lesstestingmorelearning

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Story #47. Teacher: Who benefits from the MCAS grad requirement? Not students or teachers.

I’ve been an English teacher for 23 years, so my career was just beginning when the MCAS was made a graduation requirement.

My first teaching experience was in an 8th-grade classroom in Leominster, where there is a significant immigrant community and a high percentage of students receiving free and reduced meals. The educators there understood the challenges of MCAS for our English as a second language and special needs students. And we knew it was up to us to get as many passing scores as possible.

The sense of urgency among teachers and administrators was palpable all year long.

The stakes were high not just for students, but also for districts. Too many failing students meant punishment: Teachers would be fired, principals removed, and the state might even come in to take over the district. High stakes meant that untested subjects like history, art, music and technology were cut to devote more time and money to test prep. It felt like punishment regardless of outcomes.

The tension had exhausted everyone by spring. Restless students acted out in classrooms, and fights broke out in the hallways. That's what happens when you replace creativity with bubble tests. In response, administrators restricted student movement and outdoor activities were curtailed and closely monitored. By June our building felt more like a prison than a school.

At that time, I was six months pregnant, worried about the level of stress in my workplace, and reluctantly decided to leave the district.

The next year I began teaching 9th and 10th graders in Andover. The MCAS requirement was viewed as a useful data at best, and at its worst a nuisance that interrupts instruction in the spring. Special Education and English language learner teachers felt the pressure, but overall MCAS did not present a real threat in Andover Public Schools.

But over the years, as test preparation increasingly dominates curriculum and instructional time, Andover students, teachers and parents have become test weary. Teachers resent losing class time devoted to creative, interactive lessons with our students. Instead, students are sitting in rows taking tests for hours at a time. At home, parents see the physical and emotional toll that long successive days of testing have on their children.

As always, the students who pay the biggest price for this testing frenzy are the most vulnerable—those who struggle with neurodivergent issues, low-income students, and students of color.

We were told MCAS would “close the achievement gap” and ensure that every child obtained the same education and mastered the same skills. Over 20 years of evidence proved otherwise.

So, who benefits from the MCAS testing regime? The answer can be found in the pile of money pouring into the campaign to defeat question two.

It’s time to give our schools back to the communities they serve. Enough is enough.

Please vote YES to end the MCAS graduation requirement.

Jen Meagher, Andover Educator

#HighStandardsNotHighStakes #Yeson2

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Story #46. Teacher to Gov. Healey: This is what MCAS looks like

Dear Gov. Healey,

Please support the MCAS ballot question to remove the graduation requirement.

I am very disappointed by your recent quote speaking about failing 700 students a year as if is the only thing that needs to be addressed and that "it's important to maintain the ability to assess our young people." This is an extremely narrow view of all that MCAS affects in education.

If you maintain this view, I will not vote for you again.

I grew up as a student who took the pilot fourth grade MCAS in 1998 and am now a teacher shackled by the MCAS system. Every decision in schools can be tied back to MCAS. To say that students are not assessed is woefully inaccurate; in fact I have done the math. An average 4th grade student takes an assessment of varying length on 45 days of their 182 day year (24.7% of school days), including federal, state, and school tests (NAEP, MCAS, DRA, WIDA, ELA and Math End of Unit Tests, to name a few). That number does not include daily math exit tickets, not to mention ignores the significantly valuable pedagogical techniques teachers use such as gathering observational data and reviewing student work in both formative and summative capacities.

MCAS has driven innumerable decisions in schools and now threatens the well being of my students, my school, and my colleagues. We are in threat of state takeover, a fact that is completely inconsiderate of having over 80% English Language Learners and over 60 new students arriving just this year, the majority of whom are from South America and do not speak any English. We are trying our best here but we cannot have this high stakes test driving us into the ground. We literally had a student throw up on themselves during the 4 hours she took MCAS and was asked if she could finish the test. We had whole rooms of 3rd graders still testing at dismissal time, trying their best to finish after testing the entire day. Our 5th graders did not get to eat lunch until 2:20 so that they could have the longest possible uninterrupted testing window. This is what MCAS looks like.

Please reconsider your view.

Lindsay

#HighStandardsNotHighStakes

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Story #45. Parent: Dear BESE, Don’t Raise MCAS Scores for Graduation

Dear BESE members: I am writing asking you to not raise the MCAS scores required for graduation. This is because it is unwise on many levels. I was on my town's School Committee when MCAS was first used for graduation, and retained an interest as I served on the Finance Committee for several terms. I saw the declining resources to our local schools and the declining MCAS scores that came with it, along with charter school poaching the best students. My older son has a BS in Biology and works in Biotechnology as a Fermentation Engineer, as a successful colleague of people with PhDs. He led a team for his company when it worked on components of the Moderna COVID vaccine. He is gifted with computers and successful in his family life as well. You would never know that he took the MCAS in grade 10 in 1998 and failed both ELA and Math. He scored well in science only because my husband taught him some chemistry, which he would not study until grade 11. He was a kid who had mild ADHD and a learning style that needed a hands on component. My other son is severely disabled and had to take MCAS Alt. in "grade 10", despite having vision and hearing loss and functioning at the preschool mental level. The test added nothing to the excellent ISP the school had developed, and was irrelevant to the things he needed to learn. Over the years, I have watched MCAS scores rise as MCAS prep takes over the school curricula, leaving less room for music, art, phys. ed, and other subjects. I have watched the continued gap for students who are minorities, disabled, ELL, and poor.  As always, MCAS scores follow the trend of all standardized tests in reflecting the socioeconomic make up of the student body of the school and its community. Now, we are coming off 2 years of COVID19. My granddaughter did all remote in grade 4, because her parents, both being biologists, wanted her to be vaccinated before she returned to school. She has had a lot of ground to make up, as do her classmates. All students have suffered some emotionally from the pandemic. Some have even lost parents or grandparents. Others have suffered from social isolation, loss of access to medical care for physical and psychiatric problems, and had stress at home due to their parents having to change work schedules, losing income, or taking their stress out on their kids. And now, with this as a backdrop, there is a proposal to raise the test scores required for graduation. Is there any data showing the necessity of this? Is there any data showing that the benefits to the students would outweigh the enormous risks? I  see the children I know still suffering COVID aftermath in a big way. Every child I know is happy to be back to school but feeling that they are still catching up both socially and academically. It is unwise to raise the MCAS score graduation requirement. It offers no benefit to the students at a time when more and more colleges are not even asking for SAT scores. It adds an additional stress to children who are already stressed out more than they were pre pandemic. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, suicides and suicide risk has risen significantly in teens since 2020. Please do not harm our children further by raising the MCAS graduation requirements. Yours truly, Barbara Rose - Parent, Grandparent, Former School Committee Member

