Testimony in Support of Ending the Use of MCAS as a Graduation Requirement

Monday, March 4, 2024

Chair Friedman, Chair Peisch, and Members of the Committee:  

My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I am the policy director at Progressive Massachusetts. We are a statewide, multi-issue, grassroots membership organization focused on fighting for policy that would make our Commonwealth more equitable, just, sustainable, and democratic. 

I am writing today in support of ending the use of MCAS as a graduation requirement and in favor of NO. 23-36, An Act requiring that districts certify that students have mastered the skills, competencies and knowledge of the state standards as a replacement for the MCAS graduation requirement (House, No. 4252).

Ample education policy research has shown that high-stakes standardized testing, such as the MCAS, does not measure a student’s ability to learn, capacity for effort, creativity, or perseverance, and it is not an accurate predictor of future academic or life success. Instead, test scores are highly correlated with a family’s economic status.

Massachusetts is among only eight states that mandate passage of standardized testing as a requirement to graduate high school. This requirement inaccurately and incompletely assesses students, incentivizes the narrowing of school curricula to focus on test content, and adds undue stress to students’ lives, with impacts especially felt by students with Individualized Education Plans, English Language Learners, and BIPOC students.

Massachusetts’s strong performance in education statistics is not due to a testing graduation requirement, but due to the investments put into our public schools (as well as the comparative affluence of the commonwealth vis-à-vis other states). Indeed, our education out-performance often fades away when data gets disaggregated.

Testing can and should serve a valuable diagnostic purpose—assessing progress, identifying trends, and more. But it should not be a high-stakes phenomenon. We have capable educators and policymakers who can craft a statewide competency-based graduation requirement that would enable students to be properly assessed according to the totality of their work.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Cohn

Policy Director

Progressive Massachusetts

Join MEJA’s We <3 Our Public Schools Day!

In honor of Valentine’s Day, MEJA (Massachusetts Education Justice Alliance) is having a We <3 Our Public Schools Day tomorrow.

Here are actions you can take to show your support for public schools on Valentine’s Day!

Share on social media what you love about public schools!

  • Share a photo of you holding a sign saying what you love about your school
  • Post photos with students, friends, teachers, staff, or anyone else in the school who has made a positive impact on you, students and school community!
  • Use the hashtag #welovepublicschools and tag @massedjustice!

Upload your photos and videos to the MEJA Soapboxx!

Check out MEJA’s folder and toolkit for some more ideas and social media prompts!

Tomorrow is an important deadline at the State House

Tomorrow is an important deadline at the State House: Joint Rule 10 Day.

According to this State House rule, every joint committee (i.e., committee of both the House and Senate) must take action on the bills before them by the first Wednesday in February.

That action can be to give the bill a favorable report (It advances!), to give the bill an adverse report (It’s done for the session), to send the bill to study (It’s effectively done for the session), or to give the bill an extension (It has more time).

The State House relies on deadlines to spur action, so expect to see a flurry of action on bills later this week.

That also means it’s a great time to contact the committees in support of critical bills.

Can you commit to sending at least one email by tomorrow? See below for some action tools.


 
Keep Up the Momentum for Criminal Justice Reform

If we want to continue to move past the failed model of mass incarceration – a model that costs outrageous sums, breaks apart communities, and does not increase public safety – then we need more policy action this year.

Urge the Judiciary Committee to advance key bills before a critical February 7 deadline.

  • Raise the Age (H.1710 and S.942: An Act to promote public safety and better outcomes for young adults): When young adults (18, 19, 20) are kept in the juvenile system, they are able to have better access to school and rehabilitative programming.
  • Prison Moratorium (H.1795: An Act establishing a jail and prison construction moratorium): Massachusetts does not need to build new prisons and jails. We need to be investing in programming, re-entry services, and community supports.
  • Clean Slate Bills (H.1598/S.979: An Act providing easier and greater access to sealing & H.1493/S.998: An Act to remove collateral consequences and protect the presumption of innocence): Too many people are trapped in poverty and deprived of jobs, housing and other chances for success because of their criminal and juvenile records. We need to allow for automatic record sealing in certain cases, rather than relying only on burdensome case-by-case petitions.

