It's official: New Bedford stands against MCAS as a graduation requirement. Here's why.

NEW BEDFORD — Since 1993, the Mass. Education Reform Law has required public school students in the state to pass the standardized MCAS test to graduate high school. In the years since, there's been no shortage of complaints and pushback from educators and the public about the test's high-stakes nature.

Now, many appear eagerly hopeful that the Thrive Act (Senate Bill S.246, House Bill H.495) — currently before the Mass. Legislature's Joint Committee on Education — would keep MCAS testing but eliminate its "high stakes" element, meaning it would no longer prevent students from graduating high school, nor would it subject schools to state receivership. The legislation would also form a commission that would determine how to best establish a new assessment system in the future.

If the Thrive Act falls short in the legislature or otherwise fails to gain final approval by Gov. Maura Healey in spring when she's expected to make the decision, there's also a ballot question initiative afoot as a backup that — if passed by voters — would still eliminate MCAS as a graduation requirement.

According to Dr. Cynthia Roy, co-chair of New Bedford Coalition to Save Our Schools, New Bedford ranked among the top five Mass. communities in terms of number of signatures collected in support of the ballot initiative.

As outlined by Roy, if legislators take no action by the end of April, another 12,500 signatures will need to be certified by July for the ballot question to be in place for voters in the fall.

New Bedford locals send messages of support

While local officials' opinions hold no weight over whether or not the bill moves forward, New Bedford City Council and School Committee members decided to take a pronounced public stance in support of its passage recently, when they voted to officially declare their position on Thrive Act by resolution earlier this month.

The two public bodies' resolutions puts them in line with local educators and parents who've expressed concerns with the MCAS graduation requirement over recent months, and throughout the years.

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"There are many folks who agree that testing is necessary to measure where kids are but it's the requirement for the high school diploma that we're looking to eliminate," said Lisa Lemieux, who, as its president, spoke at the February School Committee meeting on behalf of the Greater Southeastern Mass. Labor Council.

According to Lemieux, there were over 135,000 signatures submitted petitioning for the MCAS graduation requirement ballot question. "More than any other ballot initiative this election cycle," she said, noting 1,782 New Bedford signatures. "As has been stated many times, this started as a trial more than 20 years ago. We are only one of eight states that still has this requirement."

In addition to Greater Southeastern Mass. Labor Council, Lemieux listed off a number of other groups that support nixing the MCAS grad requirement, including the Massachusetts Teachers Association, American Federation of Teachers-Massachusetts, and the Boston Teachers Union.

"I knew a lot of students that were dropping out after they failed the MCAS in 10th grade because they were like, I'm not going to graduate anyways," said first-year New Bedford High geometry teacher and 2019 graduate Taryn Padilla. "Now teaching geometry, I see everyday how the constraints and pressure of this test are not only hindering student engagement in classes but hindering teachers' ability to actually create engaging lessons....

"There are a lot more important things students should learn by the time they graduate than how to finesse the system."

ELL, special education students especially vulnerable to MCAS, teachers say

Throughout the public speaking portion of the School Committee meeting, a number of speakers spoke to heightened difficulties passing MCAS for students like English language learners and those in special education.

"About 40% of our current student population speaks another language at home other than English," said 27-year New Bedford ESL (English as a second language) educator Irma Valerius. "As speakers of other languages, it takes about 40% of our student population about five to seven years to fully grasp academic English in the four domains of speaking, listening, reading and writing; five to seven years that are not afforded to English learners arriving in eighth grade and beyond."

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Special education teacher Kelly Murphy said the potential for MCAS to be a diploma-blocker is "especially true in supported academic classes."

"This cohort of students have disabilities significant enough to make high stakes testing like the MCAS nearly impossible for them to pass," Murphy said. "These students are incredibly capable ... but after four years of effort and coming to class every single day, they might leave the school with nothing to show for it."

Elimination of state receivership a welcome change

Educators and officials have also spoken to the prospect of doing away with state receivership — which the Thrive Act would do, but not the ballot initiative as currently written.

Under current law, schools and districts deemed chronically underperforming by state standards can be put into receivership, which essentially turns control over to the commonwealth. New Bedford currently has one school — Parker Elementary — under that status.

"They just have not been well-executed," said Mayor Jon Mitchell, ex-officio School Committee chair, on state receiverships.

Mitchell — who voted "yes" to the set of resolutions with exception of one urging public support for the ballot initiative — said whatever happens, he'd prefer to see NBPS have "its own competency standards set by us, not by somebody in Boston."

As discussed at the meeting, the Thrive Act entails that, if passed, all existing state receiverships would end within a year.

Referencing the recent success story of Hayden-McFadden Elementary School's exit from the state's "underperforming" status, para educator Michelle Willis said, "Did we need state intervention to improve the education of those students? I don't think so."

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After all these years, why now?

As to why, after decades of contention around MCAS issues, legislative and grassroots attempts at change are now taking such actionable shape, MTA Director of Training & Professional Learning Dr. Ricardo Rosa speculates that hindsight of the COVID years may have helped.

"People experienced the suspension of the use of MCAS as a graduation requirement and the world didn't fall apart," Rosa said. "And now I think people are rethinking how we do education across the board in this country and it's about time."

Rosa says in his view, MCAS as a graduation requirement raises issues of equity.

"School systems aren't similarly funded," Rosa said, noting New Bedford's funding levels as low compared to Mass. districts like Newton or Brookline. "Teacher pay varies.... counseling and mental health supports vary, physical facilities vary.

"For all these reasons, it's not equitable for us to place a high stakes standardized test as a graduation requirement; it's deeply problematic."

Though it may appear an urban district like New Bedford fares well in funding compared to its suburban counterparts, Rosa says much of that money is often absorbed by MCAS-related endeavors. "It's being spent in places like New Bedford on test prep, not really quality education," he said.

Westport superintendent: MCAS has proven ineffective

Nearby in semi-rural Westport, Superintendent Thomas Aubin doesn't favor MCAS as a graduation requirement any more than stakeholders in New Bedford, insisting that it does not adequately perform its intended function.

"When you look at the students entering college who need remediation coursework, it is tough to suggest that the test has improved post secondary performance," Aubin said. "By the same token, businesses are suggesting that they need to train employees who recently graduated because they lack the skills necessary to be successful.

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"As the educational and business world is changing exponentially, I am troubled that the current assessment may fall short in truly measuring progress and performance."

*Editor's Note: This story has been edited to correct that Dr. Ricardo Rosa is no longer co-chair of New Bedford Coalition to Save Our Schools.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: New Bedford officials support measures to strike MCAS grad requirement