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Should a Teacher Do "Anything She Has To" to Get Students to Pass?
SALEM -- About a year ago, Salem High School Principal J. Michael Ward had a vexing problem on his hands: 40 percent of his juniors, the first that had to pass the statewide MCAS test to graduate, were in danger of not earning a diploma.
Last week, Ward looked at results for this year's junior class and felt relief: Only 11 percent were at risk of not graduating, with at least three retests to go. It represented one of the state's biggest improvements in MCAS test failure rates between the class of 2003 and the class of 2004 -- evidence, Ward said, of newfound serious attitudes among students and more focused test preparation tactics among teachers.
''We've been getting congratulations from a lot of different areas,'' Ward said. ''Teachers have done a wonderful job here. If we're going on the right track, we'll just continue to do better.''
The state Department of Education last week released results for the class of 2003 -- the first that must pass the MCAS test to graduate -- showing that 90 percent of them had passed. But lost in the discussion were results for the class of 2004, who appear to be clearing the MCAS test hurdle at a faster rate than their predecessors.
The numbers are catching attention because the classes started off at roughly the same spot.
Students get five chances over three years to pass the 10th-grade English and math portions of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exam. About 68 percent of the class of 2003 passed after the first test -- almost identical to the 70 percent of the class of 2004 who passed a year later.
That 2 percentage point gap widened to 12 points after two rounds of testing. After the second attempt, about 76 percent of the class of 2003 had passed the test, compared with 84 percent of the class of 2004.
But whether the majority of Massachusetts high school juniors are performing better because they know more is up for debate. Critics of the MCAS test say the higher pass rates reflect the more insidious side of high-stakes tests, as schools become so focused on the test that they turn classes into test-prep sessions. In addition, test scores typically rise, then plateau as students become more familiar with the exam's format.
The class of 2004 and their successors also will have more chances to get tutored in programs that schools refined after knowing what worked for the inaugural MCAS test class.
Another possible explanation for the better results is that students who were held back a year and took the test as part of the class of 2004 are more prepared for the exam -- or that the weakest students were held back into the class of 2005, thus removing them from the 2004 testing pool.
Testing analysts said it's possible that the scores do reflect better learning on the part of some students, especially those who took more challenging courses because the subject matter was on the MCAS test. But the public should interpret the pass rates with ''great skepticism,'' said Anne Wheelock, an education researcher at Boston College.
''We'll see as the years unfold, but we'll want to know things like, `Are more students graduating? Are more continuing with their education? And is the quality of the real work they do better?' '' Wheelock said.
Critics of the MCAS exam also worry the test will force more students to quit school, citing the enrollment attrition as a class moves through high school. Statewide, the class of 2004 had a larger attrition rate between ninth and 10th grade, a sign that more students are being held back in ninth grade. Opponents of the MCAS exam worry that such retentions will lead students to drop out because they are overage for their grade.
At Salem High, as at many Massachusetts schools, the exam has penetrated almost every aspect of classroom life.
The school places struggling students in MCAS test preparation courses and also offers tutorials. Students in the MCAS test preparation courses get questions from past exams as homework, and teachers redesign their regular tests to resemble the open-ended, writing-intensive questions that the test carries. And last year, Ward said, students who were not taking the test came to school two hours later to give the test-takers a quiet, bell-free time to concentrate.
Sophomore Iancy Gonzalez, 16, took MCAS test preparation courses during school, after school, and over the summer. But she said she isn't fazed by the MCAS overload.
''I feel that I'm used to it, and I feel that I'm going to pass,'' Gonzalez said. ''If I take the test and don't know what to expect, I'm going to be lost.''
After two tests, Salem High's juniors did better than their predecessors by 29 percentage points. Betty Anne Babcock, an English teacher who teaches an MCAS test preparation course, said her students seem more committed to academics, especially writing. But she also feels torn at what was lost when the MCAS test entered her classroom.
''There's no creativity. There's none. Do I worry about that as an English teacher? Of course,'' Babcock said. ''But I'll do anything I have to do to get these kids to pass. In the process, I do believe they're learning. You teach to the specific test that they're going to have to answer questions for.''
That's the balancing act schools perform. At Whittier Regional Vocational Technical School in Haverhill, 69 percent of the class of 2004 passed after two tries, compared with 38 percent of the class of 2003. Superintendent Karen H. Sarkisian points to MCAS test preparation during and after school, as well as double doses of math and English. But, in some cases, that crowded out room for electives such as art or music.
''I think that happens any time you have a requirement,'' Sarkisian said. ''If it's a requirement that is critical, other things have to give.''
— Anand Vaishnav
Wise beyond its year
Boston Globe
March 9, 2003
http://www.com/dailyglobe2/068/learning/Wise_beyond_its_year+.shtml
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