Committee Brings Up MCAS

Cambridge Superintendent of Schools Thomas D. Fowler-Finn criticized Massachusetts’ standardized testing regime for making it difficult for the school system to meet the standards of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

The superintendent’s comments at a School Committee meeting yesterday highlighted the conflicting and often-incongruent evaluation schemes imposed by the state and federal governments.

All Massachusetts high school students are required to take the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) tests and pass both sections—English Language Arts and Mathematics—in order to graduate.

The flaw in the MCAS system, according to Fowler-Finn, lies in the retest for students who initially fail the exam.

Tenth-graders who score below the passing level of 220 points on the MCAS when it is first administered can retake the test twice a year until they graduate. A score of at least 240 points is required for a grade of proficient.

The federal No Child Left Behind Act requires that all students achieve proficiency by 2014, punishing those that do not.

But according to Fowler-Finn, because the MCAS caps retest scores at 238 points, students who retake the test cannot score at the proficient level—the level needed for the federal law.

“The state never planned this properly,” Fowler-Finn said. “It’s a disaster.”

“They haven’t done anything about this yet,” he added, noting that the state has also provided an inadequate state budget for MCAS reform.

As in past committee meetings, Fowler-Finn highlighted the increase in students obtaining a passing MCAS score during his five-year tenure, but he added that a similar growth in the percentage of students achieving proficiency has lagged.

“Only about two-thirds are proficient,” he said.

Criticized by committee members in the past for a “test-oriented” and “autocratic” approach to school policy, Fowler-Finn—who had his superintendent contract renewed by a close committee vote in January—suggested a provision to encourage creativity in school curricula.

“Our school system must take advantage of the creativity of teachers and principals,” he said. “There are going to be $5,000 grants available.”

But committee member Patricia M. Nolan ’80 saw the proposal differently.

“[Teachers and principals] are already totally overwhelmed,” she said. “Obviously $5,000 doesn’t buy a whole curriculum.”

Cambridge Mayor E. Denise Simmons criticized the lack of spending flexibility in the budget plan presented by Fowler-Finn. The proposed budget would cut almost $3 million, according to Fowler-Finn.

“I don’t want to have a zero balance budget,” she said. “I almost want to see a slush fund. Principals have to have some ability to pivot.”

—Staff writer Vidya B. Viswanathan can be reached at viswanat@fas.harvard.edu.