Finally, some pushback: New coalition forms to save the MCAS as teachers’ union ramps up attacks
First Appeared in Contrarian Boston 4.25.23
By David Mancuso
The system of standardized testing used for decades now in Massachusetts schools faces an uncertain future as the state’s powerful teachers union ramps up a lobbying blitz aimed at scrapping the MCAS.
But a newly minted coalition of business and education groups on Monday launched a campaign to save the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, which has been credited with transforming the Bay State from an educational laggard to national leader.?
In an opening move, Voices for Academic Equity released a report touting the importance of MCAS in casting a “spotlight on student outcome disparities, which allows Massachusetts to face the difficult reality of persistent achievement and opportunity gaps.”
The group, whose formidable roster includes Democrats for Education Reform Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education, and Teach for America Massachusetts, faces an equally formidable opponent in the Massachusetts Teachers Association.
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The teachers union has spent years railing against the MCAS as “destructive and punitive,” and a misuse of education dollars - objections that go all the way back to the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993 which implemented the test.
Fresh off a big win - having spent millions last fall in a successful campaign to pass the millionaire’s tax - the MTA is now ramping up efforts once again to kill the test.
However, Voices for Academic Equity isn’t just launching a blind defense of the MCAS.
Rather, the group, which also includes The Boston Schools Fund, The Education Trust Massachusetts, and the Teachers’ Lounge, Massachusetts, among others, is also calling for changes to improve the three decade old assessment system.
The report calls for getting the test results out sooner to families and educators. Other recommendations include making MCAS results more actionable, both to improve classroom instruction and prepare students for life and careers.