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Story #44. Parent: ‘Been fighting this for too long’

Today I read some of the letters from students and parents regarding the MCAS testing. Letter #41 struck a real chord in me as I remembered how my kids and I felt about MCAS testing week. I remember their anxiety, and they weren't even taking it after all the things today's kids have gone through.

Having worked in schools for almost 15 years, I witnessed how "teaching to the test" was pushed onto so many unwilling teachers. They did their jobs though. These tests are not worth all the money and hype. They are unfair to people of color, kids who live in poverty, kids who are in shelters or in foster care, kids whose English is a second language, kids with a 504 or individualized education program (IEP).

"Teaching to the test" does absolutely nothing for our kids!  They are forced to learn things that really don't add much to their usual daily learning because they are only being taught things that they will be tested on. They are basically wasting an entire year preparing for something only seen on the test.

We should also keep in mind all the stress on these kids. First, we were all hit with a pandemic that was killing people, including people close to our kids. Then we shut down schools and everything else. The kids couldn’t go anywhere; they were being taught remotely (if they even had a computer or wi-fi); they were struggling with depression, anxiety, and worse.  

Then, we brought them back to school and expected them to take a test that they were unprepared for, which takes hours to do, under stressful conditions. Why did we do this? Just so we can impress other districts and get more grants or funding from the government? At the expense of our kids' mental health?

These tests need to be discontinued. The grades of our kids should determine whether they should graduate or not. That's what overall grades are for! That's what these kids work so hard for! - Catherine, a disgusted parent/educator 

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#43. Students: Our MCAS Stories, Continued

Editor’s note: This is the third of three installments of MCAS stories by 10th grade geometry teacher Sarah Cramer’s students at Claremont Academy in Worcester. To read Sarah’s introduction, see story #41, below.

I and many others have been taking MCAS for as long as we can remember, but why? And most importantly, why does it have to be a graduation requirement. We work our butts off in school, and you’re telling me MCAS determines if we graduate or not? If you ask me, that just doesn't seem right. But not just that, imagine giving MCAS in a global pandemic. How did no one stop this? We have spent a whole year in our houses in fear for ourselves and loved ones because of what's going on. We’ve been taking school online, looking at a screen for hours, pushing to get things done. Was it easy? NO! Were there times I couldn't? YES! But did we keep going? Of course, because a lot of us care. But to be honest, I didn't learn much and the fact that I had to take this big required test in a school year where I learned nothing honestly makes me sad, mad and kind of disappointed. We should have just gotten a pass, in my opinion, and not have to be obligated to go to a school in the middle of a pandemic just to take a test. To me and many others, it just doesn't make sense. Like why risk my health for that when I know I most likely failed, for the simple reason that I learned nothing this year? It's not the teachers’ fault; it's just the lack of motivation and understanding for me. With everything considered, MCAS should not be a requirement to graduate because it doesn't show what we truly have learned and been through to get where we are now, and it should never happen again. - Marben Canas Cruz

These tests are pointless. We’re already learning things that we'll never have to use in normal everyday life. Now we have a test where it's still pointless. The school system divides the students. I've known people who say they're going to drop out of school, and a reason they give is the MCAS and its irrelevance. It stresses people out because if you don't pass, you need to retake it just to graduate high school. But fail it so many times, and you may want to drop out. This affects our personal life. I can go home and be studying but getting stressed out and taking out my frustration on others. Some of us work and have jobs because not every family in Massachusetts is living well. Some have to work more than even your 15- to 17-year-old child has to work and help out. MCAS is pointless, especially when it's not fair. - Oscar Almendarez

I don´t think MCAS should be counted for graduation, or should even happen at all. This year was completely different from other years because of the pandemic. Students had to quickly adapt to a homeschool lifestyle when learning was only remote. We had to struggle with being away from friends and not being able to socialize (which is incredibly important for teenagers). Many students are struggling with keeping up with their work because of all of these new changes. Instead of giving them more stress with the MCAS, the state should focus on providing relief during the pandemic (with technology, school supplies, food pantries, COVID vaccination sites).

I think that MCAS is a bit stressful. You have to prepare yourself, concentrate on what you write and if the answer is correct or not. I think that MCAS should not influence your graduation because it is very difficult to know if you could pass the test. MCAS should not have been given this year because it was very difficult and different from other years. You had to do it with great caution and, besides this, the pandemic is quite difficult. I think that MCAS would be better if they don't put pressure on you to pass and be able to graduate. In some parts, it could be good because if you have pressure you can put more interest and be able to pay more attention to things in class.

