DESE's Latest Plan for the MCAS Tests

<h3 align="center" style="margin: 16pt 0in 4pt; line-height: 21.4667px; break-after: avoid; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(67, 67, 67); font-weight: normal; text-align: center;"><a name="_acdfuuti7h34"></a><b>Facts about the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Latest Plan for the MCAS Tests<o:p></o:p></b></h3>

More Than A Score

The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted on Tuesday, April 26, to invite public comment on a proposal that seeks to raise the passing standard on the English Language Arts, math, and Next Generation science and technology/engineering MCAS tests. Under the proposal, beginning with the Class of 2026, now eighth-graders, students must reach an arbitrary score of 486 or higher in ELA and math and 470 on the Next Generation science and technology/engineering MCAS exams to meet the competency determination and graduate from high school. Students who score between 470 and 485 will need to complete an educational proficiency plan under the proposed requirements to qualify for a high school diploma. Students who score below 469 will need to retake the MCAS.


What is the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education proposing?

Beginning with the Class of 2026, now eighth-graders, students must reach an arbitrary score of 486 or higher in ELA and math and 470 on the Next Generation science and technology/engineering MCAS exams to meet the competency determination and graduate from high school. Students who score between 470 and 485 will need to complete an educational proficiency plan under the proposed requirements to qualify for a high school diploma. Students who score below 469 will need to retake the MCAS.

The Board is also recommending changes to the components of the educational proficiency plan regulations. These changes include:

  • A requirement that the school provide a student’s EPP to their parents/guardians on an annual basis.
  • A requirement to describe the tutoring or other individualized academic supports the student will receive.
  • Expectations for students who are actively enrolled and successfully progressing in the Mass Core Curriculum, an approved Chapter 74 vocational-technical program, or a designated Early College or Innovation Pathway program.
  • Clarifications to the types of courses and assessments required in a student’s EPP.
  • Clarifications around the expectation for adult learners, students who have exited high school without a competency determination, seniors who have already completed all of their required courses in the relevant subject matter, students who are not continuously enrolled or are enrolled in an alternative program, and students who enroll in senior year.
  • Lastly, BESE is recommending raising the minimum scores on MCAS to qualify for the Stanley Z. Koplik Certificate of Mastery Award and the State Seal of Biliteracy.
What are the problems with this proposal?

The “science” on which this proposal rests is flawed. In fact, it is a scientific racism that harks back to the pseudoscience known as the eugenics movement. It’s just more sanitized in its language.

  • BESE is simply doubling down on punitive pre-pandemic initiatives that are rooted in a mindset of a white-dominant culture. BESE and the state education commissioner are disregarding all that our youths, educators and communities suffered, endured, and continue to experience in the COVID-19 pandemic. This proposal is built on an ideological fixation on high-stakes testing and the creation of a false sense of urgency, with the weak rationale that current eighth-graders need to be informed in a timely way. Students completing the eighth grade this year have endured three years of disruptions in their schools and communities. This proposal will jeopardize their ability to graduate from high school on time.

  • Our students need more time for human connection, creativity, friendship, emotional support and trauma care. A recent report released by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends that all children 8 and older be screened for anxiety and that all those 12 and older be screened for depression. This comes during widespread concerns about the mental health of children across the country. Rising rates of youth anxiety, depression and suicide were a great concern prior to COVID-19. The pandemic has only exacerbated the problem. Countless examples of empirical research have found the relationship between high-stakes testing and youth anxiety to be a major concern. This proposal callously disregards the needs of students. (Additional examples of research can be found here and here.)

  • This proposal does nothing to make our educational system more equitable. In fact, it does just the opposite. It functions to increase racial and class inequity by ensuring that more students are not able to graduate and that our schools continue to be subjected to a flawed rating system. What DESE should be doing is aligning resources to rethink the use of the MCAS as a tool to measure achievement and revisiting the current accountability system more broadly.
  • We need to be very clear about what the MCAS measures – the ability of a student to take a standardized test, as well as the impacts of racism, poverty and food, housing and family-income insecurity that our students experience in their lives. Extensive empirical research conducted by Robert Linn, a giant in the field of psychometrics, consistently concluded that current tests such as the MCAS do not measure achievement. Linn stated, in reference to No Child Left Behind requirements, that “targets plucked out of the air and dropped into the legislation do more to demoralize educators than to inspire them.” DESE is under no federal obligation to raise the cut scores. Linn’s warning also applies to this proposal, which has nothing to do with improving schools, student and educator performance, strengthening curriculum, raising standards, or improving achievement.

  • The term “college and career ready” is utilized to rationalize the proposal. What does that really mean? Is it a scaled score? Can anyone explain the relationship between the scaled score and readiness? Can anyone on the DESE board explain where the scaled score comes from? College and career readiness has been used to justify these tests for decades. Again, these tests only measure test-taking ability. If they did prepare students for higher education, there would be no need for the expansive remediation courses in our higher education institutions.

 

 


What Is BESE's timeline?
  • Public comment is open until 5 p.m. on Friday, June 3.
  • The board is scheduled to vote on the proposed changes on Tuesday, June 28.
Call to Action

MTA educators need to speak out about DESE’s latest proposal and take back assessment! Those on the front lines who work with students need to be at the center of writing assessments.

  • Tell DESE why you object to this MCAS proposal. Be sure to include your perspective as a parent, an educator or a student. Share your personal stories about the harm that MCAS has caused and what the moment is calling for. Feel free to use these messages or include your own
    • Demand an end to the requirement that students retake MCAS and also its use as a graduation requirement.
    • Tell DESE stop its punitive practices of shaming students, educators, schools and school districts.
    • Call for an investment in the community schools model, with full-service wraparound support services for our students.
  • Send your public comments to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education at mcas@doe.mass.edu. The deadline for submitting comments is 5 p.m. on Friday, June 3. Again, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is expected to vote on this proposal on Tuesday, June 28.
Links

The following links are referenced in the fact sheet on the DESE's plan for the MCAS tests:

Watch MTA President Merrie Najimy and state Senator Jo Comerford host an MTA Facebook Live event, Our Students Are More Than a Score.