This week in the news:
- There's escalating discussion about the right of school districts to award diplomas:
----   Eleven state representatives file a House budget amendment that would allow school committees to award district diplomas to students who've completed district requirements for graduation regardless of MCAS scores;
----- DOE's Commissioner Driscoll says educators who award students diplomas risk losing their license;
------ Hampshire Regional's superintendent says he's not intiminated by the Department of Education's theat to revoke his license if the district awards diplomas to students who have not passed MCAS, and the school committee says the Commissioner should address his concerns to them; 
----- Easthampton's superintendent notes that "failing" students would have been headed for college had they been in the class of 2002;
----- Smith Vocational and Agricultural educators wonder what will happen to those without a diploma and who would pay for "failing" students who might spend another year at the school;
-----  Amherst declines to award diplomas to seniors without MCAS despite objections from those most affected - the students from the Class of 2003;
In addition:
- DOE has declared another 404 seniors "competent" to received a diploma via waiver applications from their districts; only 64 are from Boston, only 14 from Springfield;
- The Board of Education will seek public comment on a proposal to raise the MCAS cut score considered passing from 220 to 240 and add science and history tests to the math and English Language Arts tests currently required;
-  The Governor makes it clear that state takeovers of underperforming districts is not faraway - maybe starting with Holyoke;
- The Lt. Gov. announces 14% of vocational school seniors still fail MCAS -- and this doesn't count the students who haven't survived to 12th grade;
- Harvard educators explain how MCAS perpetuates inequality in an op-ed that's generated responses from as far as South Africa.


Boston Sunday Globe, 5/4:  In House, a late stand to curb MCAS
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/124/learning/In_house_a_late_stand_to_curb_MCAS+.shtml
             Several state representatives are proposing an amendment in the state budget that would give school districts the option of handing out ''local diplomas'' to seniors who do not pass the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exam, a diploma state education officials have declared illegal......
....... ''These students have fulfilled the requirements of their high schools, and I don't think it's fair to only give them a certificate of attainment,'' said state Representative Alice Peisch, Democrat of Wellesley.
                State education officials said they are confident that the amendment would not succeed, given the strong support for MCAS in the Legislature and from Governor Mitt Romney......
...... Debate on the issue could begin as early as this week.
Peisch said the amendment is targeted at seniors who have special needs and failed to pass the exam, but who completed all other requirements. In Wellesley, the small number of students who will not graduate are special education students, she said.
              Peisch also said the test places at a disadvantage poorer students, who can't afford to enroll in private schools to avoid the tests, as some wealthier students have done......
........ James A. Peyser, chairman of the state Board of Education, said passing an amendment to grant diplomas to students who don't pass the MCAS exam would nullify the efforts of the state to improve education........
...... Still, the amendment has sparked some hope among anti-MCAS supporters. In Springfield, where 350 seniors will not graduate because they did not pass the test, Mayor Michael J. Albano is eager to have the school committee vote to give students who don't pass MCAS a local diploma. The committee narrowly defeated such a proposal last month.......
...... [Representative Cory Atkins, cosponsor of the amendment] said that both of her children, who are now in college, took special education courses while attending school and struggled with standardized tests. Students should not be penalized for their efforts, she said. ''Why are we isolating those students further? ''
               The budget includes another MCAS-related amendment that would delay the start of MCAS as a graduation requirement until the class of 2005, rather than for this year's seniors.
                  Sponsor Representative Mark Falzone, Democrat of Saugus, said the amendment would provide money for the state's building assistance program instead of MCAS testing. Falzone, who does not support MCAS as a graduation requirement, said budget needs must be prioritized in a tight fiscal environment.  ''A new school building is much more important to the learning process than a test,'' he said.
                                          This story ran on page E1 of the Boston Globe on 5/4/2003.