Last year and this were a little different and difficult, not only for me but for other people. I had to attend classes from my home and do work from my home. For me the MCAS did not have to happen because COVID happened worldwide. It did not have to happen because we worked at home, which is something more difficult than in person.

I have been taking the MCAS since elementary school, so I was used to it. The test really didn't bother me that much because it was on paper. Once we started doing the MCAS over the computer, that's when I started having a problem. Being forced to keep your eyes on a screen for hours is not for me. After I got out of elementary school, my scores went down. I would rush because my eyes could not take it anymore. We are not given a paper test option, which I think is unreasonable. Everyone tests differently. I believe the MCAS should be optional, or mandatory for children that actually need to be tested for a decision of having them graduate. - Monaeya Andrade

I personally don't think that it was fair that we had to do the MCAS testing because, throughout the year, I feel I didn't learn as much as I would have in a regular class, in person. I have heard my teachers even say it. I haven't learned much this year, and I wish I learned more. Taking the test was nerve wracking, knowing that I had to take the MCAS and pass in order to graduate. The pandemic was a big mess, and that messed us all up. However, it's not fair that we teens have to stress and struggle to be successful in the future and find colleges. I think that they should at least lower the test scores to pass. - Jaidan

The MCAS came at a bad time. Many of the kids in my class and school were all saying we are not ready for this test. We felt as if we missed so much and fell behind on many fronts. Even our teachers were against it, but we were ignored. It was a pointless test in a miserable, stressful year.

I don't think it should be counted at all this year. It's not fair for us to take it when we never went to school (but the juniors aren't required to). A lot of people weren't prepared, and I don't think many people will have good scores. It would affect us badly, as it's a graduation requirement.

I think it shouldn't be a test to prove if a student should graduate. It causes a ton of stress (on top of the pandemic). Some students are visual learners, and some just got the hang of this online school.

The MCAS is boring because you need to look at a screen all day.

I think this MCAS 2021 should not be counted for graduation because we don't learn too much with remote learning. For some people, it was difficult to connect with the teachers and classmates, and we couldn’t have the same help like before the pandemic. - Maria

I feel like we shouldn't even have done the MCAS since we haven't had enough time to study or learn the things we are supposed to. However, some kids (the 11th graders) do not even have to do the test and pass it. This just shows that the school system is messed up and doesn't know how to keep a stable economy.

Although I have very strong opinions against MCAS, I do think that Worcester public schools should've kept the testing this year. But I think the purpose behind it shouldn't be what it is. For example, the reason I think that Worcester public schools should've used this test this year is to find out where students are at in the school system, especially since COVID-19 happened and caused students to miss out on school for over 18 months. But instead, they made it mandatory for high school students to have to pass in order to graduate.

I feel like they shouldn't have given us the MCAS because we didn't learn anything or get reminded of old work to help us. And I think it shouldn't be a requirement to pass high school.

Why do we take MCAS? It was hard for other people to learn this year. Also a lot of people had difficult times. For example, their wifi could've been bad. Also a lot of people didn't learn anything.

MCAS this year was kind of BS. There was stuff that we most likely didn't know, especially in the first math MCAS. It had stuff that we definitely should've had an idea of, but we didn't know because it was harder to be productive during the pandemic. I remember opening the test and being genuinely annoyed that I had to learn what I had to solve at the same time.

I think MCAS shouldn't have happened because people haven't learned much online vs. in person school. School is just not the same when you are learning online. For example, people can cheat and they won't learn much. Furthermore, most people are usually asleep during online school, which affects their education toward MCAS. One last detail is the fact that teachers can't tell if their students are confused, which makes it harder to teach or prepare their students.

I feel as if it shouldn't have happened because this year was very confusing and not everyone was prepared for it. It shouldn't be counted towards graduation. A lot of kids have put in a lot of effort and still struggled and that could mess them up for graduation. - Robert Cortorreal

MCAS should not continue this year because students have not been present for the entire year. Students have been stressed and overwhelmed with work and their own problems. MCAS would just add more stress. Also, some students don't have a quiet place at home so they can focus and give it their all. Some students might be able to go to school and take it; others can’t because they might still be afraid of COVID-19. That is why MCAS should not continue this year.

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#42. Students: Our MCAS Stories, Continued

Editor’s note: This is the second of three installments of MCAS stories by 10th grade geometry teacher Sarah Cramer’s students at Claremont Academy in Worcester. To read Sarah’s introduction, see story #41, below.

The year 2020 was very hard for tons of us kids, and yet we continue to have tests that are required to graduate. MCAS is definitely extremely hard for everyone, but this year's MCAS is probably the hardest one yet because of the way things are now. As someone who is usually pretty good at math, learning online is very hard, so taking the test and not knowing a bunch of the stuff on it is very scary, especially since it decides whether or not I get to graduate.The amount of stress we students had throughout 2020 was already a lot, but MCAS made it a lot worse. It's not even just students who were stressed. Our teachers are trying their hardest to teach us what we need to know to pass this test. Obviously they want us to graduate, but it's so hard to learn and teach that we're scared that we may not even graduate 12th grade. - Adriel

Hi. I am a sophomore in high school, and I can say that this year has been very stressful, not just for me but for every student. This year we had to take the MCAS exam, and this was a graduation requirement. When our teachers told us the news about this we all disagreed because it did not seem fair to throw an exam at us after having this crazy school year where everything was remote. It has been hard enough having to be at home by yourself and trying to figure out the assignments on your own, not having the support of a teacher next to you when you need help. Not only that, but being in class on the internet is very difficult. It is hard to focus, and there are many interruptions. For example, the internet does not work, and you’re not able to join class so you miss it, or the teacher is having difficulty joining. These are things that should have been considered before making us take an exam that can define whether or not we graduate high school. At the end of the day, I knew that we were going to have to take the MCAS, but what bothered me the most was that this exam was going to be a requirement of whether or not we graduate with a diploma. That does not seem fair at all after this school year and all that has happened with the pandemic and also with the remote learning. These should be things that need to go into consideration before making important decisions like this, because it can affect many students. This exam was stressful for many, having to prepare and study for something that should not have happened at all.