Can you write to the Judiciary Committee today in support of these key bills?

Let’s Set up all Students and Families for Success

Every student deserves the support and resources to thrive. That’s why we’ve been such strong supporters of the Common Start bills and the Thrive Act.

Common Start (H.489 and S.301): While Massachusetts is a nationwide leader on early education and child care and we’ve made important progress in recent years, the current system remains broken and access to quality early education and care remains out of reach for too many families. The Common Start framework would provide the specific structure that is needed to deliver affordable care options for families; significantly better pay and benefits for early educators; a new, stable source of funding for providers; high-quality programs and services for children; and substantial relief for businesses and our economy.

Thrive Act (H.495 / S.246): Massachusetts’ state takeover law and the state’s misuse of the MCAS as a graduation requirement are failing our students and disrupting their education. The Thrive Act would end the failed system of state takeovers of school districts, and replace it with a comprehensive support and improvement system that focuses on giving students and educators the tools and resources they need to succeed. The legislation would also support students by establishing a modified high school graduation requirement in which coursework would replace the MCAS test as the basis for showing student mastery of state standards. And, the legislation would create a commission to give our communities a voice in building a better assessment and accountability system.

Can you email the Joint Committee on Education in support of these bills?


It’s Time to Make Polluters Pay

Massachusetts communities are already experiencing the devastating and costly effects of climate change even without considering the HUGE cost of building the climate resilient infrastructure recommended by Climate Chief Hoffer in her 2023 report.

Unless action is taken, our communities will continue to bear the financial and emotional costs of climate change while the fossil fuel companies responsible for climate-related damages make record profits. These companies must bear the cost.

The Make Polluters Pay Bill (S.481/H.872) is a pathway to making that happen.

It would require top polluters to contribute to a superfund used to pay for climate-related damages in Massachusetts. It would create the Climate Change Adaptation Cost Recovery Program, generating $75 billion over the next 25 years for climate adaptation and resilience projects. These funds will then be dispensed through the Climate Change Adaptation Fund, with at least 40% of the funds going to projects directly benefiting environmental justice communities.

Can you write to the Joint Environment and Natural Resources Committee in support of these bills?

MA Needs to Lead on Democracy

In the late 1990s, after incarcerated individuals in MCI-Norfolk started political organizing, Republican Governor Paul Cellucci and the Massachusetts Legislature responded with retaliation and a multi-step process of disenfranchisement. Our commonwealth did something rare in recent history: it took away the right to vote from a category of people who were formerly enfranchised.

According to a new fact sheet from The Sentencing Project, over 7,700 otherwise eligible citizens in Massachusetts are disenfranchised due to a felony conviction. The report further underscores the racial disparities in the Massachusetts criminal legal system that leads to Black and Latinx residents being disproportionately denied their right to vote.

On April 26, 2023, the Joint Committee on Election Laws gave a favorable report to S.8/H.26, constitutional amendments filed by Sen. Liz Miranda and Adam Gomez and Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven that would ensure that incarceration never leads to a loss of voting rights.

Now, the Election Laws Committee must advance S.428/H.724 before the Feb. 7 deadline. This legislation would make relevant changes in state law, and is needed to accompany the constitutional amendments. Passing the constitutional amendments this year would be historic — we need to make sure these bills that change the law for local elections are moving at the same pace.

Can you write to the Joint Election Laws Committee in support of these bills?

Jan 30: Thrive Act Day of Action

Join education justice activists from across the state tomorrow for the Thrive Act Virtual Day of Action!

Sign up here! bit.ly/taday24actions

The Thrive Act would end the undemocratic state takeover system, stop the misuse of the MCAS as a high school graduation requirement, and build a school accountability and assessment system that centers student success and our communities.

10:00-11:30AM Coffee & Conversation on the Thrive Act: Have questions about the bill? Want to write a letter to the editor or posts for social media? Need a few talking points or encouragement to write to legislators? Bring your beverage and ideas to our zoom conversation and action hour! Come as you are, no experience or previous knowledge necessary!

