Comments on: Day 2: Strengthen the objective MCAS test

By: ron leary

ron leary — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 12:02:32 +0000

Jim,
As a retired teacher-coach for over forty years, I
am witnessing an epidemic of teenage drinking and
prescription pill taking. I coach three sports at the
frosh level and I have seen a dramatic increase in stress. Most of their stress eminates from a more
demanding curriculum to pass MCAS. The more the bar is raised, the more stress leads to avenues of
alcohol and drugs. Please read the Surgeon Generals “CALL TO ACTION” http://www.surgeongeneral.gov.
Maybe we can turn this around with a more
balanced approach to education where we learn
more about the intricate systems of the human
body and the wonders of DNA. I believe that if kids
learn the wonders of their body, they will not abuse
it.
The study of Nature and all its beauty would help
them reduce stress as they immerse themselves
with “a love for learning”. We have to bring back
a methodology of “having fun learning” and reduce
the stressful preparations for MCAS.
The more we raise the bar, the more addictions
we create. The Pioneer Institute could be a leader
“a call for action”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By: Mr. H

Mr. H — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 23:44:21 +0000

As a teacher, I completely support shortening the turnaround time in receiving MCAS results. Scheduling is a huge factor in a student’s success; if the DESE does not get MCAS results to us before the end of August (they never do) there is a big chance those students will end up in the wrong classes. This means that students will need to be rescheduled once the year has begun and routines are in place. (In my experience, this happens a lot in my school.) Often the students who are rescheduled are those who are less equipped to tolerate disruptions.

This might seem trivial, but in my opinion it is a big deal. There is so much energy going into those first few weeks of classes, both on the parts of students and teachers, that it is very confusing for struggling students to be moved into a new class a few weeks into the term.

Everybody is so eager to say that teachers are the big problem in education, and it is true there are many things we should do better; but we are not the only partner in the education business who needs to clean up its act.

By: fred m

fred m — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 05:09:02 +0000

OK, of seniors, 2,584 dropped out and 1,742 had already passed MCAS. (By the way, that’s 67%, not 72%.)

Look at districts who are doing badly. They have big fail rates at the middle school level, and then things are much better at the 12th grade level, percentage-wise. Why is this? Because the kids who failed the middle school MCAS have dropped out. The graduating class sizes are smaller by the exact size of the cohort that’s failing on the middle school test.

Why do you think strengthening the MCAS will help these kids? It’s clearly not working for them now.

By: Jim Stergios

Jim Stergios — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 03:37:04 +0000

Fred: Senior year is the year by which high school kids have to pass the MCAS. They have five tries. With 72 percent of them already having passed the MCAS, I think it is a hard argument to make that the MCAS is getting them to drop out. For example, 9th-graders have not even seen the 10th-grade MCAS test. Text corrected – and sorry for the lack of precision on the year in question.