Above: (Top) The Bolling Building, which is the headquarters of the Boston Public Schools. (Bottom) A student filing in a "bubble sheet" for a standardized test.
This is not a post about what standardized tests do. The reality is that educational assessment is a complicated process. High-quality standardized tests can be helpful in assessing what students know, but they do not always measure what they intend to measure. More importantly, they are also only one of many assessments that teachers and schools use to get a fuller picture of what students understand and are able to do (see here for an argument on why standardized tests are problematic and evidence that students already take too many of them).
Rather, this is a post about what standardized tests can't do. Standardized tests were never designed (and should never be used) to determine if a student should receive a high school diploma. As an educational researcher, I know a little about this. I remember my quantitative research methods professors as a doctoral student always telling us that "a test only measures what a test measures." So, you should never try to use that test to measure something it was not designed to do. The Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) was designed to measure one thing: basic comprehension in literacy, mathematics, and science. Students may be not only proficient, but advanced in other academic areas, such as history/social studies, world languages, art, music, theater, consumer and family sciences, computer science, vocational fields, or business, but if they do not reach an arbitrary MCAS score in only three subject area tests, they will not receive a diploma in Massachusetts.
The MCAS does not measure workforce or higher education readiness. The MCAS does not measure a student's ability to think critically or problem solve. The MCAS does not improve student's individual economic opportunity (but a student's economic opportunity can predict their MCAS score). The opponents of Question 2 will tell you an MCAS graduation requirement is necessary for all of these things to occur; they are being intentionally disingenuous (in fact many boldly claim that this ballot question will get rid of MCAS altogether, which it does not). Moreover, researchers have long known that social class may influence up to 84% of a student's MCAS score. In many ways, the MCAS tells us more about how much wealth a student's family or community has than it measures the quality of that student's schools or their individual learning.
I write this post as a Boston Public Schools parent and a former classroom teacher in the Framingham Public Schools (and an education professor at UMass Boston), which are two districts where the MCAS graduation requirement has had devastating effects on our students. As a teacher, I would routinely see students drop out of school after they did not "pass" the MCAS exam in 10th grade (look at any school's, especially urban schools', enrollment data and that is where the student body starts to get smaller). As a parent, I hear many stories from fellow parents who have children with special needs or are language learners struggling to pass the MCAS and they have real worries about their children's futures, if they do not have a high school diploma. Based on these experiences, I strongly urge all voters to vote YES this fall on Question 2. Below I present my four main arguments for why you should vote YES.
Moreover, many of the opponents of Question 2 are not (past or present) public school parents, teachers, or students. Rather, they have a vested interest in the exams continuing to be required for graduation; some have made their political or academic careers from the multi-billion dollar standardized testing industry (or from campaigning for these types of testing-based education reforms), others are business leaders who have been sold a faulty view that an MCAS graduation exam improves their workforce, and still others do not believe in public education altogether (often attending themselves and sending their children to private schools without graduation exams) and will support anything that targets public education because they don't like paying taxes for them. The coalition who opposes Question 2 should have you questioning their motives (in full disclosure, I'm a public school parent, former high school teacher, current education professor, and Massachusetts Teachers Association union member; the MTA led the creation of this ballot question).
Above: (Top) Teachers and parents protest outside Mayor Ray Flynn's "State of the City" speech demanding more educational funding. (Bottom) Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld signs the Education Reform Act of 1993.
1. Massachusetts Can Be a National Leader in Educational Assessment
The MCAS graduation exam requirement was created as part of 1993 Education Reform Act in Massachusetts. This law was the result of a lawsuit by parents over unfair education funding, but became essentially a "grand bargain" between those politicians who wanted more education funding and those who wanted more accountability (which was not what the parents were demanding). However, the MCAS exam has also been part of a long history of standardized testing in the United States that is intertwined with racism and classism (often being used to justify segregation or economic policies that favored the wealthy in the 20th century). The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (whose members mostly come from predominately white and wealthy communities) recently raised the MCAS score needed for graduation, which has meant that a larger number of students will be ineligible to earn a diploma. Question 2 would undo the punitive testing aspect of the Education Reform Act, while keeping the other parts that have improved schools in Massachusetts. And, we certainly have a lot to be proud of in Massachusetts, as our students are top in the nation in student achievement. But, don't be fooled by the opposition that claims this is because of a high-stakes graduation exam, which had nothing to do with it (rather, these improvements were probably despite it).
Yet, while Massachusetts may be a leader in student test scores, it has not been a leader in assessment and continues to use outdated assessment practices. Since the MCAS is high stakes, the state has continued to be cautious in making any major changes since it was first implemented in the early 2000s. Yet, a consortium of researchers and educators has been working on alternative assessments that could potentially replace the current MCAS exam and would offer teachers and schools much more meaningful data than a one-time basic assessment. The end of the MCAS graduation requirement would free up the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to also take bold steps and create a real "next generation" MCAS assessment that could have more focus on critical thinking and problem solving, or use potential performance-based assessments, giving schools much more valuable tools (without preventing students from receiving a diploma). This is not possible while the MCAS exam continues to serve multiple purposes, including as a graduation exam.
