policy
The campaign to eliminate the state's MCAS standardized test as a requirement for prime school graduation officially launched Thursday.
Organizers announced a vote count date for later this month and released internal polls showing that a majority of voters already support their initiative.
The ballot query, sponsored by the Massachusetts Teachers Association, will go to voters in lower than 90 days. The “Yes to 2The Committee for High Standards Not High Stakes' “High Standards Not High Stakes” campaign comes a week after the business-backed opposition launched its $250,000 advertising campaign.
Question 2 is one of five ballot questions on the ballot in Massachusetts in November. It would eliminate the requirement to pass the MCAS exams in English, math and science to graduate from high school. The MTA and other supporters say that requirement disproportionately disadvantages low-income and English-language learner students, while state officials say it maintains a state standard.
The campaign started Social Media The union set August 17 as the start date for its vote-seeking campaign.
Jeron Mariani, the campaign's general counsel, announced her “early lead” in a campaign email, according to a July poll of 700 voters conducted by research firm Lake Research Partners.
The poll found that 55 percent of voters are already in favor of replacing the MCAS graduation requirement without any background information.
MTA Vice President Deb McCarthy said the ballot question would replace graduation requirements with “multiple forms of assessment such as grade point average, course work and teacher feedback.”
“This is a way to ensure that schools and teachers are accountable to all students and communities, not just test scores,” McCarthy said in a statement. If the vote passes, students would still be required to take the MCAS test in 10th grade, but their graduation would not be contingent on it.
The group's poll also found that 48 percent of voters oppose the test and half of voters “have no confidence in the ability of standardized tests to measure students' preparation for success after graduation,” Mariani said.
“For further confirmation of this, we need only look at the latest opposition campaign ad: Not once is MCAS mentioned, nor the word 'standardized testing,'” Mariani said.
The opposition promotes “higher standards”
The announcement of the “Yes on 2” campaign marks the start of a costly campaign for each side of standardized testing in Massachusetts. considered one of the few states This still requires a final examination.
The group Protect our youngsters's future: Vote No 2 posted two 30-second spots on YouTube last month with the message that higher standards result in greater success, as a part of a $250,000 promoting campaign. The campaign against the ballot query is funded partially by wealthy businessmen resembling Raymond Stat and Paul Sagan, the former chairman of the State Committee for Primary and Secondary Education.
The MTA has According to reports have invested $1 million of their campaign efforts to date.
Michelle Willis, the mother of a New Bedford High School student, said in a campaign statement that her son should graduate with “more than just a test score.”
“A standardized test cannot fully measure my child's or other students' level of learning and chances for success,” Willis said. “To give this test so much more influence on a student's future than their courses, their grade point average and teacher evaluations is just not OK with me.”
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