12:30-1:30PM: Your Voice Matters! Tell your Story! Drop in Storytelling Workshop and Action: An opportunity for folks to get support writing letters to their legislator, letters to the editors, forming social media posts, and other storytelling mediums! 

4:00-5:30PM: Your Voice Matters! Tell your Story! Drop in Storytelling Workshop and Action: An opportunity for folks to get support writing letters to their legislator, letters to the editors, forming social media posts, and other storytelling mediums!

6:00-8:00PM: Mobilize and Phonebank!: We’ll be calling education justice supporters across Massachusetts to talk to them about the Thrive Act and help them contact their legislators in support of the bill. Sign up here! bit.ly/taday24actions

Book Ban Attempts Are Happening in Massachusetts Too

Chair Lewis, Chair Garlick, and Members of the Joint Committee on Education:

My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I am the policy director at Progressive Massachusetts. We are a statewide, multi-issue, grassroots membership organization focused on fighting for policy that would make our Commonwealth more equitable, just, sustainable, and democratic. 

We urge you to give a favorable report to S.2528/H.4229: An Act Regarding Free Expression, filed by Senator Julian Cyr and Representative John Moran.

Over the past few years, we have seen attacks on schools and libraries across the country aimed at removing books by and about LGBTQ people, communities of color, and other marginalized groups.

Many people would like to think that Massachusetts is different, but we are not. According to the American Library Association, in 2022 there were at least 45 attempts to restrict access to books in Massachusetts school and public libraries, with 57 titles challenged. This puts us among the top 5 states with the highest book ban attempts.

Students learn best when they see themselves and the issues that impact them reflected in their education. Education should be about opening up students to the world and to themselves, and that requires a focus on inclusivity and equity. And it means not seeking to exclude parts of history or identity.

Beyond being simply a moral issue, this is a constitutional issue. The First Amendment protects the right to share ideas, including educators’ and students’ right to receive and exchange information and knowledge. These bills would ensure that selection of age-appropriate library materials is based on the professional expertise of librarians and educators, and would establish a process and standards for handling book challenges so that books are not taken off the shelves based on political or personal views.

Thank you for all your work on the hearing, and, again, we urge you to swiftly advance these important bills.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Cohn

Policy Director

Progressive Massachusetts

Students Are More Than Just a Test Score

ThriveAct graphic

Testimony from Solidarity Lowell member Dee Halzack

Chair Lewis, Chair Garlick, and Members of the Joint Committee on Education:

I am writing today to urge you to give a favorable report to H.495 and S.246: An act empowering students and schools to thrive (“the Thrive Act”). 

Local students, parents, educators, and communities are the ones best able to determine what our local schools need, and how to measure student success.

State takeover of public schools and the graduation requirement based on the MCAS standardized test are both failing students and disrupting their education. These top-down, harmful educational policies are increasing racial inequities in our schools, rather than fixing them. We have seen, both through data and through student experiences, that state takeovers and high-stakes testing do not produce the long-term gains in student performance promised, and instead, they limit voice and narrow curricula.  In many cases poor performance had more to do with lack of resources than with poor administration or teaching. Educators complain about being forced to teach to the tests without regard for individual student needs or the characteristics of the community. Standardized testing does a disservice to students with special needs, including both the disabled and English language learners. 

While I myself am a native speaker of English, with decent writing skills, I have seen the damage done in testing situations to English language learners.  The stress of taking a test that determines whether or not you graduate, regardless of what your grades have been and how well you know what you studied, can make even a fluent English language learner freeze up or go so slow that they can’t finish the test in time. It happened to a friend of mine in COLLEGE. How much worse for younger students with less years of experience with the testing AND the language. 

I used to work for an educational publisher. I am familiar with the writings on inequity in educational testing and how hard it is to completely avoid.  Some students can be smart and yet so test-phobic that it affects their performance on a test negatively. While tests are a tool for assessing students, they are not the only tool and should not be used to make or break a student’s graduation. 

