MCAS: Separating Fact from Fiction
When the 1993 Massachusetts Education Reform Act was signed into law, little was known about the effectiveness of high school graduation exams, such as the MCAS. Sixteen years later, we have good evidence these high stakes tests do not accomplish their intended aims. The most recent and rigorous research studies on this subject, most notably the investigations conducted by John Warren of the University Minnesota and Eric Grodsky of the University of California at Davis, show that graduation exams have no relationship to high school students’ academic achievement, no impact on closing the racial achievement gap, and no effect on post-high school education, employment status, or wage earnings.
Skepticism about these findings is understandable. It was assumed that the potential denial of a high school diploma would be a powerful motivating force on administrators, teachers and students, and therefore they would redouble their efforts and achieve at increasingly higher levels. The national test scores during the last several years appeared to confirm this theory. Massachusetts’ students have attained the highest mathematics and reading scores in the country on the Nation’s Report Card. This is an impressive accomplishment, but it probably has nothing to do with MCAS as a graduation requirement. The fact that the MCAS graduation requirement immediately preceded the rise in test scores does not prove that the MCAS caused the test scores to increase. Consumption of ice cream is correlated with a rise in shark attacks, but no sane person would argue that eating ice cream increases one’s risk of being attacked by a shark. Research is conducted to differentiate so called ‘spurious correlations’ from actual relationships between events, When researchers controlled for preexisting differences between states, such as per pupil spending and prior achievement scores, which might produce spurious correlations, they found that states without graduation exams were just as likely to have high national test scores as states with these exams. Thus, based on the best available research, there is no justification for using high school graduation exams as a strategy for improving academic achievement.
In addition to evaluating the policy’s intended effects, any informed judgment of the MCAS graduation requirement must also consider its potential for harm. Since the advent of the graduation requirement in 2003, more than 20,000 high school seniors have not passed the MCAS. Denying a student a high school diploma imposes a huge cost on both that individual and society. According to the Northeastern University’s Center for Labor Market Studies, the average yearly income in 2006-2007 for an individual without a high school diploma was a paltry $11,031. Individuals without diplomas are often barred from entering the military, trade unions, and post-secondary programs. Furthermore, the cost to society of someone without a high school diploma is estimated to be at least $250,000 during that person’s lifetime. These individuals pay less money in taxes and are more likely to need social and correctional services. If high school graduation exams were pharmaceuticals, the Food and Drug Administration would ban their use. They do not have the intended effects on academic achievement, and they have serious side effects on our youth and society.
House Bill No. 3660, An Act To Improve Assessment And Accountability To Ensure Students Acquire 21st Century Skills, would rectify the principal flaw in our current statewide assessment system: the denial of a high school diploma because of the results on a single graduation exam. The Bill proposes a comprehensive set of assessment measures to determine a student’s eligibility for a high school diploma. The use of multiple assessments is not a quixotic search for a perfect assessment system. It is a practical approach supported by the overwhelming majority of professional organizations representing assessment experts. The opponents of multiple assessment measures fear that this approach will dilute our high standards and undo the achievement gains of the last several years. Research does not support their theory, and public policy should not be driven by fear.
Massachusetts with its illustrious history of public education should be in the vanguard of improving the use of statewide assessments. House Bill No. 3660 will advance that noble goal. Nothing less than the wellbeing of our most vulnerable children hangs in the balance.