The Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, or MCAS, is a test currently required by the Mass DOE to assess how students in MA schools are performing. The MCAS “test results can help identify areas where students have mastered a subject, where students need more help, and where educators might need to adjust their lesson plans, materials, or approach in order for students to meet the standards (Mass DOE 2020)”. The outbreak of COVID-19 has dramatically impacted the amount of time that students have spent with their instructors preparing for the test, as well as created obstacles for how the test is to be administered, now that in-person group administration is not possible.
In July of 2020 C.M. Wade published an article in The Salem News discussing the controversial issue of whether or not the MCAS is necessary both during the pandemic and in the future. According to Wade “the Massachusetts Teachers Association, which has long sought to ease the state’s standardized testing requirements, is lobbying hard for bipartisan legislation that would impose a four-year moratorium on the MCAS and suspend the requirement that students must pass the exam to graduate (Wade 2020)”. Arguments supporting the termination of the MCAS include undue stress on teachers and students, during an already stressful time and the struggles of remote learning. If the Mass Teacher’s Association is successful in their lobbying “the state wouldn’t administer the tests for at least four years, and annual school assessments would no longer be based on students’ MCAS results (Wade 2020)”. Some states, including MA, have applied for a waiver on mandatory standardized testing for the 2020 school year but not every state has implemented this (Mass DOE 2020).
Another consideration is test administration. As previously mentioned, the MCAS is usually a group-administered, high stakes test meaning that it can “impact the potential to obtain a job, graduate from public school, become admitted into college, or other life events, (Shepherds, Drummond, & Jones 2019)”. The content of the exam covers many different subjects taught in Massachusetts public schools. The exam is often divided into subject tests that are taken at different times. From my memory of taking the MCAS numerous times I know that has both selected-response and constructed-response sections on each of the subject tests.
Social distancing guidelines and the closing of in-person schooling has essentially eliminated this form of group administration as a possibility. Alternative methods of test administration include: self-administered, individually administered, computer-administered, video administered, and audio administered. While all of these test administration methods have individual pros and cons, there are some common negatives to all of them. For example, computer-administered, and self-administered tests require students to have access to materials and equipment that they may not have. This can create a measurement bias against students of a lower socioeconomic status which can also affect the reliability and validity of test results. Individually administered tests would be time-consuming given that 700,000 students take the MCAS every year (Mass DOE) and individual, qualified proctors would need to be present for every administration of the test. Also, considering COVID-19 social distancing requirements it would significantly restrict the ability for proctors and students to meet in an area where they can be at least 6 feet apart or outside to complete the test. Video and audio administered tests can be biased especially towards people who are blind/low vision or Deaf/hard of hearing. Given that there are students in public schools that have either or both hearing and vision loss it would be impossible to give every test taker a fair opportunity to complete the test.
In defense of keeping the MCAS as part of the MA public school curriculum is the opportunities that it can provide for the students. For example, I was awarded a scholarship affording me free tuition to any MA state universities based on my scores being in the top 25% of my class. Another benefit of the MCAS is that it can be used as a screening instrument for identifying children with signs of learning disabilities. If the MCAS is not administered, there could be students who need extra supports but are not getting them due to the absence of a screening instrument. This could, however, be remedied by the use of other screening instruments in the school environment.
My personal opinion on the MCAS is not clear cut. While I can identify with the anxiety provoked by preparing for and taking, the exam it has also provided me, and many others, with assistance in paying for our educations. I have also worked with special education students in a variety of settings and I cannot stress enough the importance of identifying and addressing any learning difficulties so that everyone is offered equitable learning opportunities. I qualify that there is no perfect academic assessment, especially as applies to large groups, but that there are benefits to having them to an extent. I think that the MCAS should be used as a screening instrument but not as an academic requirement for high school graduation as it does place more stress on teachers and students. I think that alleviating the necessity of the test, in this way, creates more space for the teachers and other educational staff to be more creative with their teaching, instead of tailoring it directly to the test. I hope that in the future, the MCAS and other standardized testing procedures are re-evaluated to be geared towards the best interest of the students, and equitable educational opportunities.