I would like it if MCAS didn't happen this year because:

I was so frustrated I couldn't focus and kept moving around. 

The night before testing I couldn't sleep. 

I was stressed because I had work to do for my classes right after I finished testing. 

MCAS puts a lot of pressure on not just me but a good amount of people.

The fact I had to leave home to go to school and do MCAS gave me a lot of anxiety - Yamitza Toro

I don´t think the MCAS test should have happened this year because we students have not been getting as much preparation as in the previous years. According to the COVID 19, we weren't able to be at school personally, and that made us delay our learning for this school year. This means we haven't learned almost anything more than taking care of ourselves. In addition, it would affect us, as it will also count towards graduation. And I don't think it's fair if we haven't had a chance to learn. - Ashmer

I honestly don't think it was fair for us students to have to take the MCAS test. My reason behind this is because we students have not been learning the same way. Everything has been different because learning in person and having motivation is way different from learning from home.

MCAS shouldn't have happened this year. Furthermore, it's not like we’re in a situation like we were last year where everyone was learning in schools. So it's a hard situation for us to deal with, especially when everything is different, learning wise, and emotionally we’re just not ready. With all that being said, there's a high percentage of people who are going to fail, and that reflects on their graduation. It's not fair how they expect us to do good when we were not around the same environment as last year or before COVID, meaning we’re not all on the same page with education. Not everyone had a safe environment around them at home, so they should've opened school way early before giving us MCAS. - Nehemias Cruz

First and foremost, I think MCAS is a very stressful test. I think this year we shouldn't count MCAS in order to pass because we were stuck at home on a computer and might not have learned as much as we needed to. Also some of us need to be able to do hands-on activities in order to learn. Some of us need to be present, not behind a screen, because of all the distraction that could be around us. In addition, being in school helped us keep awake and focused, but being at home on the computer might make us tired, bored and sleepy. I'm saying this because I think that most of us didn't learn almost anything, so that might have affected our MCAS in many ways, because we weren't as ready as we needed to be for MCAS this year. However, I don't think you should count this for us to pass because we were not as prepared for this test as we should have been. Lastly, I don't think we should have MCAS in general because this just shows what we learned, but all that hard work we put into the test we might forget later in the future.

I think that MCAS shouldn't have happened this year because it's been a hard year, with COVID and everything. It’s hard not being able to go to school to have a better learning experience instead of at home, because you never know what kinds of things can be going on at home that could distract a student from learning and improving. I also don't think it should be counted for graduation since it isn't fair for the students. The classes being on the computer can be distracting, and being in the comfort of your own home too.

I don't think we should have had it this year because we mainly stayed at home and some kids didn’t take it seriously. I know that's on them, but still it’s not OK that some kids need physical help and do better learning face to face. It's hard learning stuff over a screen. I just feel like we didn't get a full school experience - Nevaeh Goodrich

I don't think it should have counted or been required to pass because many students struggle differently now in the pandemic because they might not be able to come and take the MCAS - Denny Salinas

MCAS should not have happened this year because it is a pandemic year, and people were learning at home for almost the rest of the year. It is a hard year for students, so MCAS shouldn't happen because we were not fully learning this year. It's hard to learn online, and MCAS is kind of hard for people who didn't catch up or learn enough. It could be for next year but not this year, because it's a hard pandemic year.

The MCAS this year for me was very stressful. Firstly, the year was a crazy year. We were barely getting through our classes because it's harder to learn remotely. I have not learned anything, and I have not memorized anything from the previous year. This test is pointless. It is required for graduation, but no colleges ever look at it. Not passing hurts my chance of graduating, but my whole intelligence shouldn't be summed up on one test. My strength can lie in other things. Maybe test taking is a weakness for me.

Hello. I am here writing this to you to address why MCAS should not have happened this year or be counted for graduation. I think MCAS should not have happened this year or be counted for graduation because of students with learning disabilities who are unable to pass the MCAS on a 10th grade level. Also, it is hard for me and other disability kids because it makes us feel dumb or we are not good enough to pass MCAS. Additionally, MCAS caused me and everyone I know anxiety. Then we all had a breakdown because not only did we have to wear a mask due to COVID-19, but we were stuck doing MCAS. - Arielis

I feel like the money wasted by choosing to test students could have been used in a better way. This past year we saw an increase of homelessness. This year we also had a larger amount of people left without jobs and money, leaving many hungry. This money could have been used to feed the hungry, maybe open a shelter, but no. Instead, let's add more stress to kids, acting as if kids don't have family members at home who are at risk of being killed by the virus. Not only that, I feel like many kids weren't taught well enough to be tested. Think about the children, because kids are going to be kids and get distracted by all these things that are going on in the outside world.

I don't think it's fair that we need MCAS in order to graduate. We are so much more than a test. This shouldn't determine our intelligence, because everybody learns differently. Some people are much better at expressing their knowledge with visuals rather than on paper. With MCAS, we can't be creative. It's all standard questions, and everyone is answering the same thing. It's not fair. Also, we spent so many years waiting to graduate, it all shouldn't be taken away because of a test. - Loida Sierra

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#41. Our MCAS Stories

Editor’s note: Sarah Cramer, a 10th grade geometry teacher in Worcester, collected stories from her students about their experiences and reactions to taking the high-stakes MCAS in this pandemic school year. She compiled these MCAS stories and sent them to Commissioner Riley and Test Administration Specialist Robert McGregor  at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. She got a brief response from McGregor and has yet to get a response from the commissioner. June 14, 2021.

