Word: mcas
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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This crisis is the result of the implementation of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS), a series of statewide standardized tests that every high school student must pass to graduate, beginning with the class of 2003. This high-stakes, high-standards test is the first in the nation to require students to reach what may be a prohibitively high level of competence for the average student. For months, educators and parents around the state have been waiting with bated breath to see what grade would constitute a passing mark on this test. That grade was revealed on Nov. 23, when...
Although these statistics may imply that the MCAS is an unreasonable measure of students' education, there are many ways that the test will be an invaluable weapon in the educational arsenal. MCAS has a sophisticated evaluative system that gives scores out not only to individual students but also to school districts, schools and specific classrooms. By analyzing these scores, educators will be able to determine which areas of the curriculum are successful and which teachers are most effective. By the same token, the tests should identify many areas for improvement and innovation...
Another major issue is the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) tests, which Turkel calls "tremendously problematic." She suggests that instead of graduation hinging on a standardized test, students should be judged on a portfolio of work assembled by their teachers...
...MCAS out of business is to make sure we're doing our jobs," he says...
...school is too young for test scores to mean much. Currently, the school only has MCAS results from 30 fourth graders...