Boston Sunday Globe, 5/4: Bay State teens take step to shape future; many express fears at peace conference
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/124/metro/Bay_State_teens_take_step_to_shape_future+.shtml
        .......Stomping their feet and grabbing for the mike, teenagers from Boston's Teen Empowerment Organization danced and rapped their own blues songs at the John Hancock Hall in Boston. Many gave speeches demanding that teens take action.
                By the end of the afternoon yesterday, their audience of nearly 1,000 neighborhood youth had in their hands applications for summer jobs and information about health care and community service - which is exactly what the 11th Youth Peace Conference is all about.......
........Standing before the audience, Janet Ortiz, a senior at Boston Community Leadership Academy, said she failed the MCAS exam three times. Ortiz pledged to continue trying but expressed frustration with the graduation requirement, which is new this year.
                 ''People might want to become artists, social workers, lawyers, journalists ... or other professions that don't require expert math skills,'' she said. ''Then, to top it off, they announced that they would not give financial aid to students who failed the MCAS. And that they want to raise the passing score of the test and add a test in history and science as graduation requirements. That's hate.''
This story ran on page E8 of the Boston Globe on 5/4/2003.


AP wire/New Bedford Standard-Times, 4/29: Schools could face sanctions over students who fail MCAS
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/04-03/04-29-03/a10sr022.htm
See also: AP wire/Boston.com, 4/28: Licenses at stake if schools graduate students who fail MCAS
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/118/region/Licenses_at_stake_if_schools_g:.shtml
                 BOSTON -- School officials could lose their jobs if they give diplomas to kids who failed the MCAS, state officials warn, even though many of those students will be allowed to participate in graduation ceremonies.
               A handful of school boards from Falmouth to Northampton have voted to ignore the state's MCAS graduation requirement. Principals and superintendents carrying out the wishes of those boards, however, might suffer the consequences.
                        "The school committees are elected, they can take this vote. What they need to understand is they're putting the superintendents and principals at risk of losing their licenses," Department of Education spokeswoman Heidi Perlman said yesterday.
                Massachusetts regulations give the state's education commissioner authority to revoke education licenses for any "willful action in violation of Board (of Education) regulations or Department orders."
                Unlicensed educators would need waivers to keep their jobs.
              "We don't have the right to hire and fire superintendents," Perlman said. "What we have the right to do is pull their licenses. Once they don't have a license, it's up to the districts to seek a waiver." .........
....... "That's really a pretty heavy threat they're holding over people's heads for engaging in discourse for something that hasn't been litigated yet," said Paul Schlichtman, president-elect of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. ................
........ Only those who passed the MCAS and fulfilled local requirements, however, can get a diploma, [Commissioner David] Driscoll said.
                 ''I want to emphasize that this office has no objection to students attending graduation ceremonies even if they will not be receiving diplomas,'' Driscoll said in a letter Friday to superintendents.
               This story appeared on Page A10 of The Standard-Times on April 29, 2003.


Boston Herald, 4/29:  MCAS renegades jeopardize superintendents, principals
http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/mcas04292003.htm
.......``One of the points (Education Commissioner David Driscoll's) been making as he speaks to School Committee members in these communities that are standing up and saying we're not going to abide by this law, he's saying you can do that but ultimately it could be your superintendent or your principal who is going to lose their license,'' DOE spokeswoman Heidi B. Perlman said.
                 School Committees in Newburyport, Cambridge, Falmouth, Easthampton, Northampton, Hampshire Regional and Berkshire Hills have voted to ignore the test graduation requirement.....


