MCAS

Deb McCarthy was back inside her fifth grade classroom Tuesday after serving a two-day suspension — she said she’d been told to go home Friday and stay there Monday when she refused to administer the MCAS exam. McCarthy is being called a conscientious objector, one of at least 55 teachers, most of them in the Cambridge school system, who say…

A Hull teacher says she was suspended from her job because she refused to proctor the MCAS exam, which she and other teachers say shouldn’t be administered because of the COVID pandemic.

The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted Tuesday to eliminate MCAS graduation requirements for the class of 2022.

The MCAS exam was waived as a graduation requirement for current Massachusetts juniors.

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is due to vote Tuesday on whether or not to eliminate MCAS graduation requirements for the class of 2022.

A federal judge has upheld a temporary admissions policy at Boston’s elite exam high schools, ruling against a parents group that said in a lawsuit it discriminated against white and Asian students. “This court finds and rules that the plan is race-neutral, and that neither the factors used nor the goal of greater diversity qualify as a racial classification,”...

A federal judge has just ruled in favor of the Boston School Committee’s plan governing admission to the city’s three exam schools.

This year’s 11th graders would not be required to take the state’s MCAS assessment under a plan Education Commissioner Jeff Riley expects to present to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education for approval. Riley announced Thursday that he intends to recommend changes to the graduation requirements for the class of 2022 that would modify the competency determination for...

Massachusetts education officials on Friday updated their planned MCAS testing schedule, pushing back exam dates for students in grades three through eight. An email the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education sent to superintendents shortly before noon informed them of a May 10 to June 11 testing window for students in grades three through five, with dates to be determined…

Boston Public Schools’ new admissions plan that changes the way its top exam schools will accept students this year is receiving a challenge in court from a parent group. The one-year plan, passed unanimously by the Boston School Committee on Oct. 22 in response to challenges presented by the coronavirus pandemic, removes the requirement for applicants to complete an admissions…

A collection of education and civil rights groups wrote to state lawmakers on Wednesday, saying they are “absolutely convinced” the state should not administer its MCAS exams this year. Citizens for Public Schools and 17 other organizations urged legislators and state education officials to seek a federal waiver that would allow them to cancel the tests this spring, as Massachusetts…

The MCAS may not be a productive use of time during the pandemic, possibly causing more harm than good, according to critics.

This year’s MCAS exams will feature “significantly” reduced testing time for third through eighth graders, and no schools will be newly named underperforming in the upcoming school year, Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeff Riley told superintendents in a memo Tuesday. “The sudden shift to remote learning last spring, and the continuation of hybrid/remote learning this school year has...

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker and his top education advisors urged schools Tuesday not to overreact to the rise in COVID-19 cases this fall, telling even those districts in communities deemed to be at the highest risk for transmission of the virus to stick with in-person learning unless there is evidence of spread within the school system. Education Secretary Jim Peyser…

Massachusetts students should expect to take their MCAS exams next spring, Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeff Riley said Tuesday. In spring of this year, after schools were abruptly forced to transition to remote learning as COVID-19 cases mounted, state officials suspended the MCAS testing requirement for 2020. A federal decision allowing states to cancel tests if they filed waiver…

A proposed bill is working its way through Beacon Hill in an effort to put the MCAS graduation requirement for students on hold.

A graduation requirement for high school seniors could be put on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic if a bill is passed on Beacon Hill. The Joint Committee on Education will accept written testimony on a bill that would keep schools from using the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, also known as “MCAS” tests, as a condition for students in order…

The Joint Committee on Education will accept written testimony on a bill that would keep schools from using the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, also known as “MCAS” tests, as a graduation requirement amid the coronavirus pandemic.

High school sophomores, who missed their first chance to take the English and math MCAS exams this spring, will likely be given the tests this winter, as 11th graders, under a plan to be discussed at a Board of Elementary and Secondary Education meeting Tuesday. In a memo to board members, Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley said administering the 10th grade…

The state will release guidance to school districts for a potential fall reopening, to allow outdoor graduations in July and MCAS tests could be postponed until next winter.