TESTIMONY OF KENNETH PEREIRA
Upper Cape Cod Regional Vocational Technical School Committee
Vice President Massachusetts Association of School Committees

BEFORE THE JOINT LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, ARTS, AND HUMANITIES
SEPTEMBER 9, 2003

My name is Kenneth Pereira, and I am a member of the Upper Cape Cod Regional Vocational Technical School Committee and Vice President of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. I would like to address several points related to the appropriateness of the high-stakes element of MCAS testing and complement the testimony of my colleague, MASC President Carol LePrevost. In the interests of time, I have attached more extended written comments.

Several important questions remain unresolved. Did the legislature in 1993 truly intend for a high-stakes test to be part of the MCAS system, or was this a decision made by others? Also, did the Board of Education really use the best options to assess student achievement instead of including the multiple options that the law does require? For those students whose performance is difficult to assess using conventional means and traditional testing, such instruments should include consideration of work samples, projects, and portfolios, and should facilitate authentic and direct gauges of student performance. This standard surely applies to vocational-technical students.

Particularly important for those of us who teach and advocate for vocational-technical students, we ask, "Is there an official ‘Catch-22’ in the system. To date no Certificate of Occupational Proficiency may be issued unless a student has achieved a "competency determination," or, more specifically, graduated from high school.

Moreover, is it reasonable not to recognize the importance of the overall vocational-technical learning experience where students spend 50% of their time in academic classes and 50% in highly specialized and skilled trade classes?

A single test is not the answer for all students, especially when some learn and test differently from the single model used in MCAS. Surely a more appropriate MCAS test for vocational-technical students would assess both academic and technical skill training, including a hands on skill component.
It is not surprising that most of our technical schools enroll high levels of special needs students, many of whom come to our programs with low MCAS scores from their 8th grade examinations. Yet none of these tests measures the fact that these students work very effectively with their hands, coordinate skillfully between their conceptual and physical talents, and develop into expert and successful, contributing members of society.

We do not fear, nor do we seek to avoid high standards, but we suggest that the standards should be appropriate. That is why we have worked to develop the Certificates of Occupational Proficiency as true measures of student achievement.

We also know that most vocational-technical students pass the MCAS test, but we recognize that the test remains inappropriate as the sole standard for high school graduation for many of our young students.

MASC also recommends the following:
Administrators and principals should be held accountable to ensure that students have appropriate development plans in situations where students might otherwise simply be moved along grade-wise rather than ahead developmentally and academically.

• There should be more frequent but less time consuming diagnostic testing to help teachers and students focus more quickly and appropriately on weaknesses and exploit strengths.

• The legislature should empower a special study commission to review the unique status of students in vocational technical high schools who have elected an alternative structure by linking their secondary school curriculum with attainment of technical and work skills. In particular, analysis should be made as to whether these students do, in fact, acquire critical language and mathematics skills which are deployed uniquely in their technical fields but which are measured differently and unfairly by the MCAS test.

• This same proposed special study commission should review the steps in place to assure that the rights of students being served with individual education plans under "Chapter 766" are protected, their special needs accommodated, and that they are not subject to an unreasonable graduation standard; and that the steps are in place to protect students in transitional bilingual education, English as a Second Language, and other related programs from unreasonable graduation standards.

• The legislature should establish an ongoing, objective, non-partisan commission to assess the effectiveness of overall MCAS progress, evaluation of other useful alternatives, validity of testing instruments, applicability to various unique student constituencies, and integration with the so-called "No Child Left Behind" statute. This entity should also assess uses of data and outcomes and the statewide adherence to curriculum frameworks.

• Thorough assessments of the actual results, programs, and initiatives of other states should be made so that data from elsewhere may be discussed in correct perspective including questions relative to: lowering standards to camouflage under-performance; maintenance of testing programs without linking them to graduation requirements; incentive programs for students that impact results; incentive programs to school districts and individual schools that impact results; the comparative status of a "passing" grade on MCAS tests with those utilized in other states. This is particularly important now that 50 states have set 50 standards for the No Child Left Behind Act.

• The legislature should amend the Education Reform act to authorize the awarding of a Certificate of Occupational Proficiency without linking it directly to the General Competency Determination for a period of up to four years provided students in vocational technical schools have completed all other requirements in a technical discipline.

MASC believes that linking a particular MCAS score to eligibility for graduation from high school is at best premature and at worst inappropriate and unfair. We categorically reject any suggestion that to question the validity of MCAS testing as a graduation requirement is in any way backtracking from the commitment to powerful educational reforms, strong standards of accountability, and the pursuit of excellence in the public schools. Instead, we call for a more reasonable but no less powerful set of alternatives, including MCAS testing as one of multiple criteria, until critical questions can be addressed.

Finally, we echo the position of the Connecticut Board of Education that puts in proper perspective the role of standardized tests.

"These (standardized test) results do not provide a comprehensive picture of student accomplishments. There is a danger that overemphasizing state test scores to evaluate a student’s, a school’s or a district’s performance can result in an inappropriate narrowing of the curriculum and inappropriate classroom instructional practices. Focused preparation for the state tests should be a small fraction of a year-long comprehensive curriculum that balances the competencies assessed on the state tests with other critical skills and objectives. Teaching isolated skills for test preparation or using repetitive tasks that go far beyond reasonable practice do not represent good instruction. In addition, no one assessment – state or local – should be the sole basis for promotion, graduation or other important decisions in the education of a student."

I thank you for the opportunity to bring these issues to your attention.