Springfield Republican, 5/1: School chief firm on MCAS
http://www.masslive.com/hampfrank/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1051774429311093.xml
                Hampshire Regional Superintendent William G. Erickson expects to hand out diplomas next month regardless of MCAS scores, an action ordered by his School Committee.
                And if he loses his professional license, as threatened by the state Department of Education, well, so be it.
                "I think it's laying a guilt trip on school committees, frankly," said Erickson of the state's position. "Why don't they take them up on the moral issues rather then just making them worry and feel guilty?"
                 The Hampshire Regional School Committee has voted three times - unanimously - to award diplomas to students regardless of their scores on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests.......
....... Erickson said his board believes the law is up to interpretation, and that diplomas are granted locally.
                   "It feels an awful lot like a tactic. When Heidi Perlman speaks, that doesn't necessarily make it law," Erickson said.
                 At Hampshire Regional High School, three of the 120 seniors have yet to pass the tests. Erickon's board will discuss the issue again on June 2, but he has had no indication a change of heart is contemplated.
                  Easthampton Superintendent John F. Cullinan said Perlman's statement caused him to think. He said he received a telephone call with the same message from Driscoll just after the School Committee voted to ignore the MCAS requirement.
                    "He needs to do what he needs to do. But, yes, I am obviously concerned about it," Cullinan said.
                  He also thinks about the impact of the requirement. One of the 119 Easthampton High School seniors has yet to pass the MCAS tests.
                  "This is a student who would have gotten a diploma last year, and would have been a successful member of society. And now, what? This student can't even get financial aid for college," he said.


Daily Hampshire Gazette, 5/2: Hampshire Regional Chief sticks by awarding diplomas
http://www.gazettenet.com/05022003/schools/5595.htm
               WESTHAMPTON - Faced with a threat that he might lose his license if he awards diplomas to students who fail to pass the MCAS, Hampshire Regional Superintendent William G. Erickson isn't bending.
......"This was something the committee brought up on our own," said Southampton resident Brad Brousseau, who chairs the Hampshire Regional School Committee. "Our decision was a principled decision. We did what we thought was in the best interest of the kids."........
....... "It isn't about us," said Erickson. "It's about the kids.........."
........... Brousseau said that he was concerned with the Board of Education's position on the matter.
"We would not be happy if the impact of our decision was taken out on Superintendent Erickson," said Brousseau. "If the commissioner of education has a problem our decision, then he should bring it to the School Committee."
                 Brousseau said that the School Committee would review the matter at their June 2 meeting, but said it was unlikely that any changes would be made, absent a legal decision or formal notice from the state........


Daily Hampshire Gazette, 4/30:  Voke Board to decide if MCAS determines fate of its graduates
http://www.gazettenet.com/04302003/schools/5532.htm
        NORTHAMPTON -Next month, the Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School board of trustees is planning to vote on a resolution declaring the school's intention to award diplomas to students who fail the MCAS exam.
                 At Tuesday's meeting, where one parent expressed hope that the board would follow in the footsteps of Northampton, Easthampton, and Hampshire Regional, districts that have passed similar resolutions, Superintendent Frank Llamas said he is still considering what he will recommend on the issue.....
....... Llamas said he is working on a position paper that would outline the various facets of the issue, including the options available to students who fail the test.
                 "Those options are dwindling," he said, referring to recent reports that such students will likely not be eligible for federal student aid, and that state MCAS remediation funds will likely be cut.
                Northampton Superintendent Michael Cosgriff, who sits on the Smith Voke board, reminded Llamas that state Education Commissioner David Driscoll threatened this week to revoke the certification of school officials in districts that defy the state's MCAS requirement.
               "If he wants to take my certification, he's going to have to do it," Llamas responded.....
Llamas, Cosgriff and Northampton Mayor Clare Higgins, who also sits on the board, discussed whether those students have a right to return to the school for a fifth year, something which they said the state Education Department has not yet made clear.
                   If students can continue taking classes beyond senior year, that raises issues of cost and student standing for Smith Voke that are currently unresolved.....
......."The question really is, who pays for them?" Cosgriff asked.


