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Dr. David Hopson |
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April 14, 2008 Our students are enjoying a brief respite from MCAS testing, having completed some of the exams, but still face additional tests next month. As everyone in the district knows, MCAS is certainly a disrupting influence on the daily ebb and flow of the school cycle. Requiring a great deal of time, effort and expense to the district, MCAS tests do provide some useful information that the state evidently feels justifies these disruptions to the educational process. As an April Fool’s joke, one of our staff members wrote a mock letter from the DOE regarding “changes to MCAS requirements” related to some of the issues surrounding the tests. For example, MCAS tests taking up so much instructional time led the prankster to conclude that the state would move MCAS to July when school isn’t in session. Depending on the person reading this letter, there was a wide range of responses from “I’m retiring before they put this into place”, to “who’s going to pay for the extra buses and staff compensation?” I also heard issues surrounding interrupting vacations, family time, the lack of air conditioning in the schools and the potential decrease in scores as students would be taking the tests when their minds were elsewhere. Of course there’s always the very real problem of student attendance that would escalate if the tests were held during the summer. Some of these problems are already evident: we have students who complete the tests in just a few minutes by randomly bubbling in answers or doodling on short answer and essay questions and students who try to avoid taking the tests by being absent that day. Thankfully, those students are in the minority but it does point out the myriad issues surrounding taking the tests for students and only making the 10th grade tests ‘count’ towards graduation. Another declaration in this mock letter was that teachers would be required to take their own MCAS exam each year during April Vacation. This was to ensure that teachers understood the test, with the added incentive that teachers doing well would be rewarded with a certificate. I’m sure that most people understand the reality in Massachusetts is that, in addition to completing a college degree and specific coursework, teacher candidates also have to pass tests regarding their English language proficiency, proficiency in their subject areas and then work with mentors as they begin to teach. In addition, teachers are expected to complete a Master’s Degree in order to continue teaching. You can just imagine the responses to the April Fool’s letter regarding additional teacher testing during a vacation period! The final aspect of the mock letter was that all subjects would now be tested under MCAS including art, physical education and foreign languages. This may be the most believable part of this joke, as MCAS started out being in just Mathematics and English and has slowly and continually expanded to include Science and Social Studies. Is it just a matter of time (look at the recently developed ‘core subjects’ recommendations by the State Board of Education to see what they believe should be taught) until the exams expand to include other subjects, or will more realistic expectations be forthcoming? At this time of an uncertain future, with the revision of the No Child Left Behind legislation in Washington (the driving force behind testing across the nation) and a continuing discussion about the need to test the progress of each individual against themselves, rather than this year’s fifth grade against last year’s fifth grade, the ability to create an April Fool’s letter is both refreshing and a little scary. Refreshing because someone can take a lighthearted look at the ridiculous aspects of the standardized testing we call MCAS, and scary because we’ve already seen how much emphasis has been put on testing rather than focusing on how to improve education. I hope that as both the State and Federal Governments move forward on educational issues, they will take the time and effort to concentrate on improving all schools, rather than just grading and labeling schools as being underperforming on one specific criteria.
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