The Thrive Act creates a better system that focuses on supporting the whole child by focusing on the tools and resources schools need to thrive and by re-examining our approach to student assessment so that it can be more equitable, more accurate, and more holistic.  

Thank you for all your work on the hearing. Again, I urge you to swiftly advance H.495 and S.246: An act empowering students and schools to thrive.  

Add your voice to the momentum for the Thrive Act!

ThriveAct graphic

On Wednesday, an inspiring number of teachers, students, parents, community members, and education leaders from across the Commonwealth showed up in Gardner Auditorium at the State House in support of the Thrive Act.

During the six-hour hearing, people gave moving and deeply informed testimony about how state takeovers and the use of MCAS as a graduation requirement are failed, punitive strategies that narrow curricula, exacerbate inequality, eliminate voice, undermine democracy, and disrupt students’ lives.

But people were not just there because of what they were against. They were just as clear about what they are for: improving learning environments for students, building capacity for local, democratic school leadership, and rethinking assessment. They testified in favor of schools that focus on the whole child, inspire a love of learning and teach a wide array of skills, are responsive to teachers, students, and families, and of assessment models that encourage creativity and real-world problem-solving and acknowledge different types of learners.

It’s not too late to submit testimony in support of the Thrive Act.

Can you write to the Education Committee today?

OR 

It’s Back to School at the MA State House. Here’s How You Can Support Public Education.

Earlier this month was back to school season. The backpacks big and small. The school buses. The returning college students. The proud parents taking photos.

Back-to-school season is always a reminder of how critical a reminder of is how critical our investments in public education are. Schools open doors to students for skills, experiences, and pathways to their future lives. Our public schools are anchors of communities. They are engines of democracy and economic opportunity. And they are essential vehicles for reducing economic and racial disparities.

That’s why we’re fighting for legislation this session to improve the full spectrum of education, from child care and pre-K to K-12 schools to public higher ed. Here’s what’s happening–and how you can help.

This Past Monday: Cherish Act Hearing

On Monday, more than a hundred people were in Gardner Auditorium at the State House to support the Cherish Act.

The Cherish Act lays out a comprehensive blueprint for supporting public higher education:

  • debt-free public higher education
  • increased student supports
  • better wages and working conditions
  • green & healthy buildings

Over the course of the hearing, the Joint Committee on Higher Education heard powerful testimony from students struggling to make ends meet, graduates facing mountains of debt, and adjunct faculty lacking basic benefits on the job, underscoring the importance of investing in public higher ed.

If you weren’t able to attend on Monday, here are two things you can still do:

  1. Action Network: Urge the Higher Education Committee to report the Cherish Act favorably out of committee: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/urge-your-legislators-to-support-the-cherish-act/.
  2. Follow the Higher Ed for All coalition on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mahigheredforall

Wednesday, October 4: Thrive Act Hearing

Sign up to share that you’re joining us for the Thrive Act hearing on October 4th!

Location: Gardner Auditorium

Time: 2pm – 8pm

The Thrive Act would end the state’s ineffective approach to educational assessment and improvement by:

  • Replacing the undemocratic and ineffective state takeover of local public schools with actual improvement plans and processes
  • Replacing the (mis)use of MCAS as a graduation requirement with graduation based on successful completion of coursework that meets state standards and frameworks
  • Establishing a commission to create an authentic, whole-child system for assessment and accountability.

The state has a responsibility to help all students and schools succeed, but, even by their own measures, the state’s interventions have not worked. It’s time to replace top-down ineffective punitive approaches with approaches that build local capacity, address root causes, and truly help students thrive.

In addition to showing up, here’s how you can help:

  • Testify in person or virtually! Share your story about why this is important to you. Sign up to testify here! (deadline: October 3rd at 3 pm)
  • Join a Testimony workshop: If you’d like support with your testimony, attend a testimony writing workshop hosted by the Thrive Act Coalition.
  • Help us spread the message about the hearing!


