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Does The MCAS Cause Students To Drop Out?
By Monica Brady-Myerov (WBUR)
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Michaud Bates dropped out of school when he was 17, in part because of the MCAS. (Monica Brady-Myerov/WBUR)
Put your books on the floor, take out a No. 2 pencil, it’s time for the MCAS. Since Massachusetts implemented this high stakes test 15 years ago, it’s been controversial. And debate is about to flare up as changes to the rules make the English and math sections more difficult to pass. One of the central arguments is whether or not MCAS is causing kids to drop out.
In the fifth part of our radio series, WBUR’s Monica Brady-Myerov looks at the relationship between high stakes testing and dropping out.
Passing the MCAS for graduation is harder than it used to be. Under a new rule that went into effect last year, 10th graders must score on the level of “proficient” on the English and math tests in order to graduate in 2010. That’s 20 points higher than the previous passing level of “needs improvement.” Those who don’t score “proficient” will have to have an education plan to assess whether they are ready to graduate.
Educators, such as Principal Toby Romer at Brighton High School, are concerned that change might be enough to force thousands more students to drop out.
TOBY ROMER: As we continue to raise our academic standards and expectations, it gets harder and harder to help all students meet those standards, so we’ve also got to ramp up the support that we provide.
Romer worries the strain on the state and federal budgets will mean fewer programs for struggling students.
The Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, better known as MCAS, is first given in the 3rd grade. But passage is not a requirement until the 10th grade. When students move from middle school to 9th grade, the pressure ratchets up. That’s when some students such as Michaud Bates, start reconsidering high school. Bates is now 20, but when he started high school in Boston he felt like his teachers wouldn’t help him.
MICHAUD BATES: I was having trouble with my studies — I really wasn’t getting a lot of help. They told me to stay after school, but no freshman wants to stay after school for help. You know, I wanted help there and then, when I needed help. And then one of the teachers told me, ‘Well you might as well just quit.’ So that really got to me.
So he dropped out. Since 2003, when the MCAS was made a requirement for graduation, the statewide dropout rate hasn’t changed much. And supporters of the test say that shows high standards have not driven students away. But opponents of high stakes testing say there is a correlation. And both sides have research backing them up. Walter Haney of Boston College’s Lynch School of Education is an opponent of MCAS. Haney’s says since high stakes testing was implemented, three times as many 9th graders are held back because they aren’t ready for the test.
WALTER HANEY: I think the research is pretty clear that high stakes testing when used to evaluate schools or school administers contributes to an increased rate in students dropping out of school before they take the high stakes test.
MITCHELL CHESTER: A number of students who drop out actually have done fine on the MCAS.
Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester argues that in 2007, 60 percent of the students who dropped out statewide passed the test.
MITCHELL CHESTER: There isn’t any clear evidence based on students’ progression through high school, graduation rates and dropout rates that in fact we’ve seen the dropout rate increase since the introduction of MACS as a graduation requirement.
And Chester says preliminary research he commissioned from Harvard has found no connection. He defends raising the standards because over one-third of graduates who went to state universities were not ready for college level work and were placed in remedial courses.
Students can take the test several times and some are allowed to fulfill other requirements to graduate or file an appeal, but still 5 percent of high school students statewide don’t pass and thus don’t get a high school diploma. That’s about 15,000 students who are counted as dropouts because of MCAS.
SCOTT LANG: The same people who give you the MCAS as the end all be all also tell you if you are a dropout you are going to cost society.
New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang, a vocal MCAS opponent, says it’s not fair.
SCOTT LANG: We put them in a situation because they are unable to contribute to society because of educational attainment and it seems to me that’s extremely short sighted.
MCAS was part of the 1993 State Education Reform Act, which set academic standards in several areas. Now federal law will require all students meet those standards by 2014. Last year 28,500 students failed to reach the proficient level. If they don’t improve, this could significantly increase the number of dropouts.
Irvin Scott, who oversees high school academics for Boston Public Schools, defends high stakes testing and says kids leave for many reasons.
IRVIN SCOTT: Kids don’t just drop out because things are too difficult. Kids drop out because things are irrelevant.
Or they are pushed out. Many students, teachers and school administrators have told WBUR that sometimes kids are encouraged to leave in order to make the school’s MCAS scores look better. Beatriz Zapater is co-head of the Boston Day and Evening Academy, an alternative charter school.
BEATRIZ ZAPATER: Once a student in the 10th grade and is not passing and has taken the MCAS twice , they are likely to leave — to drop out. And I think a lot of students are being counseled out. I don’t have the evidence. but just from hearing students: ‘Yeah, we were counseled out.’
Zapater fears there will be more students pushed out because the standards for passing are going up. She’s especially concerned about Latino students who are lagging behind in test scores. Opponents don’t see MCAS going away, but they hope the state will find more ways to evaluate student achievement. Maybe that would have kept Michaud Bates in school.
MICHAUD BATES: Really what got me was that if you didn’t pass your MCAS and you was a good student, you still was getting kept back. So it really didn’t matter if you was getting As and Bs, it was really about your MCAS.
Now Bates mentors students who are struggling. He tells them high school is free money – because they’ll make more money with a high school diploma. He’s stuck in a customer service job, but he’s working on his GED so he can go to college.
