Many parents like me are torn on whether to repeal MCAS. Here’s a two-part perspective from teachers on both sides.

Recent Suffolk University/Boston Globe Poll found that approximately 58 percent of respondents supported a measure to remove the MCAS requirement. This is unlikely, and my own experience bears it out: I have dozens of text threads with friends, people whose opinions I respect, on both sides of this issue, and each of them presents strong arguments. I got into a passionate text exchange with a friend from the CVS allergy department; another from the parking lot outside my son’s soccer practice.

I am personally concerned about eliminating a statewide, uniform standard for measuring progress without another reasonable option in its place. However, I believe that the concept of assessing students’ progress and potential is poorly captured by standardized testing, and I empathize with teacher friends who say they have seen children filled with anxiety about trying to pass a test, depriving them of more meaningful learning opportunities. It seems to symbolize everything that is empty and stressful in modern education. But also: this is currently the only option. Would it be reckless to give up the only choice we have?

That’s why I’m turning to experts on both sides who are long-time educators and parents. This week I spoke with Jennifer Amento, a 23-year-old general and special education teacher at Mashpee Elementary Schools, with No to Coalition 2. I’ll talk to you next week Massachusetts Teachers Association Vice President Deb McCarthy on why you should vote yes to eliminate the MCAS completion requirement.

People talk about MCAS in terms of accountability. However, if teachers are already teaching to general standards embedded in the curriculum (with pre-existing frameworks), why do we also need MCAS?

I have every confidence that every teacher in Massachusetts is doing their best and teaching to the standards. The more confusing part comes when you get to: How do you rate these standards?

There’s a lot of talk about grade inflation. Especially some topics are very subjective. Grading writing is really difficult because it is a subjective art. If we remove MCAS, which is a standardized assessment across the board, we will have over 350 districts in the commonwealth with 350 different graduation standards. MCAS is our only statewide graduation standard. It’s our only standardized way of measuring whether students actually know what we teach.

There are about 700 of them Diploma denied due to MCAS every year. Why punish these children to hold schools accountable?

Of course, our goal is for every student to graduate as parents and teachers. This represents less than 1 percent of our student population. We will not simply write them off: there are alternative methods of achieving this competency requirement, which is MCAS – it is a competency statement.

Suppose a student takes a test and cannot pass it. We know that some people have a harder time taking standardized tests. So they took it several times and they can’t pass it, but their grades are okay. They go to all the right classes. They can apply for something called a cohort roll callat which their school district would submit an application (to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education). Then the faculty would look at the classes they were taking, the other students in those classes, compare them, and say, “OK, they all took the same classes.” They all have the same grades, but this one passed and this one didn’t. They may determine that based on their coursework and in comparison to other students, they will grant an appeal. I think it’s something little known and not widely used.

Could we establish fair, non-test-based graduation requirements? Many people say: We just keep things so-so for lack of better innovation. What would you say to that?

(DESE) came up with something called Massive corewhich would be common course requirements. There is a problem with financing at the moment. This is optional for districts. (One report by Voices for academic equality — a coalition of nonprofits and education reform advocates who support retention MCAS exams as a tool for objectively measuring students’ progress, he said half of all high schools in Massachusetts do not follow state recommended graduation requirements.)

This becomes a problem for some districts that have had less funding in the past, as well as for those smaller districts, because a foreign language is a requirement in MassCore. Some of these districts do not have enough students or staff to offer a world language track.

I think there’s definitely a lot we can do. There has also been a lot of research on competency-based competency definition. So it’s there, but we don’t have a replacement yet. This is my greatest concern, both as a parent and an educator.

Vermont is the only state that doesn’t do this (it has no coursework standards). So if we vote “yes” on this issue, we will have no state standards. This upsets me both as an educator and as a parent. I don’t want my child to be less competitive because he comes from a state that has no graduation requirements.

Most recently, Rep. Ayanna Pressley approved voting yes, saying, “Testing is a tool and that’s it. For too long, high-stakes testing in Massachusetts has hindered learning and, in my opinion, has done a disservice to learning communities. This is not to say that formative and summative assessment doesn’t play a role, but we need to focus on all the factors that contribute to student success and equip our schools and teachers with the tools they need to support students.”

She said she was a poor test taker and if teachers didn’t know who she was holistically, she wouldn’t do as well as she did. The argument is that the test distracts from teaching in more innovative and holistic ways.

I think the teachers are amazing and I think we do a lot of these things, even during testing. … I don’t think the stakes in MCAS are as high as people think. It is based on standards. Teachers help create questions. Teachers help you get it. Teachers are deeply involved in this process. I don’t think it’s something we don’t teach anymore and I think we need to evaluate kids.

Mass Business Alliance comes in second place because it doesn’t see kids coming out ready. I think that’s the problem and I think it lines up with what we see in the test. Test scores aren’t great, and that’s what business leaders and college officials see. Children don’t come ready. And I don’t think it was because of the test. I think he agrees with what the test shows. The other thing the test shows us is that we have a literacy crisis in the state. We are one of the few states that does not have evidence-based literacy legislation.

Yes, this test is standardized. I think you will always find people who disagree with standardized testing. We know that children are not standardized. At the same time, it is a powerful tool. A passing score is 470. This is in the yellow range, partially meeting expectations. (Students) don’t have to do it again. Their district can manage educational competence plan, so that the district can then decide whether the student has met the requirements. It’s not this really exorbitant, unattainable bar. I think this is very achievable and really shows that there are areas in our public education system that we really need to look at.

This is the devil’s advocate question. It seems that most kids pass the MCAS exam. I don’t want to say it’s easy, but there are many ways to go. Yet children still emerge unprepared. So: why bother? If children still leave home unprepared for school or work, isn’t there a better way?

I think we can definitely do better. I don’t think you’ll find a single person who says, “We can’t do better.” My main concern is removing one tool without installing another. This is what really stops me. If we had a viable option to replace him, I would be totally committed. We don’t yet have a real tool that could replace it.

While I am confident that every teacher in the state is doing the best they can with what they have and wants the best for the kids, I have seen different graduation requirements from district to district. I looked at one district that required “so many” multiple credits, while another district had two years of English and two years of math. The next district was four years of everything.

My only concern is for our marginalized communities and districts that struggle to retain and retain teachers. We are simply such a huge, differently efficient country. You look at Western Mass and Springfield and then Newton; you just have different worlds. I think until we have a viable option that works for every student in the commonwealth, I don’t feel comfortable removing the only thing we have.

This interview has been edited for clarity. Next week: Massachusetts Teachers Association Vice President Deb McCarthy on why you should vote yes.

Kara Baskin can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @kcbaskin.