Boston, MA

I am a current resident of MA , but moved here as an adult, so I don't have firsthand experience with these tests. However, I moved to several different states through school and took something like the MCAS in those states. The reality is that even if Question 2 were to pass, the state would likely want to keep MCAS (just without the graduation requirement) or replace MCAS with some other standardized test as a way to assess school district performance. Which should be a good thing since it is how the state can identify school districts that are underperforming and providing them the help they need.

I am sympathetic to the Teachers' views that they feel like they are being asked to teach to the test. However, in those other states I went to school in, those teachers still spent time teaching to the test because the school district was exerting pressure to improve their performance on those tests. So, the pressure to teach to the test is unlikely to go away, but will simply be applied from somewhere else. I don't think Question 2 is the freedom from standardized testing requirements that the Teacher's Union is portraying here.

I would be more supportive of additional ways to alternatively meet the requirement, especially for those students that might struggle with a language barrier.