March 9th, 2009 at 8:59 am
I’ve been following this series with great interest and commend everyone involved–the students included–for doing such a good job. However, Monica Brady-Myerov’s last sentence in today’s report struck me as ill-chosen. To say that Michaud Bates is “stuck in a customer service job” seems a quick path to Michaud’s losing that customer service job (not to mention the fact that it’s potentially insulting to other listeners who are similarly “stuck”). What if his boss hears that?!
Michaud may well feel that way, and there’s nothing wrong with his having aspirations beyond his current station (in fact, it’s great that he does). But for the reporter to use that phrase seems unwise and irresponsible. I hope that it can be changed when this segment is re-broadcast.
March 9th, 2009 at 10:47 am
Please listen to the last quote from Michaud Bates again. Advance to the last 35 seconds of this recording for the quote. I typed his answer word for word here since you cleaned it up in the printed article.
“Really what got me was that if you didn’t pass your MCAS and you was a good student you still was getting kept back. So it really didn’t matter if you was getting As and Bs, it was really about your MCAS.”
Did the MCAS give him horrible grammar? With or without the MCAS, this student should not graduate. Do away with the MCAS but do not lower standards. I am a Customer Service Manager and I would never hire this person based on his inability to communicate. Now HE is a mentor to struggling students??? This will only perpetuate the problem.
Graduating more lower quality students is not the answer. Improve teaching but do not lower standards. Fewer dropouts does not mean greater success. With lower standards and higher graduation rates, these students will come back in 5 year upset because their education has not equipped them with the knowledge they need to be successful after graduation.
March 9th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
As I was reading this article I couldn’t help but think about the current housing crisis. Anyone was given a mortgage, regardless of their qualifications; now we are in an economic recession. Similarly, before testing, any student was given a high school diploma; now as a nation we are lagging behind other countries in math and science. Economic crisis- Education crisis… We need to continue to establish high standards for our schools and keep our students accountable for their work.
March 9th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
Please consider me one of those knee-jerk teachers who responds to any and every criticism of school teachers. I don’t recall the name of the student who complained that he didn’t get help and encouragement from his teachers. What I do recall was his ridiculous statement that teachers offered him help after school, “but what freshman wants to stay after school?” How can you possibly say that someone offered you help, which you chose not to take, then complain that they didn’t serve you? Unless an after-school program is a specially-funded federal or city program, then that teacher (or teachers) who offered help were doing it on their own time and their own dime. Concerned parents may spend $50 and hour or more for private tutoring to ensure that their children succeed. If this young man FAILED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF FREE HELP, then no school can teach him good judgment, and that is the element that causes his lack of success, not unhelpful teachers.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.
You can lead a man to learning, but you can’t make him think.
March 10th, 2009 at 9:11 am
How on earth we have forgotten the postulation by Charles Darwin i.e. “Survival of the Fittest”.
What I want to state here is that, things are getting more and more competitive in this world and if MA kids are not getting upto the benchmark in our own education system then how on earth are we going to compete with the World? Has any of these kids have any real idea how the world is “out there”?
I applaud the MCAS System, as its “complexity” will definitly help the kids to gear up for the tough competition that we MA students will have to face when will be “out there”,
I would prepare my kids/students to for the “long run” to gear up for the competition ahead so that they dont feel frustrated and desparate when they are about to face the MCAS or any other examination in the world.
Come On, we have enough pampered our kids that they have become more and more remain like a kid than to “grow up” and face the “tough world” outside.
April 6th, 2009 at 9:35 am
There are certainly a lot of comments here by people who are misinformed. Re: the studies showing American kids are “lagging behind students in other countries,” does anyone ever stop to consider that the groups compared are not equal? Other countries put kids through a sorting process before they ever get to high school–so the weakest are culled and the best are being tested. Additionally, in China, parents have to pay for high school, at least according to a Chinese principal who just visited my school. So that is another sorting process. We do no such thing in this country-everyone moves on and everyone is tested. These “studies” are comparing apples to oranges.
Where is the evidence that preparing for a one-size-fits all test prepares kids for college? It seems to me that there have been several articles in the Globe indicating that colleges in Mass. are still having to provide remedial services to students 15 years into Ed Reform and the test that it brought us.
The test is so unjust on so many levels. For example, if you take in a student in grades 10-12 from another state or a private school, they have to take MCAS the year they join you. And your school is faulted if they don’t pass. That is Kafkaesque at best. Secondly, a student doing a “makeup” MCAS is not allowed to score higher than “Needs Improvement,” which means under the current irrational regulations, they then need an EPP (educational plan). How crazy is that? Plus then they can’t qualify for either of the MCAS scholarships. We are all down the rabbit hole, folks.
MCAS shows you two things: socio-economic status and gene pool. And don’t give me the charter-school-success-on-MCAS argument–those kids have interested, involved, committed parents, a key factor in school success. And I have a strong suspicion charter schools play fast and loose with their “lottery” of acceptances, plus they can kick out anyone who doesn’t cut it. Another completely self-selected population.
And how about the injustice to special needs kids? They have accommodations in school, but for the most part are allowed virtually none on MCAS. SPED kids almost universally do not succeed on standardized tests. ANd what did the former commissioner of education, James Peyser, say to a panicked mother about her special needs child and MCAS? “No one ever said there wouldn’t be winners and losers.” How’s that for compassion? So her child is a throwaway according to the state of Massachusetts.
WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE???