MTA statement on challenge to title, description of MCAS graduation requirement initiative
MTA statement on challenge to title, description of MCAS graduation requirement initiative
Massachusetts Teachers Association President Max Page and Vice President Deb McCarthy, along with 64 other registered voters, today filed a brief in the state’s Supreme Judicial Court regarding a challenge to the Attorney General’s title and one-sentence description of the ballot question regarding high school graduation requirements. The MTA released the following statement after filing the brief:
The Massachusetts Teachers Association and coalition partners are seeking to replace the standardized, tenth-grade MCAS exam with certification by school districts that a student has mastered academic work aligned with state curriculum standards as the state’s requirement for high school graduation.
We are asking to replace the state’s high school graduation requirement with a more accurate measure of student competency, not to eliminate the competency requirement.
This ballot question will require school districts, for the first time, to determine that a particular student has demonstrated mastery of a common set of skills, competencies and knowledge by satisfactorily completing coursework that has been certified by the student’s district as showing mastery of the skills, competencies and knowledge contained in the state academic standards and curriculum frameworks.
The Attorney General and Secretary of State’s proposed title and description of the effect of the ballot question fail to capture the scope of the initiative.
The members of the MTA were leaders in the establishment of rigorous, statewide academic standards. A standardized test is a poor tool for capturing the breadth and depth of student knowledge. Most other states with high-performing public schools have abandoned the use of standardized tests as graduation requirements. These high-stakes tests in Massachusetts each year prevent approximately 700 students who have otherwise met all other local graduation requirements from receiving a high school diploma.
We are asking the court to change the title and wording of the ballot question so voters are clear that all students will be educated in accordance to state academic standards and that all students receiving a high school diploma have mastered a core group of skills and competencies aligned with those standards.