slides: MA Education Officials Debate Future of State Standardized Tests

Friday, June 27, 2014

Nicholas Handy, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

How the nation addresses student assessment is always a hotly debated issue. In Massachusetts, many are wondering if the current assessment system – the MCAS test – is adequately checking the proficiency of the student body, which is why many are calling for a new test, the PARCC test, which in addition to measuring proficiency, also measures for college readiness.

Depending on whom you ask about which test is more advantageous, you will receive a different answer. What makes the decision tougher for the Worcester Public School District is that they are one of three districts – Boston and Springfield being the others – that can choose to partake in one form of test, or a hybrid system of both.

“We have heard from 235 districts so far,” said JC Considine, Chief of Staff for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. “They are split pretty much down the middle in their decisions, a 50-50 split. We wanted to give districts a choice in the hopes that both would be chosen so that we could better analyze both tests.”

While each district is given the authority to choose for the upcoming 2014-2015 school year, the state will make a decision for the 2015-2016 school year as to whether the state will keep the MCAS test or adopt the new PARCC test. The Worcester Public School District will be voting sometime toward the end of July to determine which option Worcester schools will be taking.

Check out the slideshow below to see the opinions of Worcester School Committee members and more as to how they feel about the two tests.

Related Slideshow: MA Education Officials Debate Future of State Standardized Tests

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Mitchell Chester

Commissioner, Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

“We are in the middle of a two-year tryout of the PARCC. You wouldn’t buy a car without taking it for a test drive. We know we have some items that need revision, that students found them confusing."

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Dianna L. Biancheria

Worcester School Committee

“I don’t want to see a hybrid of both tests; I want to see one or the other. The way I look at it is that the school district is prepared for PARCC testing or it isn’t. As a district, if we are ready and all factors are in place, then I see us moving forward. To split up the district would be irresponsible.”

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John L. Foley

Worcester School Committee

“There will always be some form of assessment tool in place to look at student achievement. The biggest concern that I have with moving to PARCC testing is that we lose the continuity of testing. Any sort of curriculum shift will render previous scores irrelevant. But then again, you always have to start somewhere.”

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David Perda

Chief Research & Accountability Officer, Worcester Public School District

“With any new initiative there is always a form of a learning curve. It would make it easier on the district if we could do some sort of hybrid. As a district, we don’t currently have any recommendation yet, but we are still giving it a lot of consideration; we have been asking a variety of people within the district about their opinion.”

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John F. Monfredo

Worcester School Committee

“I would like to get additional facts on PARCC testing. If PARCC is the next coming of MCAS then I want to find out exactly what we have to do and what some of the advantages could be. I would like a postponement of another year so that we can make an intelligent decision.”

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Tracy O'Connell Novick

Worcester School Committee

“I think it is unfortunate that we have to choose between two different standardized tests; we are choosing between two equally bad options. Teachers are evaluating students all of the time. We don’t need a formalized test which is something that is so outside of the classroom.”

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Linda Noonan

Executive Director, Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education

“MCAS is a good test for basic skills and testing for proficiency, but it is a basic test. It doesn’t test college readiness. We need to have an assessment in place properly tests whether or students are ready for higher education.”

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Brian A. O'Connell

Worcester School Committee

“The MCAS was developed specifically for Massachusetts as the standard. I’m concerned with PARCC testing because it is based on a national standard, whereas in Massachusetts we hold ourselves to a higher standard. I think that we should have a test that is tailor made to our state’s individual needs.”

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Hilda Ramirez

Worcester School Committee

“PARCC testing has been designed to test students on college readiness and 21st Century skills. A computerized test shouldn’t be a surprise; this is why the district put an emphasis of improving our technology infrastructure. I believe that the right steps are being taken to help districts align to PARCC.”

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JC Considine

Chief of Staff, Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the state came down to a 50-50 split. We are hoping for a good split so that we can make sure that both sides are accurately represented, so that when the time comes, we can make a decision as a state.”