Statement from MTA leadership on ballot initiative to remove MCAS graduation requirement
Statement from MTA leadership on ballot initiative to remove MCAS graduation requirement
MTA President Max Page and Vice President Deb McCarthy issued the following statement in response to the legislative committee report on the ballot initiative to remove the MCAS graduation requirement:
Educators, families and public education advocates support the ballot question to remove the MCAS graduation requirement because they have seen the harm it has caused to all students – especially those who are denied a diploma based on a single standardized test that does not truly measure the breadth and depth of our state’s high academic standards.
Our schools succeed because of our high standards, our outstanding educators and the investments in our schools the MTA has successfully won; not because of MCAS exams.
Using this narrow and rigid standardized test to determine academic proficiency necessary to earn a high school diploma undermines all students and educators alike by robbing them of authentic learning opportunities due to the amount of time given over to a high-stakes exercise.
Our schools succeed because of our high standards, our outstanding educators and the investments in our schools the MTA has successfully won; not because of MCAS exams.
There is no disagreement that having high academic standards is important. Thirty years ago, educators with the MTA and our allies won a lawsuit – the McDuffy decision – helping to pass the Education Reform Act of 1993, which created the highest academic standards in the nation for every public school in Massachusetts.
The MCAS itself is not a standard; it is a test that measures some of our academic standards. The ballot question removes the negative aspects of having the standardized test used as a graduation requirement, while keeping the MCAS exams as diagnostic tools.
Educators today began the second phase of collecting signatures needed to place the MCAS question on the ballot. In the fall, educators and other supporters of this initiative gathered more than 135,000 signatures during the first phase of moving this question to the ballot. Educators expect similar robust support this spring as they explain directly to the public why they support ending this practice that harms students.