A Brief Introduction

Enclosed are stories from my incredible, resilient, creative, and inspiring 10th grade geometry students about their experience with the MCAS exams this year at Claremont Academy, a public urban school in Worcester, MA. To give some context to their messages, I want to provide a little information about our school and how we have been affected by this pandemic. At Claremont Academy, our students boast rich linguistic repertoires, with 36.1% classified as English Language Learners (the highest percentage for a high school in the Worcester Public Schools) and 80.8% claiming a language other than English as their first language. In addition, 71.4% of our students are Hispanic and 90.7% are classified as high needs, meaning the pandemic hit our community particularly hard. 

Our school closed suddenly last year on March 12, 2020, and for the next three months of the school year, all learning became optional for students, since many of them did not have access to reliable technology or wifi. Our district did not start handing out Chromebooks until May, and by the end of the school year only about 25% of my students had done any math work in those three months. This school year, we were entirely remote from August until the end of March, and for most of that time we saw each class only two periods a week instead of the usual five periods. When we went hybrid at the end of March, about half of our students schoolwide (and much less in the 10th grade) started to come into the building two days a week. 

After missing three months of school last year, having six months of fully remote learning this year (or more for the students who still remain remote), and enduring a pandemic that has tragically and drastically altered their lives, my students took the English and math MCAS exams in the beginning of May. They are still required to pass these exams in order to graduate from high school. After having no control over this exam, my students wanted to take back the narrative by expressing their opinions about the MCAS and the graduation requirement that Commissioner Riley has maintained for them but waived for the current juniors. 

To Commissioner Riley; to Test Administration Specialist Robert McGregor who told me over the phone that standardized tests “motivate students to learn” and that if my students failed they could just take it again; and to everyone else who is involved in MCAS development and administration: I sincerely hope you take the time to carefully read and think about what my students have written. You owe it to them to listen to how they have been directly impacted by your policies. - Sarah Cramer, 10th grade geometry teacher, Claremont Academy, Worcester.

Our MCAS Stories (Part 1 of 3)

After a long year of experiencing a global pandemic that has ended lives, separated family and friends and changed everyone's life, students weren't prepared to be in this kind of situation. It's been a year and students as well as teachers cannot learn/teach the same way when it's completely different online. This has caused grades to drop, anxiety, depression, etc. to worsen and students to give up on school. Therefore, MCAS should've been the least of our worries; you'd expect the state to consider what we've all been through and give students a break. The MCAS test is a very important state test that requires lots of studying and reviewing old information with teachers. You can't just expect students who are trying to get by during a pandemic to be ready to take a test for the state that really doesn't even care about their mental health or well being.- Shaniellis Encarnación Ojeda

I think it was really uncalled for and very frustrating for us students to have to take such HUGE exams that will literally say if we pass or don't pass high school. It HAS been a terrible year for most of us, and for you people to put on even more stress then what we already have is very wrong in so many ways. We students have been doing online learning for most of the year, and all of a sudden you expect us to do MCAS? Make it make sense. It's the lack of emotion and care you have for us AS STUDENTS that is the most frustrating. My entire family was affected by Covid and it was not easy. Also the fact that you guys have the audacity to open schools back up during a worldwide PANDEMIC is just so bizarre. This year's MCAS should not count because it was not fair to us students. - Daniel Cerna

First, I don't think MCAS should have happened this year at all, and it shouldn't be counted. This has been a totally new life adjustment for us. Looking at a computer all day and just being at home is so different. Last year, we didn't get to take MCAS. Thus, we didn't get that extra practice for this one, which is important that we pass for graduation. For some of us, going to school to take the MCAS was the first time we had been there in over a year, so it was hard sitting there for hours. Also it was hard because, during our 9th grade year, we didn't finish learning everything, so we were even less prepared. Please try to look at it from our point of view and how stressful this year has been for us.

Since the pandemic started a year ago, a lot of kids’ lives have been stuck in the same place from a year ago. We've been held back from so much, which takes away our happiness. But school still goes on, which is a little part of normal we have ... but it’s online, and we still have the feeling of loneliness. It's also just put a lot of stress on us with still having seven classes to attend and not being able to ask for proper help. With the whole class being able to hear our questions or comments, it can be anxious sometimes. While all this is going on and more, family members or friends have been getting sick, and some we've already lost. We're just getting more boxes full of stress on our backs with MCAS and worrying about if we'll pass or not. Meanwhile, we’re being taught online and sometimes losing focus because of loud background noises or having to help out little siblings in their classes. And we're getting tested on all we could've learn this year, but our knowledge is limited with so much going on. Why is MCAS deciding if we get to move onto another grade when we've been giving it our all, despite everything? Despite our score, we students have given it all to do our best in school, although it feels as if the world is against us and we're being pulled back by everyone and everything. We want to move on, and MCAS is just another factor pulling us back. Why should we let it do that?

