Problem
- Massachusetts has yet to fully realize the letter and spirit of the Education Reform Act of 1993, which called for a comprehensive assessment system composed of a variety of instruments and methods that are sensitive to different learning styles and barriers to learning such as English language proficiency and learning disabilities.
- To reach our aspirations for educational quality and equity, Massachusetts public schools need balanced systems of: evaluation, assessment, and accountability.
- We need a system that reflects and supports high and broad aspirations for our children, and measures the breadth and depth of all the skills required for success in our changing world. Such skills include the “21st Century skills” of creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, communication and collaboration, media and information literacy, flexibility, initiative, social and cross-cultural skills and understandings, leadership, self-motivation and responsibility.
- These skills are needed for students to succeed in college and skilled employment, but colleges and employers report that Massachusetts high school graduates still largely lack these capacities.
- Achievement gaps remain unacceptably large, and dropout rates, already high before Education Reform, are rising among urban minority populations and among English language learners and students with disabilities.
- Our current accountability structure suffers from an imbalance that places too much emphasis on standardized test outcomes and results in “goal distortion,” i.e., a diversion of attention from many important school goals to focus only on those that are measured by high stakes tests.
- A consequence of this goal distortion has been less social studies, science, art, music, and physical education, as well as lack of attention to the 21st century skills, particularly for low-income children.
Position
Citizens for Public Schools believes that we need to reform our state assessment and accountability system to include local classroom-based assessments combined with limited state-wide assessments to provide multiple sources of evidence of student learning and progress. These, together with an accreditation process, would eliminate the goal distortion and narrowing that has resulted from the current system and ensure a balanced and comprehensive accountability system that addresses the full range of academic and other 21st century skills;
Solution
Citizens for Public Schools supports H. 1955, which calls for the creation of a balanced assessment and accountability system that will promote 21st century skills, educate the whole child and focus state attention and resources on schools and districts that most need help in their efforts to improve quality and outcomes for every student.
What Can You Do?
- Join Citizens for Public Schools.
- Stay connected and informed about the issue by subscribing to the CPS listserve. To subscribe, just send a blank message to care-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
- Contact your legislators: Link to Mass.Gov Legislators Info and urge them to support H 3660.
- Write letters to the editor sharing your views on how to improve public education by reforming the high-stakes MCAS.
- Talk to your friends and neighbors about the need to improve public education for all with better assessment and accountability and urge them to join CPS.
Worth Reading
- Download Further Information Provided by Citizens for Public Schools: [PDF Download, MCAS High-Stakes Testing, Worth Reading]
- FairTest, the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, is an excellent source of information on high-stakes testing and other assessment issues. See the Examiner, FairTest’s quarterly newsletter, for the latest news on national and regional assessment trends, and use FairTest’s fact sheets to educate yourself and others about the issues.
- See Northeastern University Professor Louis Kruger’s trailer for a powerful documentary called, “Children Left Behind | www.childrenleftbehind.com. Feel free to find him on Twitter, #reformMCAS or search for him on Facebook.
- You may also see a YouTube Playlist of testimony from the Legislature’s Joint Education Committee hearing on proposed MCAS legislation.
- Another good source for info about the MCAS Issue can be found at the MCAS Blog. Please read and contribute.
- Download the PDF of: Beyond the Basics, Achieving a Liberal Education for All Children, Edited, and with an introduction and conclusion by Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Dianne Ravitch
