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9486 in the collection
MCAS Rules Refuse to Consider Students with Special Needs
Note how MCAS-supporting superintendent refers to students with special needs:
"Success depends on the motivation of each child and how hard they want to work," Crisafulli said. "As a school district we've tried to be supportive, but sometimes it comes down to the fact that you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink."
Question: What happens when you lead an ass to water?
FRANKLIN -- They were always told if they worked hard and did their best they'd eventually be rewarded. Now Mike Collins and Lisa Williamson have been told their best just isn't good enough.
Mike and Lisa are seniors and special education students at Franklin High School. Although they've struggled with their learning disabilities, they have all the necessary credits to graduate in June.
However, because of the new state mandate requiring seniors to pass the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment Systems, or MCAS, exam, they are two of the 6,000 students in the state who won't receive a diploma because they failed the test.
Lisa's father, Robert Williamson, who has worked for the past 30 years as a Natick schoolteacher, said the state and the town have turned their backs on some students.
"These two kids have been cut loose right when they needed the most help," Robert said.
Robert took his case to the School Committee earlier this month, challenging the group to ignore the state requirement and grant his daughter a diploma even though she didn't pass the MCAS test.
Lisa has even started a petition, signed by almost 200 seniors at Franklin High, in an effort to get Mike and her diplomas.
Instead of a diploma, the pair is eligible to receive a Certificate of Attainment. This signifies the completion of all local graduation requirements, but makes it clear they could not pass the MCAS.
Franklin Superintendent David Crisafulli said while no one test is perfect, MCAS success is dependent on the student. He said the schools offer MCAS preparation courses and tutoring, and through these programs he's seen below-average students rise to the challenge and pass the MCAS.
"Success depends on the motivation of each child and how hard they want to work," Crisafulli said. "As a school district we've tried to be supportive, but sometimes it comes down to the fact that you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink."
But Lisa and Mike said their MCAS failures are not due to a lack of trying. They have taken and failed the MCAS a combined seven times. Both have undergone tutoring from Franklin teachers and MCAS preparation courses, but said no matter how long they study they are just not capable of comprehending portions of the subject matter.
"I know I won't pass the math part," Mike said. "But I'm still going to try even though I know I won't pass."
School officials told them they are both welcome to dress in a cap and gown and join their class on the graduation stage, but neither student plans on participating in the ceremony because they would feel singled out.
"They've spent their lives trying to blend in and now, at graduation, they're being separated from the pack again by this certificate," Robert said. "Why don't they just give these kids a different color gown to wear at graduation?"
His daughter agreed.
"I want to be able to walk across the stage and feel proud to have a high school diploma," Lisa said.
Lisa's learning disability stems from being born premature, weighing in at a little more than 2 pounds at birth. In addition to having Attention Deficit Disorder, Lisa had developmental problems, and her father said she never quite caught up with her classmates.
Although maintaining mediocre grades, Lisa has worked hard to gain enough credits to graduate. When Franklin teachers began tutoring her several times a week, she said it was too much and she needed to cease the preparation courses because it was detracting from her regular classes. She also works after school at the Union Cafe as a waitress.
Mike, whose mother, Karen Collins, is a seventh-grade teacher at the Horace Mann Middle School in Franklin, was described by his mother as "a good, clean-cut kid who never gets into trouble."
Mike has auditory processing problems, which means when he hears a teacher explain a concept it takes an extra long time to process the information, Karen explained. Mike has also undergone tutoring and is still taking MCAS math preparation courses.
Their hard work has brought them nothing but frustration, but MCAS supporters maintain that persistence and determination are the keys to success.
Andy Calkins, executive director of the Massachusetts Insight Education Research Institute, said the MCAS exam is meant to challenge students and raise the bar in public education.
He said the MCAS assesses student skills and knowledge in as fair a way possible, and believes it is useless to simply hand out diplomas that aren't necessarily earned.
"We shouldn't be relaxing standards," Calkins said. "The key here is not to just hand out pieces of paper in June, but for students to show they have the skills to succeed."
"If that takes them until the summer or the year afterward, then that's OK."
In addition to being teachers who are familiar with the MCAS exams, Robert and Karen also share the trials and tribulations of raising a child with special needs.
Both parents, along with Lisa's mother, Chris Williamson, said they are concerned at the difficulty of constantly building up their children's confidence, just to have the MCAS and the state stonewall them.
"Going through school with special needs is a marathon," Robert said. "And just as our kids got to the finish line they got their legs chopped off."
According to Jackie King, coordinator of the Coalition for Authentic Reform in Education based in Cambridge, a handful of school committees across the commonwealth have gone against the state and the MCAS, even under the threat of losing state funds.
"Seven school committees have taken the dramatic step and the responsible step to grant diplomas to qualified seniors," King said. "It's heartbreaking when talented, hard-working students are stopped dead in their tracks because of a single paper and pencil test."
Franklin School Committee Chairman Jeffrey Roy said his heart goes out to students like Mike and Lisa, but said the state has threatened to pull funding and the committee has 5,800 students to look out for.
"We're not in the position to find out what would happen if we went against the state," Roy said. "I don't want to take that chance."
Roy, who said he tested poorly as a student himself, said the MCAS exam is a hurdle, but one that students can overcome with hard work. Also, without passing the MCAS, Roy believes just handing out a diploma wouldn't be in anyone's best interests.
"It would be a disservice to hand out a diploma not recognized by the state Department of Education," Roy said. "And when I took an oath as a lawyer and School Committee member, I vowed to uphold the law, and MCAS is the law."
Collins, who said she was hesitant to go public with anti-MCAS comments because she works in Franklin's school system, said she made the decision to speak out because her son is her top priority.
She said after the second time he failed, she didn't want him to go through the whole ordeal again because failing multiple times began to take an emotional toll on Mike.
"At first I didn't want him to take the MCAS preparation courses the third time, but in the end I was just hoping for a miracle," Collins said. "He worked hard to pass the MCAS because his grandmother died two years ago and she always wanted to see Michael get his diploma."
As learning disabled students who failed the test so many times, Mike and Lisa considered dropping out of school. However, both decided to stick with it at the urging of their parents.
"I thought about dropping out but I knew without a diploma I wouldn't get a good job," Mike said.
Mike, who is just hoping for a job to make some money, said he may be able to get a position installing siding on houses. However, he doesn't know now if an employer will hire him without a high school diploma.
"By not having a high school diploma these kids can't even get an interview," Robert said. "They don't even want to talk to you because they think of you as a screw-up who couldn't even pass the MCAS."
Calkins said the certificate has different meanings in different contexts. Although frowned upon by many, he said the certificate will probably be more accepted in the near future.
"We'll have really accomplished something when the certificate is accepted without it being a black mark," Calkins said. "But it's important not to lose the other part of the picture here, and that is the number of students who have been helped by the MCAS."
King disagreed, and said students with a Certificate of Attainment will face trouble finding work and getting into colleges.
"The certificate is completely meaningless," King said. "It's being used as a fig leaf and a smokescreen by the Department of Education, to divert attention away from the fact that kids are being denied a meaningful diploma."
"It's such a disingenuous thing to say `Just keep taking the test over and over again all through the summer and then again in the fall,' " King said. "How many human beings keep doing that after being told over and over again that they're failures? That's just not how people operate."
— Aaron Gouveia
MCAS too high a hurdle for some students
MetroWest Daily News
April 20, 2003
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/local_regional/fran_mcas04202003.htm
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
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