Daily Hampshire Gazette, 4/30:  Amherst won't buck MCAS
http://www.gazettenet.com/04302003/schools/5521.htm
             AMHERST - The Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee has chosen not to award diplomas to students who pass local graduation requirements but fail the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exams.....
....... However, a three-member subcommittee is expected to work on a consensus resolution that will be presented at the next committee meeting on May 13.
                 "The subcommittee is going to try to find a resolution that achieves the goal of granting diplomas and protecting the school and our employees," [Michael] Hussin said after the meeting. "We're committed to doing this within the law, and we want to let the legal process play out." ......
....... "It seems to me, at least at this point, this is not the time for civil disobedience," said committee member James Duda.
                 Three students who chose not to take the MCAS disagreed.
                   "I think it really does come down to an act of civil disobedience," said Jane Goodale, 18, who plans to attend Macalester College in the fall. "There's no way to know what the courts will determine. I just think it's really important to remember there are still 6,000 students that have not passed the MCAS throughout the state."
                 "The MCAS is never going to be an accurate measurement in its current form," said Zach Bouricius, 17, who dropped out of high school last year and is taking courses at Holyoke Community College. "It's more than a political question. It's a moral question. If the student fills out all of the local requirements, is it fair not to give (the student) a diploma?"
                "It was incredibly frustrating," Brittany Nickerson, 18, said of her attempt to sway the committee. She refused to take the MCAS but plans to attend the University of California at Berkeley this fall.                "They've been doing this for a long time, and they keep saying 'we need more information.' They're never going to have a straight answer... I feel like I've done everything I can. I don't think I can change their minds."
                  Bouricius agreed. "Some of them don't seem to understand their main concern is the welfare of the students, not the jobs of the principals and superintendent," he said.
                 Bouricius's and Nickerson's fathers both encouraged the committee to make a statement that night after talking so much about MCAS graduation requirements at previous meetings.
                    "I'm ready to put everyone's license at risk," added one mother of a high school dropout, who is currently trying to finish school in Boston, and two middle school students. "I'm asking you to make a decision for the kids who can't stand up for themselves." .........


AP wire/Boston.com, 4/28:  More high school seniors receive MCAS waivers
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/118/region/More_high_school_seniors_win_M:.shtml
        MALDEN, Mass. (AP) Education officials said Monday they've granted another 404 MCAS waivers, bringing the total to 920 with nearly every district having submitted appeals on behalf of their students......
....... The Department of Education reviewed 724 MCAS appeals last week from 103 districts. Decisions were made on 610 appeals. The remaining are being reviewed separately, or are being held for additional information.
                  This was the fourth round of appeals. Nearly 1,800 appeals have been submitted from more than 250 districts. There are about 300 school districts statewide.......
...... This was the largest group of appeals to be considered since the process began late last year.


Boston Globe, 4/29:  MCAS waivers clear way for 404 more seniors to graduate
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/119/metro/MCAS_waivers_clear_way_for_404_more_seniors_to_graduate-.shtml
..........In Boston, 64 of the 88 requests submitted this time were granted, bringing the total awarded to 78. Like many districts, Boston waited to file large numbers of appeals until after the results of the December retest, the last opportunity for seniors to take the test and receive results in time for graduation.
                   ''The focus in Boston has really been trying to get kids to take the [December] retest,'' said Elizabeth Reilinger, chairwoman of the Boston School Committee, who said the district plans to submit another round in time for the state's mid-May review of appeals......
..... With graduation approaching, superintendents have begun filing appeals at a more rapid pace and with more knowledge about what makes an appeal successful, said Heidi B. Perlman, spokeswoman for the state Department of Education. .......
..........This story ran on page B3 of the Boston Globe on 4/29/2003.


Springfield Republican, 4/30:  14 [Springfield] seniors win MCAS appeals
http://www.masslive.com/springfield/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1051601652127840.xml
             SPRINGFIELD - Only 14 high school seniors have cleared the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System appeals hurdle, a far cry from the 60 city officials hoped for. ......
....... The successful appeals, announced yesterday by the state Department of Education, are the first granted in the city and among 404 statewide in the fourth round. Springfield did not have any appeals ready for consideration in earlier rounds.........
.........Of the city's 1,134 seniors, 794 had passed the math and English tests. The number eligible to graduate with full diplomas now rises to 808. Of the remaining 326 students, 242 have met all other local graduation requirements. They may march in ceremonies and earn certificates of attainment indicating they have done all but pass MCAS.........
........School Committee member Robert E. McCollum opposes the MCAS graduation requirement.
"It doesn't surprise me at all that our number is low," he said. "This system has turned into a punitive system that will wind up making second-class citizens of many of our children."


