Thursday, July 15, 2010

Grading the MCAS-Alt on a Scale

In the State of Massachusetts, children are subjected to the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) in accordance with federal No Child Left Behind mandates. Assuming that the MCAS tests are state of the art student evaluations, then by it's formulation, which includes exceptions to the rule, the MCAS already accepts that notion that standardized tests cannot adequately evaluate the entire spectrum of pupils. Within the MCAS specification is method for the evaluation of the profoundly disabled student known as the MCAS-Alt. My proposal is that if the bottom of the curve deserves a special method of evaluation, perhaps the top of the curve does as well. I would propose a specification called the MCAS-exception which allows educators to nominate exceptional or gifted children who may not adapt well to standard test environments to be tested according to a more subjective guideline and to provide a method by which students and their parents could apply for this more subjective form of evaluation within the standardized testing framework. Perhaps in "Race To The Top, Part Deux"?

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