Talk:Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System

There is a mathematics test in grade 7 as well. 65.96.41.169 23:23, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

Scholarships

In my school, there is a scholarship given to many people each year if they do well on the MCAS, I think that should be in there somewhere 71.232.85.127 21:13, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

-I think I know what you're talking about. In my school at least, if we do well ("advanced") on the math MCAS in 10th grade, we get a scholarship to UMAS Amherst. --Superpig702 (talk) 23:34, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

History

Before the MCAS was instituted, there was rampant grade inflation in many districts.

No Criticism Section?

There is definitely a lot of concern regarding the fact that MCAS takes up a lot of time in the school year, has not been developed and tested enough, does not always test kids on what they learned that year, forces a "one-size fits all" style of education, costs too much money,.....the list goes on and on. I really think this should be somewhere in the article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Superpig702 (talk • contribs) 23:41, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

Sounds like a good add. I definately know students complain, and also teachers. The teachers make comments on how the open-response is restricted to a single page (a line or two less actually), or how they keep adding stuff to it. If no one else says anything here, you should just add it yourself because I know I wouldn't mind. Ladder4321 (talk) 06:15, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

I'm in eighth grade taking Math and Science/Engineering MCAS this week (took the English-based one back in March). I've had to cram all the essays in and squeeze onto the last line, Ladder. We've spent probably a month reviewing material in science and math that we learned years ago. Also, I've seen many editorials/articles in the Globe and other highly regarded newspapers that MCAS is a very flawed system, and I wholeheartedly agree. I hate to admit this, but if I wanted to, I could easily synchronize answers with my friends and classmates either during the test, a break, or between days. The form system only half prevents "real-time" cheating, and causes you to search the booklet for a few seconds to find the question a classmate may be referring to. On the note of complaining, all my teachers get stressed and annoyed to hell by preparing for MCAS, then delivering the twenty minute speech word-for-word. Calor (t) 20:14, 12 May 2008 (UTC)

MCAS really does let you cheat easily. Also the speech is pretty underminding with its lines like,"Put your pencil down." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.74.97.191 (talk) 00:48, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

Aye. "Open up your test booklet to page..." Calor (t) 00:41, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

I'm surprised there is no section outlining how MCAS scores have effected the house values in MA towns/cities. CaribDigita (talk) 04:20, 19 May 2009 (UTC) Also, everything the teachers teach in our school is for MCAS. The teachers always tell you blah blah MCAS. We spend all our time preparing for MCAS. I always get Advanced, but still I hate taking alll the practice MCAS tests. When I do the open repsonse I have to write two lines of work in one line. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.218.121.21 (talk) 14:13, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

The MCAS has severely hindered my advancements in life.

I hope they're happy. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.164.168.8 (talk) 00:03, 5 September 2009 (UTC)

I'm surprised there is no mention of criticism of MCAS in this article as well. While I understand the need and value in requiring a measure of average student performance in each school district, MCAS has the unintended consequence of dumbing down the curriculum for advanced students, particular those younger than high school age. As noted above, Massachusetts school districts now teach to the MCAS curriculum, and most districts do not offer advanced curriculum to students above the curve in the elementary and middle school levels, including the so-called "top" performing districts like Westwood. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.104.118.165 (talk) 23:25, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

I have added this to the lead section of the article:

MCAS has been criticized for being too narrow in nature and for pressuring teachers into restricting the curriculum to material covered by the tests.

References

I will expand it into a complete section once I can gather more sources. Chris (talk) 23:35, 28 October 2011 (UTC)

Hold on, "In the end, wrote the Donahue Report, the MCAS scores tell more about a district's real estate values than the quality of its schools."" This is like a meterologist saying "Pfft, we're not predicting snow, we're predicting humidity, clouds, wind, and temperature! No connection there, completely separate! How silly of you!" Do you all know how schools in the US are paid for? Property tax, real estate! Of course the lower income students and POC who are more likely to be lower income and in lower income schools are going to do worse, what did anyone expect? Why are people acting like this is some surpising horror, a corruption at the level of education, and not, you know, just structural inequity in general? The MCAS is a revealer, not an enforcer. If you try to reform it and make it "socioeconomically blind", one of three things will happen: you'll see some mild improvement, nothing will change, or, the issue will be "fixed" and we'll end up with MIT classes where half of everyone drops out. Further poitnts: 1. The elimination of tracking in primary and lower secondary has zero to do with standardized tests and is part of a much wider shift in education, which was in response to young kids being tracked into inescapable cascades of low tracks. I don't know where you got the idea that standardized tests are some sort of grand conspiracy against genius middle schoolers, but it's wrong. 2. Of course schools are going to have to change their curriculum, it's standardization! I don't really get the whole "anti-one-size-fits-all" thing. Last time I checked, cells, english grammar, algebra, and what Henry VII did or did not do are all the same whether you're in the Berkshires, Middlesex suburbs, Boston, or Cape Cod. 3. Of course teachers complain, they used to be able to pass students in low income areas who couldn't read, now that they're legally prevented, they're upset. 4. I'm a student, and let me tell you, I do not go through student life terrified of the MCAS: I, and all my peers, are far more concerned about the weekly tests we get from our teachers. Plus, the mcas isn't even all 13 years of k-12! I don't know where you all live, but MCAS is probably only brought up for less than a month total of the ten spent in school. — Preceding unsigned comment added by DocBossman (talk • contribs) 05:15, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

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