Deliberate Dumbing Down of America Public Education

395 Along comes the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System. The Department of Education wants us to believe that it’s mandated for all 4th, 8th, and 10th graders and that the law has not provided for students or parents to “opt out.” However, the law also does not specifically prohibit parents from exempting their children from the assessment; doing so would be a usurpation of parental authority and responsibility. The state Supreme Court recognizes that children are not mere creatures of the state. Those who nurture and direct their destiny have the right to prepare them for additional obligations. Furthermore, Public Law 96–88, Title I, Section 101, number 3 states: “Parents have the primary responsibility for the education of their children and states, localities, and private interests have the primary responsibility for supporting that parental role.”... I submitted my intent in writing to exempt my son from MCAS. Despite my lack of per mission, the test was administered to him, regardless. What ever happened to parent/school partnerships? What if parents expect the public schools to provide factual information for their children to assimilate instead of the assessment of opinions their children are expected to synthesize, opinions that are being scored toward state standards, and opinions that will consequently be remedied until that standard is achieved? We the People are allowing a major paradigm shift to occur, in which the state will be directing student destiny based on his or her performance on the MCAS. This correlates with MGL Chapter 69, Section 1D (I), which parents may review but not contest. Did par ents knowingly relinquish their rights and authority upon enrolling their children in public schools? Mr. Rick Atkins from the DOE’s Accountability and Evaluation Services agreed that the law does not prohibit a parent from exempting their child from the MCAS. However, he said the child would receive a score of zero, which would be averaged with and thus would affect the entire school district. (Is that in the law, or another arbitrary and capricious rule the DOE spontaneously made up? Did our local educrats bother to ask?) By refusing to exempt any child from the MCAS upon parental request, one might presume that their child is being exploited by the public schools so as not to bring down the average scores of the entire district. It appears that fundamental civil liberties are also being violated, but who cares? It’s only one person, maybe a few. I guess it’s easier to perpetuate the deception than to acknowledge it. Then We the People would have to do something about it. The Noxious Nineties : c. 1998 A L C UOCO AND F AYE R UOPP , FORMER MATHEMATICS TEACHERS WHO WORK IN MATH EDUCA tion, wrote an article entitled “Math Exam Rationale Doesn’t Add up: Simple Questions Are Often Posed in Unnecessarily Complex Ways” which was published in the May 24, 1998 issue of the Boston Globe . Excerpts follow: In the Foreword to the “Guide to the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System: Mathematics” former Commissioner of Education Antonucci says: “I believe that teachers and administrators will find the sample questions to be particularly helpful in bringing the Massachusetts Mathematics ‘Curriculum Frameworks’ learning standards to life in classrooms and schools.” Like many teachers across the state, we studied the sample questions and were dis mayed by what we found. We challenge the assertion that the tests given in the last couple of weeks reflect learning standards and, even more importantly, we question the assertion put forth by Antonucci that “this critical new program... is designed to raise the academic achievement of all students of the commonwealth.”