Hadley Barndollar, MassLive
A coalition working to maintain the Commonwealth’s MCAS graduation standard has launched a six-figure digital advertising campaign as part of an effort to defeat a ballot question in November.
On Nov. 5, voters will decide, via Question 2, whether passing the 10th grade MCAS assessment will remain a requirement for public high school graduation in the state.
The Massachusetts Teachers Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union, is leading the movement to eliminate the requirement, arguing the series of standardized tests perpetuates inequities, particularly for special education students and English language learners.
Emerging to oppose the effort and keep the prerequisite to a diploma is “Protect Our Kids’ Future: Vote No On 2‚" a broad coalition of business groups, parents, education advocates and teachers that support the MCAS as an accountability standard for both students and teachers.
The Boston Globe reported the group is spending $250,000 on this initial phase of its advertising campaign. Brian Wynne, a strategist for the group and advisor to former Gov. Charlie Baker, told the Globe they are prepared to raise and spend millions to preserve the graduation standard.
This week, the coalition, which now has an official website and social media accounts, released two ads featuring a public school teacher and parent.
In one, James Conway, a history teacher at Revere High School, urges voters to say no to “lower education standards,” without explicitly mentioning MCAS. Instead, he references an “effort to undermine our education standards.
In a second ad, Jill Norton, a Concord parent, says the MCAS is important for her son who has learning disabilities, specifically ADHD and dyslexia, because reducing expectations for students like him would be “harmful.”
“If the students don’t get what they need in their educational settings now, they’re going to graduate from high school without having the skills that they need to be successful in jobs and college,” Norton says.
Several top elected officials and agency leaders in the state are among those supporting preservation of the MCAS graduation standard, including Gov. Maura Healey, Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler, Speaker of the House Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka.
But recent polling done by the University of Massachusetts Amherst shows the vote is expected to be a close one: 43% said they would remove the graduation requirement, 36% would keep it and 20% said they didn’t know.
Earlier this month, MassLive heard from 500 readers who offered up their opinions on a request on our social media pages. About 90% said they oppose MCAS being a graduation requirement.
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