My name is Emmanuel Saez, but you can call me Manny. I think MCAS shouldn't count this year because COVID-19 messed us all up. We went from being in school all day every day to being out a whole year. Even though we had online schools, a lot of kids can't learn like that. Most of us can't focus in the comfort of our own homes. Yeah, I know they gave us hybrid, but how are we supposed to be MCAS ready in two months? I just think that's pretty crazy. MCAS is a very important test. That's why they give us all year to study for it. The 10th grade MCAS is the one you need to pass to graduate high school, so I think they should have moved it at least to 11th grade so we can practice more. And those are my reasons that MCAS shouldn't count this year. - Emmanuel Saez

I think that we should take MCAS this year, but it shouldn't be counted for graduation. I say this because it wouldn't be right after we haven't been in school for more than five months and we had to be taught by our teachers behind the screen. We mostly forgot what we were taught, and it was very hard for us to learn over a screen. But at the same time, we should take the MCAS so they can see our progress and where we are now. So we can improve and get where we’re supposed to be. - Nasha Ehrich

I feel like having the MCAS is a good idea with trying to see where the students are, but it should not be graded or a requirement to say if we can pass or not. I think that’s not fair. I believe that a test will not show you how good or bad you are in education. Some people do great in school and then do horribly on tests because their nerves get the best of them. 

Coronavirus hit us hard, so we shouldn’t take this test because most of the people were not ready.

I was completely fine with MCAS this year. However, I do believe that it should not have counted for graduation or a grade. I say this because, first of all, freshman year got cut in half, so we don't even know half the material we should know. Or the MCAS could just tell the state that we do try our hardest and put all effort to try and pass to show that we are trying and learning. Or how about just not have the MCAS? - Zechariah

MCAS was really stressful this year, and the questions were complicated. I'm pretty sure I failed. It was really hard. I barely was able to understand the questions that were given.

I really don't like MCAS, and it puts out a lot of stress on a bunch of us, and everyone just hates it. Sometimes people just want to rush through it to get it over with. MCAS is not my thing. I really don't like it. Everyone hates it as well. MCAS is also just too long and stressful.

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Story #40. Parent: ‘Thanks to a courageous teacher, I learned the truth about MCAS’

When my son was in third grade, his teacher called me. “He can’t take these tests,” she said, whispering as if she was passing me state secrets. Up until then I had no clue he was struggling this much. She said his anxiety was through the roof and the pressure was too much for an 8-year-old child. She didn’t feel right as his teacher putting him through it. She said she wanted to build trust and strong relationships with her students, not torment them. She put her job on the line by telling me this. I will forever be grateful that she was one of the few people in the system willing to stand up for her students, and especially my son.

I began asking teachers of both of my kids about the tests; I heard horror stories that parents don’t usually have access to. Parents are told over and over how important the tests are, how much they mean to the district, and how we need to be supportive and cheer our kids on during the testing weeks - like they do in the schools, where they establish rallies to get the kids “pumped up.” Teachers leave pleading incentive notes on every child’s desk to try to help them through the day. There is so much wrong on so many levels it could fill another article. But parents are told that this is a natural part of a child’s education and we must all participate willingly and gratefully.

When I asked and teachers felt they could trust me, they dropped the mask and told me how horrible MCAS is. The tension in the building leading up to and during the tests. How hard it is to keep everyone quiet while others are testing. Students who were physically ill from the stress, vomiting, passing out, hiding in the bathrooms. Other students not receiving their mandated 504 and IEP services because every adult in the building was proctoring tests. The days upon days of testing. “Well, if we only test them for two hours a day it’s no big deal,” was the message we heard, but those tests would go on for 15 days. MCAS testing has become a “season” now. All while the testing companies made their profit off our childrens’ unpaid work.

This profit isn’t some nebulous concept. A 2012 Brookings report found that Massachusetts pays twice the national average for standardized testing. Towns are forced to include money in their budgets for new computers, software licenses (yes it has to be upgraded every year), the software that runs the tests. But wait there’s more!

This year the software only works on the new tablet we created, so you have to buy those too. I’m not exaggerating - I live near a small town that spent $80,000 on new computers to be used, in part, for MCAS testing. Meanwhile those same schools don’t have money to pay for teachers, supplies and books, student activities, before and after care, or a myriad of other school programs that would actually benefit our children and enrich their education.

One year at an MCAS presentation for the school committee, the superintendent said only one student opted out at the middle school, to cheers and applause. That was my son, who chose to do it on his own, and happily sat in a separate room all by himself for the 30 hours of testing that other students endured. We knew he would be asked by his teachers to comply with the testing even though I had opted him out. We talked about this and practiced for it. I told him he could blame me and say it’s my mother’s choice, but he wanted to do it himself. He said he was OK and I sent him off with fingers crossed.

As we expected, he was pressured by some adults in the building to comply even after I told them he was opting out. Here was a 12-year-old being coerced by adults, after his parent explicitly asked them not to, to obey the ridiculous system they’d mindlessly bought into. This is not what we send our children to school for. I couldn’t be prouder of him for standing his ground in that moment. While school administrators and board members cheered at that school committee meeting, I felt a painful cognitive dissonance at the celebration of tormenting children to line the pockets of testing company executives.

All students in Massachusetts are required to pass the 10th grade MCAS to receive their diplomas. This has created an entire class of people who went to school for 12 years, worked hard, didn’t drop out, but still can’t get a job because they couldn’t pass one test. I know people who couldn’t pass the MCAS because English isn’t their first language, and it affects their entire life. They can’t get good jobs and support their families. The tests are not designed for students with learning differences. It’s a travesty, and I don’t know why it’s still allowed. Oh wait, I do. Because testing companies and their advocates are making money, and teachers have to toe the line at the expense of losing their job if they speak out. They all know this kind of testing has nothing to do with real learning. This system must be abolished.

