing of the MCAS as a graduation requirement. Worcester teacher Hannah Weinsaft spoke about how the test does not serve as a valid indicator of student success.

"This is not something that makes our education system great. What makes our education system great is that we teach students to think critically, that we teach them to think beyond a text, that we ask them to do critical, problem solving skills, things that our tests are not serving our students to prepare them for," Weinsaft said. "We know this is bad science, we know this is bad data, we know this is bad education, and I urge you all to be on the right side of this."

The ballot measure would not remove the MCAS as a system that is used to evaluate student, teacher and district performance, but would stop it from being a graduation requirement for students.

The committee voted 6-2 in favor of the resolution.

Committee member Vanessa Alvarez said that the MCAS was not a fair measure for students who are new to a school.

"New Americans, when they first come in, maybe they are coming in at the beginning or the end, maybe they are entering school during the period when the MCAS is being taken," Alvarez said. “How can we expect someone that doesn’t know English, maybe never went to school because they couldn’t afford it…how do we tell them hey, you can’t get a diploma? The whole reason you made the journey to this country in the first place. It’s important, but let’s not make it a requirement.”

Committee member Maureen Binienda voted against the resolution, citing a concern that the state has not provided an adequate plan to replace the MCAS requirement if it were to be removed.

"I've been in education before the MCAS and after the MCAS, education got better because of the test," said Binienda, a former superintendent in Worcester.

District D Representative Alex Guardiola was the other committee member to vote no on the resolution. At-large representative Dianna Biancheria abstained.