The following is an editorial that appears in today's Union-News. It's about the
state-mandated testing, MCAS, that many educators and parents oppose. The writer
is a teacher and graduate from UMass.
I believe we As MTA members should suport these teachers, our fellow union
members, who are trying to teach and be innovative within in the confines of
increased standardized testing.
I have spoken to many teachers with similar views as the teacher below, who have
said that, in particular, any progress we have started to make in multicultural
education and special education, or any attention to
students' individual needs have been severely hampered with the hyper focus on MCAS.
Will Hug
I am a teacher, a parent and a Massachusetts taxpayer and am well acquainted with
the MCAS. I even give workshops to teachers on how to help kids pass the open
ended portions of the MCAS. But enough is enough.
I am not against holding teachers and students accountable for their learning and
I am not against some kind of state wide testing program as one way of assessing
student progress.
I AM against spending millions and millions of dollars for that testing. Use that
money to reduce class size instead. I'm particularly against spending millions of
taxpayers dollars for a test that clearly is designed
so many children will fail. Massachusetts Fourth graders have tests. According to
the MCAS, more than half of them are not proficient in those areas. There's
something wrong here.
I am also against any child being tested for seventeen hours. Not only is this
excessive and stressful but there are so many more productive ways to spend our
days in May. The MCAS takes valuable time away from teaching and learning.
Finally, I am against using the MCAS as the only indicator of a student's
readiness for graduation. One vocational school teacher asked me whether all
students would be asked to rebuild a car engine before they graduated.
His students might not pass the MCAS but they could do that. We've worked hard
to reduce the dropout rate in our schools. I wonder how many kids will drop out if
they fail the MCAS next year.
There is something very wrong with the entire process, with the Frameworks and
with the MCAS, with using children as pawns in a political game to prove how bad
our schools are. I hope parents are aware that they can refuse to allow their
children to take the MCAS. I hope teachers will honor this decision and support
those who choose to protest. Too many children are already, in November, having
nightmares about a test they are taking next May. Is this the way the people of
Massachusetts wish to treat their
children?
It is time for taxpayers, parents, teachers and educational administrators to stop
scrambling to beat the MCAS and start taking a long look at what we are doign to
education, to children and to ourselves. There are other ways to reach our goal of
graduating competent, thoughtful citizens who will lead
productive lives in our state. And it is up to us to find them.
Sincerely,
Mary Ginley
User Support Services
W.E.B. Du Bois Library
Dear Editor:
1998 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year
186 Sheffield Ave.
Longmeadow, MA 01106