Worcester Education Advocates Decry Standardized Testing Initiatives

Thursday, October 09, 2014

Nicholas Handy, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

Worcester may have voted to split up public schools between MCAS and PARCC testing for the upcoming school year, but it seems like with each passing day, opposition to the later test, and the state’s overall standardized testing initiatives, is growing stronger.

In a recent column, Tracy O’ Connell Novick – a Worcester School Committee member – questioned Department of Elementary and Secondary Education about his recent comment when he said he was “committed to understanding the concerns about the amount of testing that is occurring in Massachusetts schools” and that he wanted to study “federally, state and locally required assessments and their uses in our schools.”

“The real choice before Massachusetts this coming year is not MCAS or PARCC,” said Novick. “It is whether we will continue down a road that drills and kills all love of learning and engagement, while not closing the gaps we know exist in our system. Our oft-touted reputation as leader of the country in education demands that we choose a different road.”

State standardized testing has become a slippery slope in the Commonwealth as of late; while there are those battling over whether or not PARCC should be implemented as the test of the future, there are also those who say that before a change is made, testing as a whole needs to be better analyzed.

More Community Input Needed

According to Donna Colorio – a former Worcester School Committee member who started the Common Core Forum, a statewide organization opposing the Common Core and PARCC – there hasn’t been enough community input from teachers, principals, and families, to be moving forward with implementing a test and a set of standards that is not tailor made for the children of Massachusetts.

Because the Common Core is designed to test children from multiple states, Colorio says that the students at the high and the low end of the Massachusetts education system will be hurt, as many of the states that are in the PARCC initiative do not have the same standards that the Commonwealth has.

Because of this, Colorio is not only supporting the EAW’s call for a three-year moratorium on PARCC testing, but also encouraging parents to opt out of the test.

“We have started an opt-out campaign in Worcester to inform parents that they have the right to refuse the PARCC test,” said Colorio. “When I speak to teachers, they say that they are trying to get their heads above water with this test; a lot of teachers in Worcester are dealing with students with problems at home and language barriers. We have been seeing a huge shift in awareness levels about this test and are exciting that more and more parents, teachers, and principals, are beginning to engage.”

Statewide Opposition to PARCC

Opposition to Common Core and PARCC has definitely been expanding throughout the Commonwealth, but it may have seen one of its biggest victories – at least symbolically – at a special town meeting in Tewksbury earlier in the week.

By a vote of 82-51, residents in Tewksbury voted to reject the use of Common Core and PARCC testing in their community. Although both the local town council and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education agree that a town meeting cannot overturn education standards, the vote certainly goes a long way in showing the unrest about Common Core and PARCC testing.

"The state does not make education better,” said Tewksbury resident Keith Rauseo. “It has taken education away from educators and handed it over to regulators and auditors.”

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.”