"Motion" for School Committee to approve
Sample language to be presented to the School Committee
I move that the ______________________ School Committee vote to support Resolution #1: MCAS and High-Stakes Testing, which was approved by the delegates to the Massachusetts Association of School Committees by a vote of 112-9 with 2 abstentions at the MASC Annual Meeting on Nov. 7.
I further move that the superintendent of schools be instructed to inform Governor Charlie Baker, Education Secretary Jeffrey Riley and our state legislative delegation [NAME REPS AND SENATOR] of our position in favor of canceling the MCAS tests this year. The resolution reads as follows:
Resolution 1: MCAS and High-Stakes Testing (submitted by the MASC Board of Directors)
BE IT RESOLVED that MASC rejects the calls for the students of 2022 who missed their 10th-grade MCAS testing to be required to make it up in the 2020-2021 school year, or ever. We demand that those students be held harmless for not taking the MCAS and that their graduation requirements shall be determined by locally controlled voices of the School Committee and school administration within the remaining graduation requirements of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Additionally, we reiterate our call for a moratorium on all high-stakes testing for the 2020-2021 school year so all students can benefit from their time being focused on direct instruction — and we urge the Legislature to enact a moratorium on high- stakes testing for three years.