Advertisement

After Backlash, State Scraps Controversial MCAS Question

07:59
Download Audio
Resume
Brighton High School. (Wikimedia Commons)
Brighton High School. (Wikimedia Commons)

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is pulling a controversial question from its state standardized test.

The move comes after students, parents, and advocacy groups said this year's MCAS 10th grade exam contained a prompt asking students to write from the point of view of a racist character from author Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, "The Underground Railroad."

The department has not released the text of the question — but in a response to WBUR said "after excluding this item, the test is sound, valid and reliable in terms of assessing students’ performance in English language arts."

Guest

Jack Schneider, assistant professor of education at UMass Lowell, and director of research for the Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education Assessment. He tweets @Edu_Historian.

This article was originally published on April 04, 2019.

This segment aired on April 4, 2019.

Related:

Headshot of Deborah Becker

Deborah Becker Host/Reporter
Deborah Becker is a senior correspondent and host at WBUR. Her reporting focuses on mental health, criminal justice and education.

More…

Headshot of Walter Wuthmann

Walter Wuthmann State Politics Reporter
Walter Wuthmann is a state politics reporter for WBUR.

More…

Advertisement

More from Radio Boston

Listen Live
Close