Department of Education Urged to Develop Special MCAS Test Program for Special Student Groups.

Business/Education Editors & Government Writers

The Massachusetts Secondary School Administrators' Association (MSSAA) today called on the Department of Education to develop special assessment tests for various special student group and suspend the requirement for these students to

MSSAA President, Donald J. Rebello, principal of Somerset High School, today issued the following statement:

From the beginning of the establishment of the requirement that the Class of 2003 pass the MCAS test in order to graduate, the MSSAA has called for consideration of several serious flaws in the manner in which the Department of Education was implementing the program.

Among the problems we have pointed out in previous communications are difficulties encountered by unconventional students including, vocational education students, special education students and students for whom English is not the primary language. We again urge recognition of these situations and request the DOE develop different test programs to address these problems.

The recently published study conducted by the University of Massachusetts under the direction of Professor Robert Gaudet clearly supports our position that these special student populations require special consideration.

As we have pointed out in the past, the Legislature recognized this situation by including in the Education Reform Act a call for a variety of assessment instruments to be used in evaluating competency "...especially in case of those students whose performance is difficult to measure using conventional methods..." The MCAS "one test fits all" process being used makes no provision for unconventional students such as those mentioned.

We ask that the DOE immediately suspend the graduation requirement, at least for these student populations until such time as an appropriate test instrument can be devised for evaluating their competency. To continue to hold the threat of not graduating from high school over these students is extremely unfair, causing them to anguish over a situation outside their control and capability.