Chicopee School Committee calls for MCAS cancelation as all-remote learning extends to January due to COVID-19

Patrick E. Bowe School

Patrick E. Bowe School in Chicopee (Dave Roback/Republican file)

CHICOPEE – School Committee members voted unanimously to urge state and federal officials to suspend MCAS testing and the requirement that students pass the standardized test to graduate this year, one day after city educators announced all-remote learning will continue until at least January because the COVID-19 infection rate continues to rise in the city.

The federal government is the only one that can waive the requirement calling for students to take the exam, officially called the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment Systems. So far officials have not started accepting any applications from states so there is little the city or state legislators can do, Superintendent Lynn A. Clark said.

There has been some discussion about limiting the test to just juniors and seniors who still need to pass the exam to earn their diplomas. Usually, students take the MCAS the first time in their sophomore year so they have several opportunities to re-take the exam before graduation if they fail any of the subjects, she said.

But School Committee member Mary-Elizabeth Pniak-Costello, who brought up the issue, said she feels the board can be a force to convince state and federal education officials that it is inappropriate to ask students to take a difficult high-stakes exam when many have not been in a classroom since March. Already state legislators have aired concerns about the exam.

“It is a high-stakes test and our educational system, literally worldwide, has been uprooted,” she said. “We have learned that remote learning…is not as effective as in-person learning.”

At the start of the School Committee meeting, several parents and students aired concerns about remote learning with one parent urging the committee to change the system to a hybrid one where all students have a mix of in-person and remote classes every week.

Chicopee High School senior Hannah Powers called remote learning tiring, discouraging, distracting and boring. While she said she had no problem previously juggling classes, extra-curricular activities and a job, she finds she is falling behind in schoolwork with remote learning.

She proposed a plan to the School Committee that would set aside Wednesdays as a day when screens would mostly be turned off and students would instead be given independent assignments, spend time catching up on missed work and have an opportunity to get extra help from teachers in a less formal setting.

“It is miserable,” she said. “We are drained and we need a break.”

The School Department had been operating under a phase-in plan that had a limited number of students attending schools full-time. Students in high-risk categories started first in mid-September and about three weeks later children in kindergarten and grades one, six and nine – the youngest students in each building – began full-time in-person classes. Most students in the Career Technical Education program also attended two days a week.

The second phase, which would have added more grades in late October, was put on hold as infections started rising. Then the district reverted to fully-remote learning on Nov. 18 until at least Dec. 7. At the time about 1,500 students were attending in-person classes full-time with the remaining about 5,700 students learning remotely for six to nine weeks, Clark said.

“Given the current, consistent increased in transmission, we continue to be at a point in our city’s infection rate that requires all students to remain in the remote learning mode,” she said in a letter to parents. “Please note that this is a temporary closure and school buildings will reopen to students as soon as it is safe to do so.”

Clark repeatedly has said she feels in-person learning is superior to remote education and said she made the decision “with a heavy heart.”

Chicopee has been in the highest risk category for at least three weeks continues to see an increase in cases. On Tuesday there were 55 new infections, the largest number in a single day, and 610 active cases of COVID-19.

While the School Committee has debated the pros and cons of in-person classes during the pandemic, members unanimously agreed they opposed having students take the MCAS. Two members voted “definitely yes” to lobby state and federal officials.

Last week federal Education Secretary Betsy DeVos called on the National Center for Education Statistics to stop any further spending to prepare for the January exam given to high school students nationwide across the country and advised the test to be suspended to 2022. If that occurs before the end of the year it would not be an issue, but it is not confirmed yet, School Committee member Donald J. Lamothe said.

“This is the year they shouldn’t be forced to live up to the standards of a standardized test,” Committee member James Tanhauser Jr. said. “I personally don’t think any year the MCAS is that great of a tool but especially this year.”

Teachers are preparing to set up one-on-one tutoring and other interventions to give this year’s seniors intensive help to pass the exam, which they still must pass to graduate. Tanhauser and Lamothe said they feel it is unfair to bring students into the school for three hours to take an exam when they have not had the classwork to prepare.

Tim Wagner, a senior and the Student Council Advisory president, said he does not feel students are ready to take the MCAS and added scores on Advanced Placement tests students took in late spring were lower than they usually are.

“I don’t think it will be a successful outcome and I think you will see scores dropping significantly from last year and the previous year,” Wagner said.

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