Re: MCAS

[Raymond Larrabee <rlarrabee@MEDIAONE.NET>]

Please join Gerald Bracey and I by writing a letter to the Boston Globe
about today's hot topic here in Massachusetts: the new, disappointing
(what a surprise!) MCAS results. Go to www.bostonglobe.com and read all
about it. For those of you who write a letter, thanks so much from the
parents, the educators, and especially the school children of
Massachusetts.
ally

Gerald W. Bracey wrote:

>   The following letter was sent to the Boston Globe: Editor: Try
> thinking about these two education outcomes
> simultaneously: Massachusetts students perform dismally on the
> MCAS. Massachusetts students perform quite well when compared to
> students in 41 nations. These two statements don't fit together very
> well, do they?  Yet both are true. Under contract from the U. S.
> Department of Education, Educational Testing Service put the results
> of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) on
> the same scale as our domestic National Assessment of Educational
> Progress.  For Massachusetts, the results look like this:  Eight of
> the 41 participating countries had significantly higher scores than
> Massachusetts in mathematics; only one of 41 outscored Massachusetts
> in science. Off hand, citizens of Massachusetts, I'd say there is
> something wrong with MCAS, not your kids.