The battle over the MCAS ballot question continued to heat up, with a new ad campaign joining the legions flooding televisions and the Boston mayor chiming in with her stance on the issue.
“Massachusetts students attend the best-ranked schools,” argues a new television ad from the opposition group Protect Our Kids’ Future: No on Question 2. “But Question 2 will gut our education system and leave us with lower standards than Mississippi and Alabama.”
The MCAS ballot question would nix the state’s standardized testing graduation requirement for high school students, replacing it with criteria determined by local districts informed by state standards. Students would continue to take the test as an assessment tool.
The No on Question 2 group bought a 30-second and 15-second ad, including a featured parent speaking arguing the effort would “weaken” high standards for her kids.
The latest two ads by supporters of the MCAS graduation requirement follows a similar 30-second ad released in support of the question Tuesday by the Committee for High Standards Not High Stakes, largely led by the Massachusetts Teachers Association.
“We all want to maintain our school’s high standards, and we all agree a single standardized test shouldn’t keep a student from graduating,” state several speakers, including teachers, parents and a pediatrician featured in the ad. “Question 2 replaces the high stakes, high stress MCAS and allows teachers to work with each learner using grades and assessments to measure who’s prepared to succeed after graduation.”
A Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll released Tuesday showed 58% of surveyed Massachusetts voters said they would vote in favor nixing the MCAS graduation requirement, while 37% said they would vote no.
Both sides have highlighted a range of endorsements in recent weeks.
MCAS supporters touted the endorsement of the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts and The Alliance for Business Leadership on Monday. They noted Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey and Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler, among other state leaders, favor the MCAS requirement.
Meanwhile, those in favor of Question 2 boasted the endorsement of Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Ayanna Pressley the week before, along with a group of local business leaders and State Auditor Diana DiZoglio.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu chimed in on a live WGBH segment Tuesday, saying she is “torn” and will not take a public position on the question.
Wu noted the importance of “high standards and clear standards for our education system” but said “tests should not be used in a high-stakes way, especially in a one-size-fits-all mechanism.” She expressed concern with doing away with the test through this ballot measure, adding that “more nuance or more language” could be worked in through a legislative process.
“There are elements that I think are important around the need to reflect the diversity within our learning communities and the negative consequences that can happen when a one-size-fits-all standard can be applied,” Wu said. “But I’m not comfortable with the alternative that this puts in place in terms of what would replace that to maintain high standards.”
Massachusetts voters will see Question 2 on the ballot for the Nov. 5 general election.
