Teachers union takes anti-MCAS message to the airwaves

BOSTON (SHNS) – The campaign behind the effort to decouple statewide standardized testing from high school diplomas is rolling out its first widespread ad campaign — with a promise of “paid advertising efforts, which are anticipated to include 8-figure buys spanning broadcast and digital media.”

The Massachusetts Teachers Association and American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts are backing an initiative petition — Question 2 on this November’s ballot — to eliminate the use of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, or MCAS, as a graduation requirement for all public high school students. The unions say the test takes away from classroom time, overly stresses students, and prevents about 700 students every year from graduating.

The union-backed “Yes on 2” campaign, which named itself the Committee for High Standards Not High Stakes, released its first advertisement Tuesday pairing video of students, teachers and families with audio of calls to replace the MCAS graduation requirement with a different set of standards.

“Question 2 maintains our high state standards by replacing the high stakes MCAS graduation requirement, which only shows who’s good at taking tests, not who’s prepared to succeed after graduation. A yes on Question 2 means no more teaching to the test so teachers can focus on how individual students learn, assessing grades, papers and participation to help develop critical thinking and creativity,” the ad says.

The 30 second spot cost the committee $250,000 to air on platforms across the state — the same amount the opposition campaign spent on a set of two ads last month featuring a parent and a teacher who want to keep the graduation requirement intact.

Opponents of the ballot question say it would deplete the value of a Massachusetts diploma, and create an environment where districts would have different standards, potentially furthering the divide between high- and low-income districts, and higher and lower performing students.

Under Question 2, students would still take the statewide exams throughout their school careers, but the test taken in 10th grade would not be used as a requirement to graduate high school. Instead, individual districts would come up with their own standards for graduation.

“We have 180 of our own members who have spent 6 weeks or so making over 100,000 calls, knocking on 70,000 doors,” MTA President Max Page said earlier this month. “We’re getting a great response from people. We have a growing group of parents active in this effort. We’ve already gotten going in July and August, but campaigns really get started after Labor Day.”

The campaign press release announcing the ad says it kicks off advertising efforts leading up to November’s election, which are anticipated to top eight figures across broadcast and digital media buys.

“We’ve been working hard for years on this, we just decided that we need to get our message out to the people,” Page said. “We’re confident. That confidence comes partly from the 170,000 signatures we were able to gather, which is remarkable. This really hits home for a lot of parents and community members.”

The opposition campaign hit the airwaves in July with the slogan “Protect Our Kids’ Future.”

One of the opposition ads featured James Conway, a history teacher at Revere High School and member of the MTA.

“I’m still an MTA member. I support the MTA and other campaigns. I just think they got this one wrong,” Conway said last month in an interview. “I think it’s good to have teachers up there saying we need these standards and we need this requirement. I think that may sway some voters who see the MTA staff and just assume all teachers agree with it.”

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WWLP.