The Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) test is becoming an important tool for educators with the academic year in its second month.
Even in the most normal of school years, MCAS is branded by teachers, administrators and parents as a cudgel bludgeoning schools into “teaching to the test.” The COVID-19 pivot into remote learning unleashed criticisms condemning the tests as cruel and unusual punishment, prompting the state to cancel them in 2020.
A year later, MCAS was administered with several adjustments and, with the release of test results, MCAS is earning close scrutiny from local educators who tried to put a good face on scores reviewed during the past week.
Peabody eighth graders saw the English-language proficiency plummet between this year and 2019 (the most recent year the test was administered) with 42 percent of eighth graders scoring in the test’s “met expectations” category in 2019 and 25 percent this year.
The percentage of Peabody third graders who scored in MCAS’ “not meeting expectations” mathematics category more than doubled from 14 percent in 2019 to 33 percent this year.
Saugus MCAS results revealed that one in five town students saw a steep decline in their test scores between 2019 and 2021. The State House News Service reported that Massachusetts saw a drop in MCAS scores “across the board,” with state Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley declaring “everyone is going to have to step forward” to address kids’ mental health and academic needs.
Educators in Lynn, Swampscott and other communities are in the midst of reviewing MCAS scores.
Peabody Superintendent of Schools Dr. Josh Vadala praised city teachers for stepping up in 2020 to confront an huge educational challenge and called the 2021 MCAS results “a diagnostic tool” pinpointing, among other findings, the technical challenges younger students faced during remote learning.
Saugus ranks among the lowest-scoring MCAS communities. But Superintendent of Schools Erin McMahon vowed even before the test results were released to help propel town students into the top 10 percent of MCAS scorers by 2027.
That is a commendable goal, but we hope educators will use the 2021 MCAS scores to highlight specific educational deficiencies in their districts that contributed to score declines and then work to bring spending and teacher talent to bear on eliminating those deficiencies.
Instead of condemning MCAS as a “teaching-to-the-test” cudgel, it’s time to view the tests as tools for improving teaching.
