MCAS Testing Day: Boston Students Organize Walkout

BOSTON — Students at a high school in Boston are planning to boycott the standardized Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System test this week after learning that school officials want to raise the minimum scores needed to graduate.

At 10 a.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, students at the Snowden International School near Copley in Boston are planning to protest by walking out of the school and refusing to take the MCAS.

Later this month, school officials are expected to cast a vote on graduation requirements that adhere to a minimum when it comes to testing scores for the MCAS.

Student organizers of the walkout are asking other students to refuse the test, and instead, walk out and head to the front steps of the Boston Public Library. They plan to offer samples of the tests to anyone walking by and participate in live physics experiments.

The MCAS has been a controversial topic for schools across the Bay State for the past few years, especially when mixed in with a global pandemic shutdown. Last year, 53 teachers refused to administer the tests to their students citing "unnecessary stress" and "undue harm."

Test scores also fell dramatically across Massachusetts during the last few years, as state education officials said results showed that "many more students had gaps in their knowledge of math and, to a lesser extent, English language arts" in 2021 compared to scores from 2019, since the test was skipped in 2020 as students adjusted to remote learning.