Driscoll against raising MCAS bar

Despite pressures from business leaders to set higher standards, state Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll expressed reluctance yesterday to raise the MCAS score that high school students need to graduate, saying that such a move could result in thousands of special-education students failing.

Currently, students need only to attain a score of ''needs improvement" to pass the test, but some state education board members and corporate leaders want only those who score ''proficient" to be able to graduate.

But Driscoll said the current passing score is reasonable because ''it's attainable and achievable by a lot of kids." He did not address the possibility that if the passing score were raised, many more minority students, particularly African Americans and Latinos, would also fail to graduate.

James A. Peyser, chairman of the board, said he is concerned about the state's standards. The federal No Child Left Behind Act requires students, including special education and minority-group students, to meet ''academic proficiency," as defined by individual states, by 2014.

''We're not there yet, and I'm not sure we're developing the kind of momentum that can get us to that point," Peyser said.

Many students who pass the English and math of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System still require remedial courses in those subjects once they're in college, Peyser said. The current standard requires students only to perform at the eighth-grade level, he said.

Driscoll said he agrees that students need to be better prepared, but said he hopes that can be achieved through encouragement and prodding by teachers, parents, and community members, rather than a state-mandated change in the passing score.

Driscoll is expected to make a recommendation to the board on the issue, but it's not clear when he will do so. He said he would consider raising the bar if it appears the only option.

''I would much prefer people took it upon themselves to recognize how important proficiency is," Driscoll said. ''But unfortunately, reform seems to be about sticks, not carrots."

A perfect score on the MCAS is 280. Currently, students can graduate with a score of 220, which requires only a partial understanding of each subject. A proficient score is 240. A group of business leaders and school superintendents wants the state to gradually raise the passing score by 20 points by 2014. Board member Roberta Schaefer suggested ratcheting up the passing score by two points each year over the next nine years.

Also yesterday, the Board of Education considered adding science as an MCAS subject that students must pass to graduate, along with English and math.

Under a tentative plan, students in the class of 2010 would need to pass one of four science tests; they could choose physics, biology, chemistry, or technology/engineering. The proposed timeline falls one year behind the state's original goal of making science proficiency a graduation requirement by 2009, Driscoll said, because the state needs more time to define standards.