The Recorder - MCAS testing

MCAS testing Published: 2/4/2021 9:36:08 AM I resonated with and wholeheartedly agree with every word in Paul Jablon’s informative critique of MCAS testing for our children on Saturday’s (Jan. 30) editorial page. This kind of testing was a bad idea from the beginning, and after decades of use, as Jablon explains, the evidence is clear that MCAS adds absolutely no benefit to educating our children or to reducing the gap between those students who struggle and those who succeed in school. Jablon makes clear how the MCAS tests are a demoralizing practice that also robs pupils and their teachers of a large amount of quality learning time each year while they are forced to study “for the test.” The test scores are used in a punitive fashion toward individual schools and teachers, and they further polarize the widening gaps in academic achievement between different groups of students — the opposite effect from the original intentions.