Opting out: better late than never

 

When my middle daughter took her first MCAS (the Mass. state test for kids grades 3-8 and 10th) she came home and announced that MCAS stands for "Murder Children at School". When she had to take a science MCAS last year, based on science she had done almost 2 years previous to that, she cried as soon as she walked in the front door, saying that she felt so stupid. 

When my son took his first MCAS 5 years ago, he became so anxious that it affected all around him. I tried to soften the MCAS days by waking up early to make him a special breakfast, not realizing that I was setting a precedent for him and my other 2 children. 

Last year my youngest took her first MCAS and she got as anxious as my son when he did his first in 3rd grade. 

My husband and I reassured the kids that the MCAS doesn't count towards their grades, that they shouldn't worry so much and try to do their best, etc. But the MCAS times continued to be stressful and anxiety-producing for all. My kids are smart and are not bad at test-taking; my youngest got an advanced on her ELA the first time, and my middle daughter got advanced in math, as my did my son. However, the reality was that this time of year they were almost unable to function on anything else, they were so nervous, exhausted, stressed, and not enjoying school or learning. 

That's why this year we decided to opt them out of MCAS. It started when when my son came to me a few months ago and announced, "I'm not taking MCAS this year." He prompted me to go back to research I had looked up last year about opting out when a friend opted her children out. We discussed his reasons, discussed it with our daughters, and decided to write the letters. Legally, there aren't supposed to be repercussions. The principals of our kids' schools received our emails, didn't question us, and responded promptly. 

When I tell people we opted out, the reaction is usually: "You can do that?". Yes - you can. It's actually not complicated at all. It simply requires writing a letter/email to the principal stating that your child will be in school, but will not participate in MCAS, and that they should be engaged in another educational activity during testing time. 

I am relieved beyond words for my kids. They are not overly anxious and losing sleep over a test. They are enjoying the parts of school that everyone should enjoy if they can: reading, learning for the sake of learning, satisfying their curiosity. 
They don't hate the months of March and May anymore. 

As an ELL teacher, every year I have students who have been here a year or over who have to take the ELA MCAS. All my ELL students, regardless of when they arrived, have to take the math (math and science for 8th graders). They have their bilingual dictionaries with them, but these are more often than not inadequate. Sometimes they don't have enough vocabulary, and often they don't have the right kind of vocabulary. For example, words such as "reduce", "product" and "expand" will have a different meaning in the language of math than in every day English. Often, the "math definition" will not be found in the bilingual dictionary. 

ELL students who are excellent at math, but are still learning English, may not know how to answer math questions on MCAS because there is so much language involved in figuring out math problems now. This is frustrating and even humiliating sometimes for ELL students who have always excelled in math. This website outlines the problems and states that we are all "MLLs" or "Math Language Learners", because it really is another language: http://www.sedl.org/presentations/0001/the-trouble-with-math-is-english.pdf

In the school where my husband teaches, almost 70% of students are Latino and more than half come from families where English is not spoken at home. More than 33% of students are chronically absent (www.doe.mass.edu). Many students of my husband's come from families who have experienced trauma, violence, and abuse. Often, children did not attend preschool, and already found themselves behind their peers in other school districts. And yet, the school these students attend, the students themselves, and the teachers, are all judged based on MCAS scores. Where is the standardized assessment that will judge our policy makers? 

On behalf of all the students whose anxiety makes them unable to function, the students who are smart and capable but don't test well, the students and parents who don't know that opting out is an option, and all the instructional time lost to a test, we are opting out. Better late than never.