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Haverhill School Committee members recently gave their takes on a ballot question in November which would, if passed, remove the graduation requirement for the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System—or MCAS.
Several members, including such as Vice Chairman Paul A. Magliocchetti, Erica Diaz and Jill Story said they are voting yes on the initiative, which removes the test’s graduation requirement.
Diaz said she is opposed to MCAS as a graduation standard because “I believe teaching to the test diminishes the creativity of our educators.” She added she believes using one method of testing “doesn’t seem equitable” and that “It’s bothered me for years.”
Magliocchetti also has reservations about the standardized test, which was created in 1993. “I have not been a fan of MCAS from the beginning. I am one of the few people up here that actually remembers when Dr. (John R.) Silber was helping to develop MCAS back in the early 90s when he was president of BU.”
He said he had some concerns on how the ballot question is written.
“Just eliminating it I don’t think is a good thing, but at the same time I think if it does pass, if it does get a yes, it’s going to force our legislature to rethink what they’re doing and how they’re doing it.”
Member Thomas Grannemann disagreed with removing the graduation requirement, but called the exam “woefully inadequate in assessing the accomplishments of our students or the performance of our teachers.”
“While I understand the frustration with MCAS, I don’t really support eliminating it as a graduation requirement until we agree on what better methods are going to be there to replace it. I think Paul you may be optimistic that the legislature will come up with something, I’d be surprised if they come up with anything very quickly,” he said.
Superintendent Margaret Marotta said she had “mixed feelings” about the initiative. “I was an educator pre-MCAS, or at least pre-graduation requirement, and I was in special education at the time and I think that there were times we weren’t challenging our students with disabilities significantly enough. I think there were times when they weren’t getting what they needed,” she said. “I feel like in some ways forcing an assessment that included all students raised the bar for all kids.”
She added she is concerned there is no alternative standard that has been proposed.
Member Richard J. Rosa said the question would be “so easy” to support if it had directed the legislature to come up with an alternative assessment.
“It takes it away and then we have to wait for the legislature to act or not act,” he said.
Member Jill Story said she supports removing the graduation requirement, but said she supports MCAS as a standard, noting “I think it’s a great tool for measuring whether or not students are mastering standards.”
Committee Chairperson Mayor Melinda E. Barrett said she is “probably going to vote yes.”
The committee could vote at their next meeting on whether to support the initiative.
In other School Committee news, both the Haverhill Education Association and the School Committee have expressed support for opening contract negotiations, with the union’s collective bargaining agreement scheduled to expire on June 30 of next year.