Dear Neighbors,
This has been a stressful year for all of us, including students, their families, and educators. They have faced daunting challenges, most learning on-line for the first time. As many of them prepare to return to school in person full-time, and others prepare for changes in their remote learning, many of them question why they should precious remaining class time taking days of standardized tests.
Following strong statements by many educational organizations and civil rights leaders, I helped write a letter to Gov. Baker and Commissioner Riley, asking to postpone testing till fall. 29 senators signed the letter, which we sent Wednesday. The letter, with links to statements of the groups, follows. It's worth reading some of the statements; the superintendents' letter is particularly detailed.
On Thursday, Commissioner Riley announced that he intends to recommend that the class of 2022 not be required to pass MCAS, and that the testing time extend to May 20 for ACCESS and June 11 for MCAS. Riley has not yet announced when high schools are required to be open full-time in person. Students whose parents have chosen remote learning can take the tests online, though details are not yet available.
Parents can simply opt their children out of MCAS. School districts must administer the test, but there is no law that says children have to take it. Many parents are expected to opt out this year. You just give your child a note telling the teacher you don’t want your child to take the test. Here's a fact sheet by Citizens for Public Schools on how to opt out. MCAS scores will not be used to judge schools this year.
More on education soon. Here's the senators' letter:
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
THE GENERAL COURT
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON MA 02133
March 31, 2021
Dear Governor Baker and Commissioner Jeffrey Riley,
With relatively few weeks left in the school year, as many students return to in-person learning in April, we believe their limited time should be spent on learning, re-establishing relationships, and recovery from the trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing economic crisis.
The federal Department of Education continues to require annual standardized testing in grades 3-8 and high school.
However, they have invited states to use the flexibility they offer to put the testing off until the fall. Please use that flexibility. (see endnotes for federal guidance)
● Delay MCAS and ACCESS testing until the fall.
● Instead of MCAS, which is time consuming and does not give rapid, immediately usable results, we ask you to choose any of the other readily available testing programs that will minimally interfere with instruction and produce quick results so teachers can use them to chart the way forward for their students.
We share your interest in obtaining actionable benchmarks around student learning loss. Yet we also concur with organizations representing teachers and administrators as well as civil rights organizations and the student and parent representatives on the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education who believe that standardized testing this spring will produce no valid or actionable information, waste valuable learning time, and harm children. (see lists of organizations with links to their powerful statements in endnotes)
Standardized testing this spring will not produce any valid information on student learning except for what we already know — many children have lost learning time. Results cannot be compared in any valid way with results from previous and future years. And district/school results cannot be validly compared.
Testing this spring would be at a different time from other years. It will be administered in different formats: Some students will take tests online, others in-person. Many students will simply not take the test due to this year’s increase in absenteeism, especially among low- income and ELL students. Other students’ families will formally opt them out of testing. Other students have simply been missing all year. The universe of students taking the test will not be comparable to those from previous or future years.
The Mass. Association of School Superintendents (MASS) summarizes: “There will be skewed results from communities hit hardest by the pandemic as well as skewed results from our high needs and special populations.”
MASS also points out that “The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is postponing the 2021 assessment administration due to safety issues but also potentially flawed valid and reliable results.”
Standardized testing will not produce information that can inform and adjust instruction.
The results of MCAS, if given this spring, will not be available until mid-fall, long after the start of school. Some students will have attended summer school or had other opportunities; their results from spring testing will suggest they need remediation that they actually no longer need. Other students will have experienced a “summer slide;” their results will also be useless. A fall assessment tool, with rapid actionable results, would give teachers and school systems what they need to know: where our students stand compared to grade level..
Standardized testing will waste money and learning time.
Thirty million dollars for MCAS administration that will not produce valid or useful information is wasteful. It could be better spent on social emotional supports, experiences that help students adjust to school, and instruction.
Testing requires hours of administration. Schedules must be re-arranged in order to provide licensed supervisors and accommodations for special education students and ELL. Every year, special education students lose time due to reassignment of their instructors. Adjustments for secure remote testing will require added time and money.
Standardized testing will not help students adjust to new learning situations and cope with other losses, such as loss of a caregiver, loss of a home, loss of time with peers and relatives, depression, anxiety, etc.
Testing is stressful for students and staff in any year. This year, many students are coping with many losses and stresses and are grappling with what many call the third pandemic — one focused on mental health challenges. Helping them recover will be necessary for their development as well as their learning. Schools should be concerned with assessing and helping with other losses besides English and math instruction.
For all these reasons, we strongly urge that MCAS and ACCESS testing be postponed to the fall, as permitted by the federal government. Any choice of exam should prioritize one that will limit testing time and give schools rapid and actionable information necessary to help students recoup what they’ve lost during the COVID pandemic.
Sincerely,
Sen. Jo Comerford Sen. Cindy Friedman. Sen. Pat Jehlen
Sen. Michael Brady Sen. Harriette Chandler Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz
Sen. Brendan Crighton Sen. John Cronin Sen.Julian Cyr
Sen. Sal DiDomenico. Sen. Diana DiZoglio. Sen.James Eldridge
Sen. Ryan Fattman. Sen. Paul Feeney Sen. Anne Gobi
Sen. Adam Gomez. Sen. Adam Hinds Sen. John Keenan
Sen. Eric Lesser Sen. Joan Lovely Sen. Mark Montigny
Sen. Michael Moore Sen. Susan Moran Sen. Patrick O’Connor
Sen. Marc Pacheco Sen. Rebecca Rausch. Sen. Michael Rush
Sen. Walter Timilty Sen. John Velis
ENDNOTES
Education Organizations supporting waiving or postponing MCAS this year: American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts, Boston Teachers Union, Massachusetts Association of School Committees, Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, Massachusetts School Administrators Association, Massachusetts Association for Bilingual Education, Massachusetts Association of Teachers of Other Languages, Massachusetts Teachers Association, Urban Superintendents Network, and dozens of school committees statewide [including every school committee in our district: Cambridge, Medford, Somerville and Winchester]
Civil Rights Leaders supporting waiving or postponing MCAS this year: Leaders of the Black Educators Alliance of Massachusetts; Boston Network for Black Student Achievement; Center for Law and Education; Lawyers for Civil Rights; Multicultural Education, Training & Advocacy, Inc.; and NAACP New England Conference
Student and Parent Representatives on Board of Elementary and Secondary Education: Jasper Coughlin and Mary Ann Stewart
Federal guidance urges flexibility in assessment dates:
ED's guidance makes clear that states should consider the ways they can do things differently this year. Flexibility available to states includes:
● Extending the testing window and moving assessments to the summer or fall,
● Giving the assessment remotely, where feasible,
● Shortening the state assessment, to make testing more feasible to implement and prioritize in-person
learning time.
Excerpt from federal Department of Education letter to state school officers:
“We emphasize the importance of flexibility in the administration of statewide assessments. A state should use that flexibility to consider:
Administering a shortened version of its statewide assessments;
Offering remote administration, where feasible; and/or
Extending the testing window to the greatest extent practicable. That could include offering multiple testing windows and/or extending the testing window into the summer or even the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year. States that elect to extend testing windows should also consider how they can make results available to the public in a timely manner after assessments are administered.
In particular, we know that English language proficiency (ELP) assessments are often given earlier in the school year than content assessments and are underway already in most states. We specifically encourage states to extend the testing window for their ELP assessment, including beyond the end of the 2020- 2021 school year, if necessary, to ensure that districts are administering this assessment when it is safe for them to do so.”