WESTFIELD — At the Nov. 4 meeting, School Committee member Michael Tirrell brought forward a resolution in support of removing MCAS as a graduation requirement. Tirrell said he was bringing forward the resolution, backed by the Massachusetts Teachers Association and the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, for consideration, discussion and a vote of support.
After a discussion, the vote was 6 to 1, with Mayor Michael McCabe, chair of the committee, voting no.
“As you all know, Question 2 is on this year’s ballot, which calls for the removal of MCAS as a graduation requirement and proposes school districts certify that a student has met graduation requirements. As this is a resolution, it is non-binding from a municipal standpoint … It’s a vote of support to the state legislature,” Tirrell said in bringing forward the resolution.
School Committee member Jeffrey Gunther said he wanted to be on the record that while he supported the removal of MCAS as a graduation requirement, he did not agree with some of the language in one of the paragraphs, specifically referring to the MCAS test being “significantly limited” in measuring where students are meeting standards.
“I wouldn’t go that far. I don’t want to lose MCAS as an important measure — one of many useful data points,” Gunther said.
As chair of the School Committee, Mayor Michael McCabe objected to the timing of the resolution. “I don’t think we should ever be in a position that we get a resolution on a topic as weighty as this the day we’re supposed to take the vote,” he said, adding, “I think it is completely inappropriate to vote on a resolution the day we get the resolution.”
School Committee member Timothy O’Connor said he was going to be in support. He said while they may have just gotten the packet of information on the resolution recently, “…this is something we’ve talked about for many years. I think the MCAS is outdated and needs to be retooled. I agree that we can’t lose sight of the focus of its intent, but it’s time to take the high stakes testing portion out of it. I’m not uncomfortable voting on it tonight,” O’Connor said.
“I’ve been here two and a half years. I’ve never had it come up at a meeting that I know of,” McCabe said.
School Committee member Bo Sullivan said he also went back and forth on the question.
“I did come to the conclusion that I will be for the resolution. Massachusetts is year after year number one in education — part of that is data from the MCAS test, and knowing where students are,” he said.
He added that the stress level surrounding the test is “palpable.”
Sullivan said he went to an event with the superintendent the week before, and heard him talk about a better way forward. “It cost $30 million to administer this test. There’s probably a better way to spend this money.”
Tirrell said he was open to amending the resolution.
“I agree that we should not be voting to remove the standard, but rather voting to remove the high stakes,” he said.
He said the expectation is that MCAS testing will remain.
“In my estimation it needs some revisions, but we’ll still have it as a benchmark,” Tirrell said.
He said he was fine with striking the reference to MCAS’ limitations.
Tirrell also said while MCAS may not have been discussed in open meeting lately, his own experience is from many constituents, both families, faculty and students that have come up to him with concern about MCAS over the last decade.
School Committee member Kathleen Hillman said her understanding was there are only 14 states that give the test as a graduation requirement. Gunther said it’s down to eight states.
“We’re one of only eight out of 52 states. That’s why I want to see it gone,” Hillman said, adding that she has administered the test herself, and has found it to be biased against some students, mentioning in particular her experience with an English language learner.
“I don’t think this is advised tonight. When you’re allowed time, afforded time, you get to do some education,” McCabe said. He said that afternoon he read an article written by Sen. Thomas Birmingham, an original author of MCAS in 1993, stating that SATs rose consecutively for 13 years after the MCAS requirement was implemented. After that, Massachusetts students became the first to score best in the nation in all four categories.
Gunther said as far as standardized tests go, he thinks the MCAS is stronger than some on testing more than just rote memorization. However, he agreed that it has caused a narrowing of the curriculum, forcing schools to spend too much time on it.
“We wouldn’t know about systemic inequities were it not for these standardized tests,” he said, but that they’re better used to assess instruction.
“I would be happy to say the Westfield School Committee supports passage of Question 2 to replace the MCAS graduation requirement to get us on the record, rather than everything in the resolution,” Gunther said.
Hillman said, “Massachusetts is better because we have a framework and curriculum guidelines…that is consistent through the state and for all the teachers. It’s not just the testing, it’s the curriculum that’s made it better.”
Sullivan said Birmingham was the author in 1993, when it was called education reform.
“Do the math, 30 years later, it’s time for education reform. Back in 1993, I don’t think they had a thing called STEM. It’s time to take a look at it again,” he said.
Sullivan also said the legislators can do whatever they want with the results of the question on the ballot.
Tirrell agreed to keep the first four paragraphs that he called “generic,” and then skip to the last paragraph in support of the passage of Question 2, if the committee would be more comfortable passing the resolution minus paragraphs five through 10. “We could amend the motion to just make it a more direct statement that we support the resolution for a yes on Question 2.”
Gunther made a motion to pass the resolution as amended, which passed 6 to 1. McCabe said he voted no only because of the timing of the vote.
“The real issue is whether MCAS should be a high stakes graduation requirement,” said O’Connor after the meeting.
