Standardized test advocates debate trading MCAS for new exam

SAUGUS – When it comes to switching standardized testing in Massachusetts schools, some education experts are asking, why fix what isn?t broken?It?s a question Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) advocates Jamie Gass and Dave McGeney asked of Bob Bickerton, a lead consultant for the board that will ultimately decide if Massachusetts will adopt the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) test and Common Core curriculum.Gass, a director for the Center of School Reform at the Pioneer Institute, and McGeney, a 20-year Saugus School Committee veteran, joined Bickerton at a forum hosted by School Committee member Arthur Grabowski for Saugus parents and educators to find out more about the alternative testing option for students in Massachusetts.Grabowski said since the School Committee will ultimately decide which test Saugus students take, “We need to exert local control over this issue.”Gass and McGeney argued that with Massachusetts students ranking as top in the country and the world, the state has everything to lose by adopting PARCC, especially since, as McGeney pointed out, other states are finding PARCC and Common Core standards to be too low.?We don?t have a problem that?s in such dire need of correction,” said McGeney.Bickerton argued that PARCC was created to take MCAS standards to the next level, with “performance assessment” that emphasizes problem-solving essay questions that are designed to prepare students for real-world applications.But Gass said that logic takes education back to the pre-MCAS days of “fuzzy math” and soft skills. “It?s not about workforce development ? they don?t need to know how to write about math, they need to know two plus two equals four,” he said.Bickerton said MCAS was outdated: “MCAS is the same we started with in 1997. It?s time to start building on the strengths of that and move on. We?re asking students and schools to take a chance on something new.”To which McGeney wryly responded, “Twenty years of unprecedented achievement? Wow, lets throw it out!”McGeney said Common Core, a new curriculum design funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, was not for students aiming to excel. The curriculum, said McGeney, pushed basic algebra from eighth grade to 10th and dropped 60 percent of the current English language arts requirements, which included classic literature, poetry and theater.?MCAS is not perfect,” said McGeney, “It just happens to be better than anything else out there.”