City To Confer Diplomas Without MCAS

The Cambridge School Committee defied the Massachusetts Department of Education (DOE) last night by eliminating the Massachusetts Comprehension Assessment System (MCAS) test as a high school graduation requirement, making it the second town to defy DOE-mandated high-stakes testing.

The resolution passed by a four-to-three vote before a cheering crowd of parents and teachers. The three dissenters, including Mayor Michael A. Sullivan, said they fear reprisals from the DOE, which ruled several years ago that even students who fulfill all other high school requirements will not be granted diplomas if they fail to pass the standardized test.

Instead of the MCAS, Cambridge will rely on curricular requirements and alternative assessments such as creative portfolios to ensure that students are qualified to graduate.

“The message we send is that this school committee has the courage and willpower to stand up against regulations that we don’t think are sound,” said committee member Alan C. Price, sponsor of the resolution.

Many teachers and parents voiced their outrage at the high stakes nature of the MCAS. Even special education students are required to pass the MCAS to earn a high school diploma.

“If we really want to leave no child behind, we have to realize that children are not standard,” said Arlington teacher Rick Scharf. “We will not lower the expectations of our children to filling in bubbles.”

They also criticized the MCAS because they said it gives an unfair advantage to affluent test-takers and forces teachers to teach to the material covered on the test.

Parent Brenda S. Engel ’45 called the MCAS a “narrowing and drying out of the curriculum” that creates “an atmosphere of threat and anxiety.”

“In a democratic society education should continue to be a positive opportunity for all children, not a sorting out and qualifying process,” she said.

Student members of the School Committee also voiced their concern that the MCAS would unfairly determine their futures.

“Kids feel confused. Kids are scared,” said Emma Lang, a junior at the Cambridge Ringe and Latin School.

The dissenters, Sullivan, Fred Fantini and Joseph Grassi, objected mainly because they did not want to bring Cambridge up against the state.

While explaining their positions on the resolution, Committee members questioned whether city administrators would be able to follow the resolution without putting their jobs in jeopardy.

They also raised the question whether the state would revoke educational funding from the city, which could be as much as $9 million in grants, according to Mayor Michael A. Sullivan.

Fantini said that lobbying should occur at the state, not the city, level.

“This fight needs to be at the State House and if you go over there I’ll go with you,” he said.

But Price insisted on the need to take a stand at the local level.

“Most of the people here who are lobbying remember segregation and when segregation was the law. They came here first hoping that we would take a stand for them,” he said.

In order to dispel fears, Sullivan introduced an amendment that would nullify any parts of the resolution found to be illegal by the state.

Committee members defeated the amendment because they said they felt it took away the strength of the resolution.

“I believe it actually deletes the meaning,” Committee member Alice L. Turkel said.

Committee member Nancy Walser defended the resolution without the amendment, citing a similar resolution passed in October by the Hampshire Regional School Committee that she said drew only an angry letter from the state.

Turkel and Walser also said they thought the benefit for students outweighed any risk.

“When you have a big wide chasm and you take a baby step, you fall in,” Turkel said. “I would prefer that the DOE came in and fired the School Committee and our superintendant and shut down our schools.”

Opponents of the resolution said the schools need to work on improving education instead of minimizing the importance of the MCAS.

“[The issue] is not the test. It’s why children are failing in the school system,” Grassi said.

When the resolution passed, dozens of parents and teachers cheered.

“It’s huge,” Scharf said. “I’m hoping this is heard and felt in Arlington.”

—Staff writer Claire A. Pasternack can be reached at cpastern@fas.harvard.edu.