MCAS. The word triggers flashbacks to yellow #2 pencils, rows of Jolly Ranchers, extremely specific instructions about bubbling in your answers (remember: no stray marks!), and entire days filled with the grueling task of making your school look good. There is not a single student in Massachusetts who doesn’t internally groan whenever someone mentions the upcoming standardized test session. However, the sophomores who just took the English section may be a little angrier than they were most years – and for good reason.
As a sophomore who likes to write, even I must say that the prompts given were at best, slightly boring, and at worst, torturous. Four 5000-character essays in two days! Not to mention that they were based on a total of eight excerpts, some of which were written in the 19th century. However, this is honestly old news to any student who has ever taken the test. We take the test, as mind-numbingly boring as it is, and move on. But not this year! Guess what? Two (yes, two!) of the essays we had to write were invalidated! Half of the work and torture we were put through now means nothing, nada, goose-egg! The reasons behind this make the situation even worse.
The first essay that was on the chopping block used an excerpt that had already been distributed to our grade a few years back while PARCC was being used. To be honest, I had a feeling of deja-vu while writing about it, so I saw it coming. But the question that must be asked is: how in the world did the test makers not realize they had already given that essay out? They could have chosen from literally thousands of articles and excerpts, and they picked one that had already been used. I have no words.
The second essay ended up getting thrown out because it was racist. I’m not even kidding. We had to write a journal entry from the perspective of a woman who was hiding a slave. The excerpt depicted the woman as disgusted and hateful towards the runaway slave, which could easily be interpreted as racism. This is not uncommon in books about the Underground Railroad, but then having a student write an entry from the view of said racist woman raises a few problems. The question was tested out last year among different students and there were no problems detected, but when the test was distributed to the masses, some students voiced their concerns.
The MCAS officials have already put out apologies and reassured student and teachers alike that they really did not mean to do any of this. I’m sure that they are telling the truth (what would they gain from doing this anyways), but I’m even more sure that all of the sophomores are bitter about writing two essays for no reason. All I can say is that we had better all pass with flying colors.