Subject: Math
Grade Level(s): 3 – 12
Measures Growth: No
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The Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System is the Massachusetts state developed end-of-year assessment battery for grades 3-12, including tests for ELA, math, science and technology, and social studies. Math is measured at all grade levels. The test includes multiple choice, open response and written composition components. In order to receive a high school diploma, students must pass the grade 10 ELA and math exams, and one of four high school science and technology engineering exams.
Pros: Aligned to the standards I teach • Takes students a reasonable amount of time to complete
Cons: Does not assess higher-order thinking • Misses growth of some students, such as those far below and/or far above grade level
Pros: Easy to administer • Data is presented clearly
Cons: Results are not returned quickly • Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time • Is not helpful to my professional growth as a teacher
Difficult to assess underperforming students and not helpful in providing a picture of a student.
Submitted by Marlena in Massachusetts on May 21, 2013
Pros: Aligned to the standards I teach • Assesses higher-order thinking
Cons: Misses growth of some students, such as those far below and/or far above grade level • Takes students too long to complete
Pros: Easy to administer
Cons: Results are not returned quickly • Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time • It is hard to use the data • Is not helpful to my professional growth as a teacher
I do not currently teach math but in the two years that I did I found the 8th grade Math MCAS not at all useful. First, I work with a population that struggles academically and linguistically, many coming from foreign countries where their primary language is not English. The Math MCAS uses far too many word problems, leaving non-English speakers who otherwise have math skills unable to be successful on the test because they do not understand the questions themselves.
Further, as with every other middle grade MCAS, results are returned during the following school year leaving no opportunity for the current teacher to reflect on results with his/her students, nor any convenient chance for teachers to use the test to consider and improve on their own practice.
Finally, results are not broken down in enough of a summary fashion, leaving the onus on the teacher to take the time to review student results and determine areas of strength and weakness - there are too many responsibilities attached to teaching to reasonably expect teachers to spend time reviewing the details of a long test.
Submitted by Laura in Massachusetts on April 24, 2013
Pros: Aligned to the standards I teach
Cons: Does not assess higher-order thinking • Misses growth of some students, such as those far below and/or far above grade level • Takes students too long to complete
Pros: Easy to administer
Cons: Results are not returned quickly • Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time • Is not helpful to my professional growth as a teacher
The MCAS takes up so much time on learning and does not recognize varied ways of displaying knowledge. We take our SPED students and make them take the test. Is that the best use of their time? Our struggling students who would benefit from the electives we offer to give them real life skills, but they cannot take them because they need to take an MCAS remediation class so they will pass the test. :(
Submitted by Matt in Massachusetts on April 23, 2013
Pros: Aligned to the standards I teach • Assesses higher-order thinking
Cons: Misses growth of some students, such as those far below and/or far above grade level • Takes students too long to complete
Pros: Easy to administer • Data I receive helps me understand where I am teaching well and where I need to improve
Cons: Results are not returned quickly • Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time • It is hard to use the data
This test is not effective in measuring the skills of students with learning disabilities. Students on IEP's (who do not participate in the alternate assessment) take the same math test as students who are considered advanced. These students often struggle with reading as well as math. Most questions on the math MCAS require students to read for specific information in order to solve questions. These questions are often needlessly wordy, confusing, and poorly written. There's got to be a better way to assess the skills of all student.
Submitted by Joan in Massachusetts on April 22, 2013
Pros: Aligned to the standards I teach • Assesses higher-order thinking
Cons: Misses growth of some students, such as those far below and/or far above grade level • Takes students too long to complete
Pros: Easy to administer • Data I receive helps me understand where I am teaching well and where I need to improve
Cons: Results are not returned quickly • Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time • It is hard to use the data
This test is not effective in measuring the skills of students with learning disabilities. Students on IEP's (who do not participate in the alternate assessment) take the same math test as students who are considered advanced. These students often struggle with reading as well as math. Most questions on the math MCAS require students to read for specific information in order to solve questions. These questions are often needlessly wordy, confusing, and poorly written. There's got to be a better way to assess the skills of all student.
