Burlington School Committee Adopts Resolution Opposing MCAS Test

BURLINGTON, MA — The Burlington School Committee voiced its opposition to MCAS testing by adopting a resolution calling for the state to suspend testing for at least three years. The resolution, adopted from the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, also calls for the state to waive the 10th grade testing requirement for the Class of 2022, which was in 10th grade last spring when exams were canceled—the committee wants that class to be certified for graduation on a local level.

Superintendent Eric Conti is unsure how MCAS tests will be administered to remote students, and believes the district has better mechanisms for testing students than MCAS, but said the district will do what it’s asked.

The School Committee voted unanimously to adopt the resolution following the second reading of the resolution at its meeting last week. School Committee member Tom Murphy said he felt signing on was an important message to send and member Carl Foss said he thought having local oversight for graduation requirements was appealing.

“I think given the pandemic there are many other priorities we should be spending our time with, and at least we should be challenging our students rather than helping them learn how to take a test again,” said member Martha Simon.

So far, school committees in at least 19 school districts have adopted the resolution, according to the Massachusetts Teachers Association. The controversial standardized testing was canceled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the state announced earlier this month that it would return this year, with some changes.

This year, students in the class of 2021 will be able to earn their competency determination in English and math by completing a course instead of earning a qualifying score on the MCAS, though students who do want to take the exams will be able to do so later in the year. Testing for students in grades three through eight will be shortened and high schools will be permitted to administer biology MCAS tests to ninth graders in June, instead of in February as is normally expected. The commissioner of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will not submit any schools to the Board for underperforming this academic year.