AP wire/Boston.com, 5/2:  State may require higher MCAS scores for future graduates
http://www.boston.com/news/daily/29/mcas_scores.htm
....... The Board of Education plans formal debate this fall, but gave warning Tuesday that it considers the current minimum passing score of 220 too low for a test that students must pass to earn a diploma.
                "At some point you run the danger of having a standard that is so low as to be somewhat meaningless for the vast majority of the people," Board of Education Chairman James Peyser said.
              About 92 percent of students in the Class of 2003 have passed the standardized exam, either on their first try or on a retest. Eighty-four percent of juniors passed on their first attempt last spring.
             Education Commissioner David Driscoll said that when the 220 threshold was established several years ago, "everybody agreed" that a 90 percent passage rate would be deemed a success.
               "It's come faster than we thought," Driscoll said........
......... Jackie King, a Cambridge parent and Massachusetts coordinator of the anti-MCAS group FairTest, said the proposal is unreasonable.
               "To constantly make the test harder, broaden the areas covered by the test, or in any way put more emphasis on the test is a faulty policy," King said.
                School districts are bracing for up to 20 percent reductions in state aid next school year because of the state's $3 billion budget shortfall, King pointed out.
                "I don't understand what world they are living in," she said. "Just as the school systems are being squandered by budget cuts, the demands on them are rising higher and higher. That's unreasonable."
                The board voted unanimously Tuesday to seek public comment on a proposal that would require students to also pass science and history MCAS tests. Science would take effect in 2009; history two years later, under the proposed schedule.
              The same proposal includes a provision stating the board intends to raise the threshold score.......


Boston Globe, 4/29:  State plans to add two MCAS tests by 2011
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/119/metro/State_plans_to_add_two_MCAS_tests_by_2011-.shtml
......Beginning in 2009, high school students would need to pass an additional MCAS exam in science in order to receive a high school diploma in Massachusetts, under a proposal before the State Board of Education today. They would be required to pass yet another exam, in US history, in order to graduate in 2011.
                According to the proposal, an MCAS exam in Science & Technology/Engineering will be field-tested this year and pilot testing will take place next year and in 2005. Students will be graded on the new science test for the first time in 2006...
....The history portion of the exam is behind schedule in part because of changes to its framework, according to board chairman James Peyser. The board switched the graduation requirement from world history to US history in 2001. Development of the test was also delayed by complaints from educators that the exam covered too broad an area.......
...... Monty Neill, executive director of FairTest, a Cambridge-based group opposed to MCAS as a graduation requirement, said the proposed history exam is ''trivia-based'' and does little to promote critical thinking skills.
              ''They will leave school maybe having passed the test but not having an understanding of the subject,'' Neill said. ''It will corrupt education and it will corrupt the way teachers teach.''  Neill said he is also concerned with the amount of time students and teachers will spend preparing for the exams..........
......... This story ran on page B1 of the Boston Globe on 4/29/2003.


Boston Herald, 5/2:  Romney: State should take over, shake up failing school districts
http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/educ05022003.htm
        Taking aim at failing schools, Gov. Mitt Romney said yesterday the state should be able to take over underperforming districts with broad powers to fire teachers, send kids to full-day kindergarten and make their parents go to class.
               Speaking at a forum to mark the state Education Reform Act's passing 10 years ago, Romney said lower minority achievement on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exam showed more work needs to be done.
              ``What do we do about the fact that we have districts and schools that are seeing very large numbers of kids that are not passing this basic standard of achievement?'' he said.
                 The state should be able to move swiftly into underperforming districts and, once there, offer full-day kindergarten and insist parents participate in a preparation program, he said........
....... The governor also proposed ``summer school'' for teachers and, in some cases, giving principals power to fire 10 percent of a failing school's faculty. District administrators also would be audited.
              The governor's comments come as the state is preparing to launch a sweeping initiative to expand state oversight of local schools.
               The state Office of Educational Quality has quietly been preparing to send evaluators out to 44 districts in July, said Executive Director Joseph B. Rappa. The review process could end with state takeovers.
                 The office already has completed seven reports and recommended that Holyoke be considered underperforming, the first step toward a takeover. Boston will be audited in two or three years.....
...... ``This is going to be where the rubber meets the road,'' said Mark Roosevelt, one of the authors of the 1993 Education Reform Act.
                 Where MCAS exams are holding students accountable, educators need to follow suit now, said state Rep. Marie St. Fleur, the House chairwoman of the Education Committee.
               ``Now it's time for the adults to be accountable,'' the Dorchester Democrat said.