Submitted by Joan in Massachusetts on April 22, 2013
Pros: Assesses a range of students, including those from far below to far above grade level • Takes students a reasonable amount of time to complete
Cons: Does not assess higher-order thinking
Cons: Difficult to administer • Results are not returned quickly • Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time • It is hard to use the data • Is not helpful to my professional growth as a teacher
not a useful assessment and takes away classtime.
Submitted by david in Massachusetts on April 19, 2013
Cons: Not aligned to the standards I teach • Does not assess higher-order thinking • Misses growth of some students, such as those far below and/or far above grade level • Takes students too long to complete
Cons: Difficult to administer • Results are not returned quickly • Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time • It is hard to use the data • Is not helpful to my professional growth as a teacher
Teachers have to stop teaching to the test
Submitted by S. in Massachusetts on April 18, 2013
Pros: Takes students a reasonable amount of time to complete
Cons: Does not assess higher-order thinking • Misses growth of some students, such as those far below and/or far above grade level
Pros: Easy to administer
Cons: Results are not returned quickly
Well, I guess that I haven't gotten off my pedestal yet. Not to take up more space, but, and this is absolutely NOT a slam against elementary school teachers who are working as hard as they can, but they are in the same boat as all the other teachers. We really are teaching to the test so something has to go. Our elementary students no longer learn cursive nor do they have mastery of their multiplication facts, which makes fractions almost impossible and later on affects their ability to do Algebra. The teachers at the upper grades have to print everything and most students, even in high school rely on their calculators.
I require that all of my students write their names in cursive on their papers and not without a considerable amount of discussion. We spend time at the beginning of the school year learning our multiplication facts and calculators are rarely used. These are my special education high school students, some of whom have passed all three of the required MCAS tests.
We are really short-changing the adults of our future.
Submitted by Sharon in Massachusetts on April 18, 2013
Pros: Aligned to the standards I teach • Takes students a reasonable amount of time to complete
Cons: Does not assess higher-order thinking • Misses growth of some students, such as those far below and/or far above grade level
Cons: Results are not returned quickly • Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time • Is not helpful to my professional growth as a teacher
I have been a teacher for 16 years, primarily at the middle school level and currently at the high school. While I think that we need some kind of assessment to assess progress, I believe that the MCAS is geared more towards students who will be attending college. As we all know, not all students attend college after high school (Hello, Bell Curve?). We are so entrenched in the idea that everyone should attend college that we are leaving behind a population of children who are not going to college, are more hands-on but are not getting the services and education in high school they need in order to become independent, functional young adults who will be able to take care of themselves. Many of our young male students go on to a tech school where they learn skills allowing them to work on cars. Why do they need Trig? Why don't we teach them Life-skills math so they can balance their checkbooks, reconcile their credit card statements, read basic legal documents, etc. Things that they will actually be able to use.
The teachers do not get the results of the MCAS. Those results go to the department heads and administration. Those of us who teach remedial classes in science specifically addressed to help students pass the test are occasionally told which students have passed and which have not. Because teachers (who are very rarely included in the "need to know" category in almost all situations) are not given any information about the test (they are 'confidential'), we have no way to know what areas need to be addressed. Last year I worked with a science teacher who got the results from his department head, took the time to analyze the results of the failing students and realized they were not answering the open-response or short essay questions. When we discussed this with the students. First we told them that most of them had been 2 points shy of passing. Then told them that if they had even made an attempt to answer any open-response or short-essay question, they would have most likely have passed. We asked them why they didn't even try and almost all of the students replied that it would have taken too much time or they just didn't know what to write.
As a special education teacher, I have more immediate concerns. My students function below grade-level in most areas. Many of my special education students are allowed to use accommodations in the classroom that are not allowed on the MCAS. According to the MA DOE, if a student can add 2+2, then they can't use a calculator on the non-calculator part of the test. I do not allow them the use of a calculator in class because I tell them that they will come to the part of the test when they will not be allowed to use their calculators and I don't want them to stare blankly at the pages in shock. If a student can decode on a first grade level, then they can't have someone read the test to them, even though reading might be their area of weakness and comprehension.