Tuesday, October 17: Common Start Hearing

Massachusetts families need affordable and accessible child care and early education. Instead, our state has some of the highest costs in the country, while at the same time many providers are at risk of closure and early educators are not compensated enough for their work. It’s clear: we need a new system.

The Common Start bills would strengthen our commonwealth’s child care and early education infrastructure through a combination of direct-to-provider operational funding and family financial assistance to reduce costs to families while compensating providers for the true cost of providing quality care.

The legislative hearing for the Common Start bills will be on October 17th at 1:00 PM. While the room is yet to be announced, we know that it’s critical for Common Start to show up in full force and pack the hearing room so the Legislature and the Joint Committee on Education know how much support there is for affordable, accessible, early education and care!

The coalition will be organizing buses from various parts of the state and wants to gauge interest. If you can join on October 17 at the State House and would be interested in organized transportation, please fill out this form.

If you would like to write testimony in support of H.489 / S.301, feel free to reference our written testimony guidelines and written testimony template, and if you have any questions about writing testimony, please reach out to James at james@field-first.com.

Here’s What Fair Share Is Delivering in its First Year

Last year, voters like you showed up in November to vote for the Fair Share Amendment because you understood the importance of a fairer tax code and greater investment in public education and transportation. And you didn’t just show up to vote — you canvassed, phone-banked, text-banked, tabled, spoke to neighbors, and much more.

Now that Governor Maura Healey has signed the FY 2024 budget, we can see how much the Fair Share Amendment has delivered in its first year. Let’s take a look.

  • $229 million for public colleges and universities
  • $224 million for K-12 public schools
  • $70.5 million for early education and care
  • $175 million for roads and bridges
  • $95.7 million for regional public transit
  • $205.8 million for the MBTA
✅$229 million for public colleges and universities ✅$224 million for K-12 public schools ✅ $70.5 million for early education and care ✅$175 million for roads and bridges ✅$95.7 million for regional public transit ✅$205.8 million for the MBTA

For early education and K-12 public education, that means….

For early education and care, that means $25 million for reducing the early education and care waitlist, $15 million for additional early education and care slots, $25 million for early educator and pay benefits, $5.5 million for expansion of pre-K. For K-12, public schools, that means....$150 million for school building projects and green schools, $69 million for universal school meals, $5 million for early college programs

For public higher education, that means….

For public higher education, that means.... $109 million for financial aid for Massachusetts public colleges and universities $20 million for the endowment match program $50 million for maintenance of physical buildings Free community college for students ages 25+ and nursing students this fall $50 million for free community college Building towards free community college for all students in fall 2024

For roads, bridges, and regional transit, that means….

For roads and bridges, that means $100 million for municipal roads and bridges, $50 million for state bridges, and $25 million for federal matching funds. For regional transit, that means $90 million for regional transit agencies(funding fare-free pilot program, expanded service hours, weekend services, and route expansions) and $5.7 million for ferry service.

For the MBTA, that means…

For the MBTA, that means... $70 million for station and accessibility improvements $50 million for MBTA bridges $30 million for subway track and signal improvements $20 million for commuter rail infrastructure $20 million for work and safety improvements $10.8 million for design of the Red-Blue connector $5 million to study a low-income MBTA fare program

(See a written version of this information here.)

But Wait…The Fight Continues

The new revenue raised by the Fair Share Amendment could be at risk this fall if the Legislature passes major tax giveaways for the ultra-rich and large corporations.

Massachusetts needs to prioritize spending on what will make our state truly affordable, equitable, and competitive: programs that support working people and ensure a labor force adequate to our economy’s needs. That, in turn, requires that families have affordable housing, childcare, educational opportunities, and reliable transportation to make it possible for them to work, gain skills, and earn a good living.

We need to act NOW to protect the Fair Share Amendment from tax avoidance, and ensure that Massachusetts can invest more in our schools, colleges, roads, bridges, and public transit systems. At the same time, we need to make sure our legislators don’t give away billions of dollars to the ultra-rich.

Can you write to your state legislators to thank them for the budget victories and urge them to protect Fair Share revenue?

Email Your Legislators