Both of my boys are now college-age. One is going to his first-choice college, a beautiful New England campus with rigorous academic standards. The other just finished an associate’s degree from a fantastic community college. He will be starting a job this summer earning almost as much money as his mother (and I've been working for a long time!). They are both smart, hard-working, well-adjusted young men who opted out of MCAS for many years. They have become healthy adults without any influence from the scores they got on a graph that can be used by a stranger in Boston to determine whether your school is succeeding.

No standardized test ever helped them become the beautiful young men they are. When you look at the big picture, MCAS means nothing to the growth and education of children, and the concept of testing students every year in order to base teacher and school performance on those numbers should be relegated to the trash heap where it belongs.--Parent Amy Pybus

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Story #39. Parent: ‘We should focus on students’ mental health and well being, not MCAS’

My two daughters are both sophomores at Burlington High School. My daughters desperately wanted to be hybrid students but chose to be remote students all year because their father is high risk for Covid-19.

I was extremely concerned that their first time being back in the school building would be to take a stressful, standardized MCAS test. I asked the school if it would be possible for them to take the test outside of the school building under a tent or have an option to take it remotely, but unfortunately those options were not possible.

It just doesn’t make any sense that they offer a remote option to grades 3-8 this year but not to high school sophomores who need to take the test in order to graduate. My daughters are both straight A students but have struggled emotionally this year because of the pandemic. They are so disappointed they will not be taking the tests with their classmates and feel they are now going to be behind everyone else.

The MCAS just should have been canceled again this year due to Covid-19. There have been too many struggles the students have faced with hybrid and remote learning. We really should be taking the time to focus on the mental health and well being of the students and not forcing them to take a stressful, standardized test during an unprecedented year!--Parent of Burlington High School students

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Story #38. Parent: 'MCAS is a stressor without foundation'

Every time spring arrives, my children know that it’s MCAS time. This is the time when they have chronic headaches, start acting out in school and at home, and their stress levels increase. They would come home telling me about all the threats the teachers make if they don't do well in MCAS. When the tests are over, I’m happy to have my children back.

When my son entered the sixth grade, I did some research and found out that I could opt my children out of taking the MCAS. I immediately wrote a letter to the principal of their school. The first time I sent it to the school they only asked me if I was sure. I said yes, and my son didn’t take the MCAS.

The following year, when my son was in 7th grade, I also gave a letter to the principal notifying her that I was opting my children out of MCAS. This time it was different. I got a call from the principal asking to meet with me, to which I agreed. When I met with her and the family community liaison of the school, they suggested I change my mind. They didn’t doubt my children were more than capable of passing the test, which I wasn’t either. They also said that they didn’t want the school’s score to go down. I relented; my children would take the MCAS.

The opt-out option ended once my eldest son entered 9th grade. Now, the MCAS has become a high-stakes test, which determines if my son will be able to earn a diploma or not. My daughter entered 9th grade this year. The MCAS becomes a high-stakes test for her as well.

It is definitely a stressor. An unnecessary stressor. A stressor without foundation.

It is incomprehensible that all the years of education ends in 10th grade and that a piece of paper can determine the future of youth in Massachusetts.--Parent

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Story #37. Teacher: Too much MCAS prep, too little learning

My school panicked about MCAS, and my 10th-grade English class became 100% MCAS prep. I wasn't able to teach anything else in Quarter 2 or 3. We did previously released MCAS questions every day. The only writing my students were able to do were MCAS practice essays.

I don't see the benefit in this, and students aren't learning from it. They are miserable and I am miserable. Due to testing, I have only nine days with students in Quarter 4. I have nine days to teach them content other than MCAS prep. In Quarter 1, I had 20 days with my sophomores. This means they'll have 29 days total this year of instruction that is not test prep.--Teacher

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Stories #35 and #36. Educator: Sometimes, doing the right thing means breaking the rules

I was the speech/language clinician at one of the elementary schools in Acton for many years.

During the early days of MCAS, one of my kids was a fourth grader, which meant that he had to take the dreaded “long composition” MCAS. This boy was a sweet, very bright youngster with autism. He struggled with all aspects of verbal expression, both orally and in writing.

In spite of several weeks of test practice, support and therapy from me and from an out-of-school psychologist, when testing day arrived, our student went into a panic.

Like many people with autism, our student struggled to control his emotions and to express them in a socially acceptable way. In his complete panic over the test question, he reacted by tearing up his test booklet and bursting into tears.

Two hours later, he was still rocking and sobbing in my office. Although after all these years, this is only a paraphrase of his comments, the meaning is precise.

“I made a terrible choice. I ripped up my MCAS, and that means I will fail. If I fail the MCAS, I’ll never graduate from high school and that means I can’t go to college and so I’ll probably never get married. I always wanted to get married! I think I’d be a very good dad.”

To say that my heart broke in that moment is an understatement.

Story #36

In 2015, I had a student in my class who arrived in the U.S. from China eight days before school started. At this point I was teaching fifth grade, and this child arrived with exactly one phrase in English. “Please, may I go to bathroom?”

By the following May, when MCAS time came, this bright, determined, hard-working child had made so much progress that it was determined that she should take the math MCAS. She was happy to take the test and was very proud of herself for her progress.

However, the state’s rules specified that she had to use an “approved” dictionary to help her with any of the English language vocabulary that she might encounter. This was not the same well-thumbed dictionary that my student had been using successfully every day for months. Still, she accepted it and got to work.

After about a half hour, my Chinese student raised her hand. I went to help. She had come to a word that she had never seen (I believe it was the word ‘integer,’ which had not once appeared in our Common Core-approved Pearson math book). She had looked it up, but the approved dictionary didn’t have it.

“Can I have my own dictionary?” She asked.

“No, I’m sorry,” I answered. “You have to use the MCAS dictionary.”

