Educators, parents and elected officials celebrate landmark victory in signature collection efforts
Educators, parents and elected officials celebrate landmark victory in signature collection efforts
Educators, parents and elected officials fighting for passage of a ballot initiative to replace the punitive high school graduation requirement tied to the MCAS exam celebrated their record-breaking collection of 170,000 signatures Thursday on the State House steps. Following a press conference and speaker program, the group hand-delivered a final collection of signatures to the Secretary of State’s office.
If passed, this ballot initiative would replace the MCAS graduation requirement with a more common sense measure in which districts certify that graduating students have satisfactorily completed coursework that has been certified by their district as showing mastery of the skills, competencies and knowledge contained in the state academic standards and curriculum frameworks. Massachusetts students would continue to take the MCAS as a diagnostic tool, as required by federal law. Massachusetts is one of only eight states that continues to tie a high school diploma to a standardized test; this month New York became the most recent state to decouple standardized testing from a high school diploma.
The ballot question was initiated by the MTA, parents and other supporters. MTA President Max Page said the signature gathering phase of the campaign had widespread support in the state.
“The fact that in just eight weeks in the fall, and four weeks in the spring, we gathered 170,000 signatures is testament to how much support there is out there among the voters in Massachusetts and why we will win on November 5,” Page said.
The intense focus on the high school graduation test is removing time from learning for all students, not just those who struggle with the exam, he said.
“It is not just those students, it’s every other student who is subject to a narrowed curriculum, a focus on test taking, time taken away from actual classroom learning. So, it is every student, and every educator, and therefore every parent who’s affected by this punitive system.”
Saúl Ramos, a paraeducator in the Worcester Public Schools for 23 years, spoke out on behalf of his students. Ramos works one on one with visually impaired students as their Braillist, and helps them gain more independence in the classroom and school setting.
“As they transition into adulthood, my students face myriad challenges. Missing out on educational and employment opportunities because they don’t do well on standardized tests, and therefore can’t graduate, shouldn’t be among them,” Ramos said. “I’ve seen the consequences of this firsthand. A heart-wrenching situation involved a student who survived a violent incident leaving him blind and traumatized. After spending six months in the hospital, he was forced to take the MCAS within two weeks of returning to school with threats of not graduating hanging over him.”
Shelley Scruggs, whose son attends Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical High School in Lexington, shared her inspiration for getting involved in the ballot initiative and her positive experience collecting signatures for this ballot question. In July 2023, spurred by her experience as the mother of a child who struggles with test-taking, Scruggs launched her own petition for a similar ballot initiative before joining forces with the MTA and education allies.
“Most people, when you’re standing outside of Market Basket or the grocery store or the mall, don’t want to sign anything. But when you say MCAS, they turn around because they have a story about how much they don’t like it.”
They don’t like it as a student. They don’t like it as a parent, because you just spend an awful lot of time trying to pass the test. My son is in the Class of 2026. He can do the classwork; I don’t want him spending all his time trying to pass these tests.”
State Representative Jim Hawkins, of Attleboro, a retired public high school teacher, said changing high-stakes testing has been his top priority since he was elected. “I know what the MCAS does firsthand,” he said. “It’s a punitive test. It should not be used as a graduation requirement. There’s nothing in that test for students to help with their education, or to help them advance their careers. We need to change it.”
Jonathan Cohn, policy director of Progressive Mass, a statewide grassroots organization that supports the ballot initiative, spoke about how high-stakes testing doesn’t measure the skills, such as critical thinking and problem solving, that graduates most need.
“These requirements inaccurately assess students, incentivize the narrowing of school curricula to teach to the test, and they add undue stress to students lives, with the impacts especially born by students with IEPs, English language learners and students of color.”
Cameron Costa, a self-described proud New Bedford native and “recovering test taker," spoke about his experience with MCAS. Costa is a former classroom teacher who now works as an admissions coordinator at a Massachusetts vocational school, as well as in adult education.
“In my role, I’m required to interview students as to why they want to come to our school. Students want a hands-on component that allows them to be creative and that allows them to be innovative, a place where they can step out of the traditional classroom model to express their mastery in a way that suits them to showcase what they have learned,” he said.
MTA Vice President Deb McCarthy, who taught fifth grade for 25 years, posed a multiple-choice question before leading the group in hand-delivering the final signatures to state officials.
“On November 5, 2024, when the high stakes of a one-time test score is replaced with a competency determination based upon completion of certified course work at the high school level, which of the following statements will be true?” she asked.
- The MCAS will still be given, providing an opportunity to use data for remediation purposes, rather than for punitive ones.
- High standards will replace high stakes..
- All learners will have the opportunity to thrive..
- Skills necessary for the 21st century, like public speaking, ingenuity, team building and adaptability will supersede the prevalence of a test score..
- There will be more learning, less testing..
- “Or 6. All of the above.” .
To be clear, the answer was “All of the above.”