Word: mcas
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Implemented as a result of the 1993 Massachusetts Education Reform Act, MCAS is the first test in the nation intended to be both high-stakes and high-standards. This test is not designed as a basic skill proficiency test; students are expected to know a significant amount of material if they are to pass, although they are allowed multiple chances if they fail the first test...
Tomorrow Massachusetts high school sophomores will take a lengthy standardized test to determine how much they have learned. This test, the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS), will provide essential information to secondary school educators about which areas of their curricula are being absorbed well and which areas need improvement. However, there is another side to this exam: The high school class of 2003, ninth-graders this year, will not receive high school diplomas if they cannot pass the English and mathematics sections of the test, which they will first take as sophomores...
While improvements in education and high standards are certainly important and worthwhile goals, MCAS will have an unconscionable consequence. If last year's results are any indication, a significant percentage of high school students across the state will not be allowed to receive diplomas, regardless of their record in high school. Last year, 40 percent of students failed the math section of the test and 13 percent failed the English section...
...major changes are not made to MCAS, the consequences are predictable. Regardless of whether high school graduates should be expected to know the material tested, the immediate impact of making graduation contingent on next year's tests will not be an improvement in teaching and educational standards. The immediate impact will be another round of widespread failures, which will do a great deal of damage to the educational process...
...Alessandro said the district keeps its own MCAS statistics--which account for students who didn't take the exam--to measure the progress of elementary schools' improvement plans...