Protesting the MCAS
Education News pointed me towards an online article about May 16th protest against the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS). And what was said in protest?
" There is no more important lesson in our country, " [City Councilor Ken] Reeves told the assembled students, parents and teachers, " that if you don’t like something that is going on, you should be able say something about it. "
Can't argue with him there....
" We think that you are wrong, " Reeves continued, speaking to MCAS supporters and Ed Reform planners, who were noticeably absent at the gathering. " As Fredrick Douglas said, ‘If there is no struggle, there is no progress.’ Well, here’s the struggle, let’s see some progress. "
Were Ed Reform planners invited? Who knew about this protest? How was it publicized? And Reeves' logic, while not completely unsound, is a a little incomplete. No struggle may mean no progess, true, but the existence of struggle does not imply progress. Tearing down an existing system is not progress unless a better one is suggested to be erected in its place. Do the protestors have an alternative in mind?
In 1999, the Cambridge School Committee approved a policy that guaranteed no reprisals would be made against students who opted not to take the MCAS test, and directed schools to place boycotters in instructional settings during test-taking times. The committee also guaranteed there would be no reprisals against teachers or staff who speak out against the test.
Wonder if those "instructional settings" are real classes, or about as instructional as "study hall" was in my high school?
The fight is really about money, of course:
Cambridge receives almost $9.5 million in education aid annually from the state, as part of the Education Reform law of 1993. The law created uniform standards for all school districts, as well as the Massachusetts Comprehensive System exam — a test backers said would ensure very high school graduate in the state received a quality education. But with just one year to go before they must pass MCAS to graduate, 35 percent of high school juniors in Cambridge have yet to pass the test.
Here's an invitation - if you're out there reading this and you're anti-MCAS, let me know what the alternative is. I'm not saying there isn't one, and for heaven's sakes, I'm not necessarily in favor of high school exit exams. I'm just saying that so much of this anti-testing movement seems to be entirely reflexive and based on nothing more extensive than, "We don't like these tests."