State drops push for federal aid for students failing MCAS
The Boston Globe
Michele Kurtz
March 29, 2003
State Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll said yesterday he has given up on his plea to federal officials to deem some students who finish high school without passing MCAS eligible for financial aid for college.
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''I think my interest in it has waned,'' Driscoll said. ''I think we're actually asking, in a way, for a relaxation of a standard. And that's a hard thing to fight for.''
Still, federal approval would have lent credibility to a credential created by Driscoll for students who fail MCAS but meet other graduation requirements. Driscoll had hoped the ''certificate of attainment,'' which districts can choose to award, would qualify them for financial aid for college.
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College financial aid for students who do not pass the exam, but meet other graduation standards, has been a nagging question in the MCAS debate. At a forum this week, Lawrence Schools Superintendent Wilfredo T. Laboy told educators and others with roles in public policy that he worries that ''the poorest and the neediest children'' will be barred from college because they can't get financial aid without a diploma. In his district, more than 40 percent of seniors have not passed MCAS.
Education officials have pledged that they will continue to help those students pass the exam, over the summer or beyond, in order to get their diplomas. Also, several community colleges intend to offer MCAS remediation courses that would be paid for by the state, not the student.
In his budget, Governor Mitt Romney has proposed an extra $3 million for MCAS remediation next year, and state education officials say they will use the money to fund such community college programs. Students who pass MCAS and earn diplomas could then be eligible for federal financial aid for college.
That does not address students without diplomas who may be accepted into private or out-of-state four-year colleges and don't have the money to attend, a number that MCAS supporters and opponents agree is probably small.
Meanwhile, students who pass a placement test could begin community college courses and be eligible for financial aid, thus sidestepping the diploma requirement. But some superintendents who have given the ''ability to benefit'' test to high school seniors who have not passed the MCAS say few made the grade on the college placement test.
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Higher-education officials estimate that 1,500 or more students without MCAS credentials intend to enroll in community college, based on a survey of students who took the last MCAS retest in December, said Patricia Plummer, deputy chancellor at the state Board of Higher Education. In the past, many of those same students would have received a diploma and gone to community college, higher-education officials said, but still would have needed remedial courses.
Plummer and other state education officials addressed this week the question of what will happen to seniors who fail MCAS.
During a panel discussion sponsored by the Center for Education Research & Policy at MassINC, a Boston research institute, education officials outlined the states' strategies for helping seniors who haven't passed the MCAS. Among the options, students can seek guidance from career centers throughout the state that will direct them to MCAS help, jobs, and other possibilities. But some are concerned that the plans are still in the early stages.
''Is it enough?'' Mark K. McQuillan, deputy commissioner of education, asked of the state's efforts. ''I think it is not. I think we need to do more and get better focused.''
