MCAS Graduation Requirement Disproportionately Harms Students in Special Education

By Louis J. Kruger, Northeastern University

The Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) graduation requirement has had a disproportionate negative impact on students in special education, and this disproportionate impact has dramatically increased since 2003, the first year that Massachusetts withheld diplomas from high school seniors if they had not met MCAS-related requirements.

In 2003, there were 1,806 high school seniors in general education ineligible to graduate with their peers because of failing to meet the MCAS test requirements.  That number has plummeted to only 690 students or 1.2 percent of the general education, senior class in 2011. In other words, about 99% of the high school seniors in general education are now passing the MCAS.

The picture is much different for students with disabilities. The number of high school seniors in special education who have not met the MCAS graduation requirements has increased 6.6% since the inception of high stakes testing in Massachusetts. In 2003, 1,969 high school seniors in special education had failed to pass the MCAS, and in 2011 that number had increased to 2,108.

Whereas students in special education comprised only 16% of all high school seniors in 2011, they nonetheless comprised 75% of the high school seniors not passing the state-mandated, MCAS-related graduation requirements. The overwhelming majority of the students who are failing to meet the state’s test-related graduation requirements are students with disabilities. If you are a high school senior in special education, you are 16 times more likely to fail the MCAS requirements than your peers in general education. The MCAS graduation requirement has become an unintentional mechanism for preventing many students in special education from obtaining a high school diploma.

The combination of two factors – the increasing percentage of students in general education passing these high stakes tests and the higher proportion of school-aged Massachusetts students in special education since 2003 – helps explain the trends in these graphs and the disproportionate harm that is occurring to special education students under the current high stakes testing policy. Although the pass rate for high school seniors in special education jumped from 73.0% in 2003 to 80.7% in the second year after the high stakes policy was implemented, the pass rate for this group has remained virtually unchanged (80.9% in 2011) since 2004.

In interpreting these graphs, at least two other factors should be taken into consideration. The data are based on enrollments as of the fall of the senior year.  Thus, the data do not include students who failed the high school MCAS requirements, but dropped out prior to their senior year. Students who fail the MCAS in high school are 11 times more likely to drop out than those who pass the tests. Since the dropout rate is much higher for students in special education, these graphs likely underestimate the disproportionate impact the graduation requirement is having on students with disabilities. Another limitation in interpreting these data is that some of the students who have not passed the MCAS might have also failed to meet other requirements for graduation. Thus, for some students the MCAS might not be the sole reason why they did not graduate on time.

Across the nine years of high stakes testing in Massachusetts, a total of 18,242 high school seniors in special education have not passed the MCAS. The denial of a high school diploma has serious financial consequences for both the individual and society. It makes life’s challenges even more challenging for individuals with disabilities. The average yearly income for individuals without high school diplomas is $11,000 per year (Center for Labor Market Studies, 2009). Individuals without diplomas are denied entrance into the military and many trade unions and post-secondary programs, such as barber, hairstyling and plumbing schools. The net cost to society of someone without a high school diploma is estimated to be more than $250,000. This estimate includes the loss of taxes, as well as the considerable costs of social and correctional services (Center for Labor Market Studies, 2009). As recent research indicates (Papay, Murnane, & Willett, 2011), even when a high school diploma is not contingent on one’s MCAS performance, failing an MCAS exam can have a potent negative effect on an individual’s post-secondary education plans.

The disproportionate denial of high school diplomas to students with disabilities is a matter of social justice.  More needs to be done to provide these students with the services and supports they need in order to obtain a high school diploma. Indeed, Massachusetts’ four-year graduation rate for students with disabilities is only 64.9%, which ranks the state at 28th out of the 45 states with available data in 2009. This is an embarrassingly weak number considering that Massachusetts has the highest combined eight-grade math and reading scores in the nation for students with disabilities on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (i.e., the Nation’s Report Card).

When you have a set of high stakes tests that virtually all students without disabilities pass, but many students with disabilities fail, then you don’t have high standards, but a system that deprives our most vulnerable youth of their right to a decent life.  Our public school system is failing to protect and nourish the aspirations of our students with disabilities. It is high time that the state legislature and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education act to ensure that students with disabilities have the same opportunity to succeed in life as students without disabilities.

References

Center for Labor Market Studies (2009). Left Behind: The Nation’s Dropout Crisis.

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (2012, July). E-Mail Transmittal of Data.

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (2012, February). Dropout Rates in Massachusetts Public Schools: 2010-11.

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (2009, September). Progress Report on Students Attaining the Competency Determination Statewide and by School and District: Classes of 2009 and 2010.

Massachusetts Department of Education (2008, March). Progress Report on Students Attaining the Competency Determination Statewide and by School and District: Classes of 2008 and 2009.

Massachusetts Department of Education (2007, June). Progress Report on Students Attaining the Competency Determination Statewide and by School and District: Classes of 2007 and 2008.

Massachusetts Department of Education (2006, June). Progress Report on Students Attaining the Competency Determination Statewide and by School and District: Classes of 2006 and 2007.

Massachusetts Department of Education (2005, June). Progress Report on Students Attaining the Competency Determination Statewide and by School and District: Classes of 2005 and 2006.

Massachusetts Department of Education (2004, June). Progress Report on Students Attaining the Competency Determination Statewide and by School and District: Classes of 2004 and 2005.

Massachusetts Department of Education (2003, September). Progress Report on Students Attaining the Competency Determination Statewide and by School and District: Classes of 2003-2004.

Massachusetts Department of Education (2003, March). Progress Report on Students Attaining the Competency Determination Statewide and by School and District: Classes of 2003 and 2004.

Papay, J. P., Murnane, R. J., & Willett, J. B. (2011). How Performance Information Affects Human-Capital Investment Decisions: The Impact Of Test-Score Labels On Educational Outcomes. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.