She smiled. “But this word is not in the new dictionary.”

“I’m sorry. You have to use the MCAS one.”

She frowned.

“But this word is not in that dictionary. How can I know this word?’

You all know the rules. I couldn’t tell her the word. I couldn’t give her the dictionary that might actually help her.

“This is stupid,” said my astute young friend. “How can I learn this word if it is not in the book?”

Obviously, I gave her the right dictionary, she looked up the word, and she answered the question.

I had to break the rules and risk retribution from the state just to do the right thing for student.--Karen Shiebler, Educator, Winchendon.

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Story #34. Educator: ‘MCAS piles hardship upon hardship for students with disabilities’

Public schools are being forced to give the MCAS to ninth and tenth graders this year. This high-stakes test will be used to determine if they graduate high school with a proper diploma. Many of these students have an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or 504 plan. I am responsible for ensuring students in my school receive the accommodations outlined in their 504s and IEPs.

However, with the pandemic, most of the 160 freshmen we are testing do not have their most recent IEPs and 504s signed by their parents. Even though we have hosted team meetings via Zoom and sent IEPs to be signed, via email and the U.S. Postal Service, many families are simply not signing the documents. As a result, we are forced to administer MCAS to over 100 students and determine their success in high school using accommodations that were decided on in 7th grade or earlier (many of these students’ last signed IEPs are dated 2019 or earlier).

Districts are surely doing all they can to get families to sign, but it has not been a priority for many families as they seem more focused simply on survival. To force this test on these families is to ignore the hardships they have and continue to endure.

It’s not the right time. It’s too much.--Educator

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Story #33. Teacher: ‘MCAS upends school environment’

Anyone who has taught under the MCAS mandate knows how utterly disruptive to the school environment it is. First of all, very few people are aware of just how fragile a school climate is. Nor do they understand how challenging it is to build and maintain a healthy, viable environment where kids can feel accepted, safe, and welcome. Routine rules. The MCAS puts the kibosh on all of these hard-won goals.

I taught both 7th and 8th grade English in a suburban public school system. During my classroom years, everything pivoted around and kowtowed to testing, testing, and more testing. Moving kids from classrooms to the computer lab, interrupting lesson plans and schedules. All for more testing.

Try to settle a bunch of middle schoolers down when they come to class from the computer lab, which took 20 minutes from your teaching time, with just 20 minutes left to the period. Meanwhile, the next class of lambs are herded into the computer lab for their test taking prep time.

The movement from place to place is minimized now that students have laptops. Still, the return to "normalcy," to an interrupted lesson, to a fragmented conversation with a troubled child, to that welcome, safe environment (as wacky as that may be when working with adolescents) has been shattered. Back to square one. Take out your essays we were discussing. Ring, ring, class is over.

Haven't these poor kids been banged over the head hard enough by COVID? And we are going to reintroduce (any kind of...) standardized testing under these circumstances??!! I assume that all kids have lost a precious year. It is an even playing field. Keep it that way. No stomach-churning, anxiety-provoking, scheduling-nightmare testing. Let's just see how well the kids perform without the MCAS monkey on their tender backs.

As a professor at New England Conservatory wrote in a Globe piece once "Give them all an A." And that professor did, and all his student musicians performed amazingly well. And they enjoyed their performances. A lesson for us "grownups in the room"? I hope so. Good luck with this Herculean task.--Joelita Cleveland, retired ELA teacher, grades 7 and 8

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Story #32. Student: For college, I had to struggle to unlearn MCAS test prep

My story is two-fold. It is from my perspective as a high-achieving student, as well as one who deals with a chronic illness.

To give some context, I graduated high school back in 2010.

I was a high-achieving student, always taking Honors and AP courses as often as my schedule would allow. I performed well on the MCAS, but it wasn't until I entered my senior year of high school that I realized how much standardized testing had influenced my education up until that point.

During my senior year, I struggled to unlearn the formula for writing to do well on the MCAS, and to learn how to write an actual paper and in different styles for the real world (college, work, and beyond). It was incredibly hard to break the habits that had been instilled throughout my schooling in order to be able to do well after high school.

My second story pertains to trying to do well on standardized tests while managing chronic conditions. Even if you have an individualized education program, it could be hard to get and maintain accommodations during a standardized test.

Not only is your routine upended, many times you do not have your usual teacher as a proctor, so the proctor is unfamiliar with your accommodations as well as how your conditions need to be managed. So not only do you have to contend with the stress of the test, you have to take time to inform and possibly defend yourself when you have to administer treatment during the test. You also cannot reschedule (or at least I couldn't) even if you have an episode the day of.

It boiled down to having to take a test that could determine if you graduate, etc., when you are impaired due to conditions outside of your control.—Allison R. Hubbard, Student, Class of 2010

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Story #31. Educator: Students' MCAS joke hits close to home

There is a stunning joke among students that MCAS stands for the "Massachusetts Child Abuse System." I'm used to laughing this off, but really it's not that much of a hyperbole. Every year, I see this test give unnecessary stress to kids, even if we just do practice tests. This year, kids are asking me why they are testing us on things they know we haven't covered in class. What is the point? They are right. Why are we doing these tests - this year especially?--Cambridge educator

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Story #30. Parent: 'What are we doing to our children?'

Today, May 10, 2021, my heart was crushed to see my daughter text me from school in a complete panic, crying, because she realized she will not pass her 10th grade MCAS math. This from a high-achieving student who just struggles with math. What on earth are we doing to these children? The mental health of our children is just pushed aside. Jeff Riley and Gov. Baker need their head examined. As a parent, our hands are tied, so frustrating and defeated.--Parent, Andover High School