BREAKING: @MASchoolsK12 will postpone a special January administration of the MCAS exam for 11th graders who couldn't take the test — a graduation requirement — last spring.

DESE cites "scheduling and logistical challenges" as the reason for the move. More soon, #maedu!
The unsigned notice, seen below, was sent to superintendents just this afternoon.

Seniors seeking to earn their 'competency determination' may still elect to take the test between 1/14 and 2/12, and current tenth-graders are still slated to take the "next-gen" MCAS in May.
So this is not the wholesale test waiver that some have sought.

The school committee in Lynn, as well as Supt. @PatrickTutwiler, want to suspend the spring MCAS as well. They filed a petition to DESE to do just that last month; read @GaylaCawley: https://www.itemlive.com/2020/11/16/lynn-schools-look-to-suspend-mcas/
Lynn Schools look to suspend MCAS - Itemlive

LYNN — The Lynn School Committee is petitioning for the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to suspend MCAS testing this school year.  The School Committee unanimously approved a...

https://www.itemlive.com/2020/11/16/lynn-schools-look-to-suspend-mcas/
Meanwhile, @dunneteach and Patrick McQuillan called last month in @CommonWealthMag for a civics project instead of an additional MCAS test.

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/opinion/how-about-a-civics-project-instead-of-another-mcas-test/

We covered project-based assessment (albeit in earlier grades) back in 2018: https://www.wbur.org/edify/2018/06/22/beyond-mcas-performance-assessments
How 6 Mass. Communities Are Imagining Life Beyond MCAS

The communities are trying out new ways to evaluate student learning beyond the test. They hope tests will remain just as rigorous — and tell teachers and administrators more about how schools are...

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/opinion/how-about-a-civics-project-instead-of-another-mcas-test/
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