Unless I am absolutely out of the ballpark, the students who participate in the MCAS-Alt rarely pass. For the better part of the year, teachers keep samples of student's work which address the standards. Then the teachers spend a week or so to put together a portfolio that is supposed to be reflective of the student's ability and send it out. Having put one or two of them together, my opinion is that the DOE is assessing the teacher's skill in putting together the portfolio.
Thank you all for reading this. I will do every one a favor now, jump off my pedestal on to my high horse and ride off into the sunset before I get started on the PARCC test.
Submitted by Sharon in Massachusetts on April 18, 2013
Cons: Takes students too long to complete
Cons: Difficult to administer • Results are not returned quickly • Is not helpful to my professional growth as a teacher
I treasure classroom time with my students. The MCAS (not just Math) robs us of valuable class time.
I like the quote I heard about standardized testing "You don't fatten a pig by repeatedly weighing it."
Submitted by john in Massachusetts on April 9, 2013
Pros: Aligned to the standards I teach • Takes students a reasonable amount of time to complete
Cons: Does not assess higher-order thinking • Misses growth of some students, such as those far below and/or far above grade level
Pros: Easy to administer • Results returned quickly
Cons: Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time • It is hard to use the data • Is not helpful to my professional growth as a teacher
Like all standarized tests with multiple choice problems, the MCAS is more of a test of students' ability to take tests then it is a test of student knowledge. The math MCAS does test some of a student's knowledge about math but it is mostly superficial and factual. The math MCAS does not test a student's problem solving skills, which is what is left over after a student graduates high school and forgets most of the math that they learned. The MCAS is based on the idea that students learn math by memorizing algorithms and then do lots of problems. Students need to have a strong conceptual understanding with knowledge about how a topic applies to real-life and how it connects to other topics to fully learn something. Unfortunately, that almost impossible to evaluate in a standarized test.
Submitted by Ross in Massachusetts on April 5, 2012
Pros: Aligned to the standards I teach
Cons: Does not assess higher-order thinking • Takes students too long to complete
Cons: Difficult to administer • Results are not returned quickly • Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time • It is hard to use the data • Is not helpful to my professional growth as a teacher
Once a year and results are not available until the next school year...no way to use to adjust instruction except from year to year.
Submitted by Bruce in Massachusetts on April 5, 2012
Pros: Aligned to the standards I teach • Takes students a reasonable amount of time to complete
Cons: Does not assess higher-order thinking • Misses growth of some students, such as those far below and/or far above grade level
Pros: Easy to administer
Cons: Results are not returned quickly • Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time • It is hard to use the data • Is not helpful to my professional growth as a teacher
Data on student performance not returned in real time. I wish it were all short answer and open response.
Submitted by Adam in Massachusetts on April 5, 2012
Pros: Aligned to the standards I teach • Assesses higher-order thinking
Cons: Misses growth of some students, such as those far below and/or far above grade level
Pros: Data is presented clearly
Cons: Results are not returned quickly • Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time • Is not helpful to my professional growth as a teacher
The MCAS math test is a well written test. Questions go through a three year cycle before they are put on the tests. Teachers get a chance to review, change, edit, and delete questions and decide whether questions match the standards. That being said, the stakes on the test are very high, and it doesn't give a complete picture of what a student has accomplished or what a student has learned over the year. For example, a student may have struggled with counting and place value within operations and through the year made excellent progress. However, they still might not be ready to tackle the number sense content of the grade level test. In addition, it is very difficult to test the complex ideas of mathematics. So, you don't get the big picture of how students are thinking about mathematics. This is what the teacher needs to know in order to truly teach to the needs of his/her students. Finally, there are some concepts in mathematics that just take memorization, and because each question carries so much weight for the student's score and the school's AYP it seems silly to have a question that requires remembering a definition of parallel lines carry the same weight as a complex questions that requires higher level processing.
Submitted by Lee in Massachusetts on February 21, 2012
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