Word: mcas
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Last week, officials learned the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) scores for Cambridge’s high school students. The results revealed that 24 percent of Cambridge Rindge and Latin students had failed the exam. Sparked by this disappointing outcome, the Cambridge School Committee will, in the next few weeks, discuss how it should handle this MCAS crisis. This year the statewide exam is also a graduation requirement—those who fail will be denied state-recognized diplomas. With such a disappointing pass-rate, the School Committee should lobby the state for major reforms, and failing that, issue local...
Under the highly-politicized status quo, however, Massachusetts is unlikely to eliminate MCAS as a graduation requirement. As such, the state should delay MCAS from being linked to graduation until the state curriculum is fully implemented at the local level, teaching quality improves and schools get the necessary resources. While MCAS curriculum has been available to local schools for more than four years, the state only legislates that students take four years of English and two years of physical education. But the MCAS tests are far broader. Consequently, many schools are still not prepared to teach the MCAS curriculum...
...Equally important as the law is that we have measures in place to make sure that all of our students are given all of the tools that they’re entitled to to pass the MCAS,” she said...
...Turk said she wanted to ensure that all students were given the ability to pass the test, citing the success rate of MCAS review classes...
Although More said she has already been admitted to colleges “that don’t even know what the MCAS is,” including Alabama State University and Johnson &Wales University, she said she worries about her peers, some of whom have pledged to drop out of school...