2. Many Students Are Hurt by as MCAS Graduation Requirement
Each year, about 1,200 students do not pass the MCAS graduation exam (with about 400 eventually receiving a diploma through an alternative program); 85% of those students have a disability or are immigrant students (that is almost 2% of12th grade students in Massachusetts). Some opponents of Question 2 dismiss this number as "not many." But more than one student who completed all graduation requirements at their school and not receive a diploma is one too many. Without a diploma, a student is unable to attend college, join a labor union, or frankly work in many professions, which has a major impact on their life opportunities. Students who do not receive a high school diploma are more likely to be unemployed or incarcerated. Moreover, we know that additional 18% of students who fail the exam drop out of school well before graduation. If this ballot question passes, it may be the single most important tool in decreasing the Massachusetts drop out rate (Massachusetts has the potential to have a near 100% graduation rate if the 2% of students who drop out due to the MCAS graduation exam stayed in school and completed their courses of study).
Above: Massachusetts has a 96% graduation rate (making it one of the top in the nation); eliminating the MCAS graduation requirement could help get that closer to 98 or 99%.
3. It Will Increase Massachusetts Education Standards
The passage of this ballot question will raise educational standards. Currently, this one test, which measures something very narrow, decides if students receive a diploma in Massachusetts. Instead, if this ballot measure passes, the state will likely move to make MassCore, which is the current optional set of graduation requirements, required for all districts (Senate education chair Jason Lewis will submit the bill in January; it is currently only a suggested graduation guideline as of now, since the MCAS exam is the only legislated graduation requirement; creating standard graduation requirements for all high schools would align Massachusetts with the 42 other states that do not have graduation exams but instead consistent graduation requirements across schools). Question 2 opponents keep claiming without an MCAS graduation requirement, there will be a "different set of requirements for each district," but that is misleading; all teachers must currently follow the state's educational standards found in the curriculum frameworks, which are generally seen as a national model). They also claim, "MCAS graduation requirement helps institute 'corrective action' by allowing comparisons of student performance across different schools and districts"; also incorrect. MCAS will continue to exist and allow schools and districts to be compared; the only difference is that a student will not be punished for not getting a certain score on the exam. Frankly, the MCAS graduation requirement has long been a distraction from what would really improve the Massachusetts public education system. Most of the focus has been on this graduation test (and the only three subject areas that are tested), rather than ensuring all districts have an appropriate course of study that challenges and supports students.
4. Massachusetts Is an Outlier When It Comes to Having a Graduation Exam
Above: (Top) There is a clear correlation between a student's failure rate on MCAS and their socioeconomic status (UMass Donahue Institute Report, 2000). (Bottom) Massachusetts is only one of eight states that still require students to pass a standardized test to graduate (New York is currently in the process of dropping their graduation exams).
Massachusetts is only one of eight states that still require a graduation exam (down from a high of 28 states in 2010). Any voter needs to ask themselves, why? One of the main motivators for adding a graduation exam was the unfunded No Child Left Behind Act and the funding attached to Race to the Top, which was part of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (neither required graduation exams, but did emphasize standardized testing and many states looked to high-achieving states like Massachusetts for models). However, since then, states have realized that it did not help their students to prevent them from getting a diploma, if they could not pass a standardized test. The data is clear that graduation tests did nothing to lift student achievement but did raise dropout rates. That schools spent a massive amount of resources on the "bubble kids" (giving most resources to students who were just below the passing rate of graduation exams) ignoring support for lower or higher achieving students. Parents, students, and teachers raised concerns that, after Race to the Top, there was too much emphasis on testing. Moreover, states started lowering educational standards to prevent more students from not passing their exams (due to the real high-stakes natures of those exams). One by one, states began to remove their requirements for students to pass standardized test to receive a diploma. Massachusetts should follow their lead. Finally, the passage of this ballot question could open the door for students who completed all graduation requirements in the past, but did not pass MCAS, to receive their diplomas retroactively (which had a major positive impact in other states that ended their graduation exams).
If this ballot question passes, it would have a positive effect on our public school system. It will allow districts to focus more on student improvement than on a few students that are on the borderline of passing a graduation exam. It will allow schools to better support students who are at risk of dropping out of school. It will allow schools to think more holistically on what are the most important requirements for graduation.
Voting "YES" on Question 2 would allow Massachusetts to continue to be a national leader in curriculum and teaching, but add assessment. It would have important positive outcomes for thousands of students each year and ultimately increase opportunity for all students.
