policy

The campaign to eliminate the state's MCAS standardized test as a requirement for prime school graduation officially launched Thursday.

Organizers announced a vote count date for later this month and released internal polls showing that a majority of voters already support their initiative.

The ballot query, sponsored by the Massachusetts Teachers Association, will go to voters in lower than 90 days. The “Yes to 2The Committee for High Standards Not High Stakes' “High Standards Not High Stakes” campaign comes a week after the business-backed opposition launched its $250,000 advertising campaign.

Question 2 is one of five ballot questions on the ballot in Massachusetts in November. It would eliminate the requirement to pass the MCAS exams in English, math and science to graduate from high school. The MTA and other supporters say that requirement disproportionately disadvantages low-income and English-language learner students, while state officials say it maintains a state standard.

The campaign started Social Media The union set August 17 as the start date for its vote-seeking campaign.

Jeron Mariani, the campaign's general counsel, announced her “early lead” in a campaign email, according to a July poll of 700 voters conducted by research firm Lake Research Partners.

The poll found that 55 percent of voters are already in favor of replacing the MCAS graduation requirement without any background information.

MTA Vice President Deb McCarthy said the ballot question would replace graduation requirements with “multiple forms of assessment such as grade point average, course work and teacher feedback.”

“This is a way to ensure that schools and teachers are accountable to all students and communities, not just test scores,” McCarthy said in a statement. If the vote passes, students would still be required to take the MCAS test in 10th grade, but their graduation would not be contingent on it.

The group's poll also found that 48 percent of voters oppose the test and half of voters “have no confidence in the ability of standardized tests to measure students' preparation for success after graduation,” Mariani said.

“For further confirmation of this, we need only look at the latest opposition campaign ad: Not once is MCAS mentioned, nor the word 'standardized testing,'” Mariani said.

The opposition promotes “higher standards”

The announcement of the “Yes on 2” campaign marks the start of a costly campaign for each side of standardized testing in Massachusetts. considered one of the few states This still requires a final examination.

The group Protect our youngsters's future: Vote No 2 posted two 30-second spots on YouTube last month with the message that higher standards result in greater success, as a part of a $250,000 promoting campaign. The campaign against the ballot query is funded partially by wealthy businessmen resembling Raymond Stat and Paul Sagan, the former chairman of the State Committee for Primary and Secondary Education.

The MTA has According to reports have invested $1 million of their campaign efforts to date.

Michelle Willis, the mother of a New Bedford High School student, said in a campaign statement that her son should graduate with “more than just a test score.”

“A standardized test cannot fully measure my child's or other students' level of learning and chances for success,” Willis said. “To give this test so much more influence on a student's future than their courses, their grade point average and teacher evaluations is just not OK with me.”

BRENTWOOD – The City Council decided Tuesday night that it needs more time to debate requiring local media to follow a certain code of ethics with a view to receive promoting or press releases.

The decision followed a debate concerning the First Amendment and her portrayal within the media, and a outstanding free speech organization warned her of possible legal consequences.

The agenda item discussed Tuesday night was a plan to “require media outlets where the city spends money on advertising or distributes the city's press releases to adhere to the Society of Professional Journalists' code of ethics.” However, a letter from the Society of Professional Journalists and the First Amendment Coalition said doing so would violate the Constitution.

“We want to inform you that your proposal to discriminate against news outlets is unconstitutional, no matter how well-intentioned,” the letter states. “Given the protections of the First Amendment, we expect the city to take no action on this proposal.”

The proposal in query was recommend by Brentwood Vice Mayor Susannah Meyer and Councilwoman Jovita Mendoza at a gathering on June 25, partly as a consequence of an argument in neighboring San Joaquin County. Last month, a grand jury there warned concerning the spread of misinformation by an area blogger who used his platform to “continually intimidate city employees and elected officials.” Both Meyer and Mendoza referenced that report of their transient discussion.

Mendoza and Meyer didn’t reply to requests for comment before the meeting.

The proposal also said that local media should publicly declare that they follow the SPJ's code of ethics.

David Loy, legal director of the First Amendment Coalition, said in an interview that each proposals involved litmus tests that the Supreme Court had flatly rejected.

“It's clear that they are using the power of public finance to retaliate against publications that don't do what they think they should do. This is a blatant attack on press freedom,” Loy said. “They would withhold advertising revenue from organizations that don't follow the government's required practices… the city cannot use this as leverage to force publications to do what the government wants.”

FAC and SPJ haven’t yet threatened legal motion against Brentwood, but have recently shown a willingness to take legal motion against local authorities. Earlier this month, each organizations filed a federal lawsuit against Alameda County for passing an ordinance that prohibits people from watching sideshows, arguing that the law could possibly be used to stop journalists from covering them.

After releasing public comments and debate on the problem, the Brentwood City Council decided that a subcommittee should further discuss the problem before making a choice.

Check back later for updates. The Brentwood City Council meeting live stream will be viewed below:

Originally published: July 23, 2024 at 18:06