Students, educators rally against MCAS
Administration opposes ending grad requirement, Education Secretary says
A group of Massachusetts students joined the call to get rid of the MCAS graduation requirement Sunday afternoon, rallying with parents and educators in favor of legislation nixing the standardized test system on the State House steps.
“Since I’m in fifth grade, I have had experience with the MCAS,” said Cabot Elementary student Ari. “I find it to be very stressful. And I sometimes don’t do well under those conditions. And for high school, it’s a requirement that they need to pass the MCAS to graduate high school. So it’s not fair.”
Advocates from the Massachusetts Teachers Association, Boston Workers Circle and student groups held Sunday’s rally in support of the THRIVE Act and a ballot question for the November 2024 election, which would both get rid of the MCAS graduation requirement. The proposals would not get rid of the test entirely, but do away with the requirement to pass the MCAS in order to graduate high school
The THRIVE Act would also create a commission to look into new ways to assess student performance and remove the state’s ability to adopt receivership of underperforming school districts.
Massachusetts Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler said he and Gov. Maura Healey do not believe the ballot question dropping the MCAS graduation requirement is the “right direction to go” in a WBZ Keller @ Large segment aired Sunday.
“That question, if it passes, would deliver us to a place of no standard — essentially 351 different standards for high school graduation,” Tutwiler said.
Healey has previously dodged taking a position on the graduation requirement. In September, the governor said her team was “looking at” changes to the MCAS system.
Students and speakers at the rally Sunday argued the MCAS testing requirement is unfair to kids with learning disabilities, students still learning English and others.
Several students from the Boston Workers Circle Shule Sunday classes put on a skit on the State House steps, going back to the origins of the MCAS in 1993 and noting Massachusetts is one of few remaining states with a standardized test graduation requirement.
“The ability to take a test has nothing to do with intelligence,” said MTA Vice President Deb McCarthy, gesturing to students standing behind her. “And what you saw today is some of the brightest students that I have met in a long time. This is how we assess our learners. We allow them to be themselves, to be authentic, to take knowledge and to show you what they know.”