Sciortino hosts MCAS reform panel
Medford Transcipt
April 3, 2007
The use of MCAS as a high-stakes graduation requirement leads to increased drop-out rates and narrowing of school curricula, according to a panel of education and testing experts briefed state legislators today on the need for MCAS reform.
The panel, organized by Rep. Carl Sciortino, D-Medford, and Sen. Pam Resor, D-Acton, addressed the unintended consequences of high-stakes testing.
"A student who hasn't passed MCAS is 10 times more likely to drop out of school than one who has," said Sciortino. "MCAS results have proven helpful as a diagnostic tool, but the high-stakes graduation requirement is counter-productive because it is pushing some students out the door."
The panel included Boston College education professor Walt Haney, a senior research associate at the Center for the Study of Testing Evaluation and Educational Policy (CSTEEP); Monty Neill, executive director of the National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest), and Linda Nathan, Founding Headmaster of the Boston Arts Academy.
"This bill has real potential for bringing sense back to assessment in Massachusetts," said Haney. "It will make MCAS consistent with the Education Reform Act of 1993 and will also make it conform to longstanding professional guidelines on appropriate test use."
To address the concerns raised by the panelists, Sciortino and Resor have filed H. 561, a bill that would reform how MCAS is used as a graduation requirement. The bill, commonly known as the MCAS Reform Bill, aims to integrate the tests into a multiple assessment system to maintain accountability while avoiding the problems that result from high-stakes testing.