'The System Is Flawed': Pols Push To Change MCAS Graduation Rules
by Tony Lee
Boston Metro, March 29, 2007
As high school dropout rates in Massachusetts rise, and both teachers and students express frustration with shrinking curriculums, legislators yesterday continued to push for an alternative system for graduating high school students.
The state saw a 32 percent increase in the number of dropouts between the 2001-02 and 2004-05 school years, according to Rep. Carl Sciortino, who cites MCAS -- the math and English standardized tests all students must pass to graduate -- and related pressures as the primary reason.
Students who fail the MCAS are 10 times more likely to drop out of high school than one who passed," Sciortino said. "The system is flawed."
According to Sciortino and a panel of students and educators, teachers and students are forced to spend an inordinate amount of time on MCAS preparation for fear they won't graduate or in the case of a teacher, get fired.
The effects are far-reaching, as those who don't pass often turn away from school and set themselves up for future hardships, according to Sciortino's numbers that show an increase in unemployment and arrests for high school dropouts.
"This is a terrible loss not just for the kids, but society as well," said Boston College Professor of Education Walt Haney.
Using models from other states that use standardized testing as just one piece of a student's portfolio, a proposed bill will offer up coursework and in-school projects as factors in determining a student's ability to graduate. In the current system, science and social studies can be neglected to prepare students for the math- and English-heavy MCAS.
Such a process has steered some students from other interests and made them concentrate on a singular moment when the test is taken.
"High school should start in 9th grade when you walk in, and end in 12th grade when you walk out," said Nathan Stockwell-Velazquez, a junior dance major at Boston Arts Academy. "We need more than one evaluation."