Boston Globe, 5/2:  Governor eyes plan to fire teachers
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/122/metro/Governor_eyes_plan_to_fire_teachers-.shtml
              Governor Mitt Romney yesterday proposed giving principals of struggling public schools the power to eliminate up to 10 percent of their faculty and create ''summer schools'' for poorly performing teachers.
                Romney's proposal, which immediately raised the ire of union officials, is an attempt to make teachers more accountable for their students' MCAS scores, according to his aides.....
.... [O]fficials from the Massachusetts Federation of Teachers and the Massachusetts Teachers Assocation, the state's largest teacher union, called the governor's proposal ''nonsense.''
                 ''There is no need for this because principals can already fire incompetent teachers for just cause,'' said Anne Wass, vice president of the MTA.......
........ Romney's aides said details of the proposal to improve failing schools are still being worked out, but they said either a state rating system or a federal one under the No Child Left Behind Act could be used to identify schools. Both systems use test scores to determine how well a school is progressing.........
......... Wass and other educators say using the MCAS exam as the sole tool to measure the quality of instruction unfairly targets teachers. ''The governor's proposal suggests that when a school is underperforming, the cause is that at least 10 percent of the teachers are incompetent, but that may not be the case at all,'' she said.
                 Christopher Martes, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, said Romney's proposal would unfairly penalize teachers for the performance of students they might not even have taught for more than a few days, due to the many transfer students and pupils new to the United States.........
........ This story ran on page B1 of the Boston Globe on 5/2/2003.


AP wire/Boston.com, 4/30: State hails voke-tech MCAS pass rate
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/120/region/State_hails_voke_tech_MCAS_pas:.shtml
          TYNGSBORO, Mass. (AP) Fourteen percent of seniors in vocational high schools have yet to pass the MCAS exam, leaving them ineligible for graduation this spring.
             State officials, however, hailed the 86 percent passage rate during a gathering Wednesday of students at the Greater Lowell Vocational Technical School.
                 ''The extraordinary achievement of our vocational students undermines the arguments of critics that claimed that voc-tech students would somehow be disadvantaged on high standard academic exams,'' Healey said........


Harvard Crimson Op-ed, 4/28:  MCAS perpetuates inequality
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=347849
.........In order to leave no child behind, government establishes what it calls high standards, aligns curriculum and pedagogy with these so-called standards, tests students to see if they meet the standards, and holds students, teachers, and schools accountable for test results. The logic is clear, but the premise is false. The standards-based movement, including our local version, the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS), is based on the faulty assumption that standardized instruction and standardized tests breed high intellectual standards and that the "standards" established will truly break the cycle of inequality..........
...... If we want to address inequality in education, then we must provide all children with a demanding and engaging education: the kind of preparatory education, in fact, that most Harvard students have received.
                   This kind of education requires schools that emulate our finest schools, public and private and including those launched by urban educational leaders such as Deborah Meier, Hubert Dyasi and Lecturer on Education Theodore Sizer. It requires schools in which decisions about philosophy, pedagogy and curriculum are made by teachers, parents, students, and administrators within the school, working under broad guidelines established by the district and state. It requires schools in which the primary pedagogy is a Socratic partnership between teachers and learners. It requires schools in which assessment is truly comprehensive - what the MCAS was supposed to be—and involves students generatting products individually and cooperatively that others, including the public at large, can view: portfolios, performances and oral defenses. It requires schools in which the emphasis is on providing students with opportunities to learn, not on ranking and judging them. Finally, it requires schools that exist within a larger reform effort devoted to providing above average support to those most vulnerable in our society...........