Allegations have been dismissed that Revere’s MCAS test scores are the result of fudging the scores rather than being a true measure of what children are achieving here.
We agree with the School Department analysis debunking the Atlanta Journal Constitution story that revealed a long-term investigation report that found 196 school districts reporting MCAS scores that had alleged suspicious patterns in testing results.
Revere was named in that list.
Had the Constitution looked a bit deeper, thei reporters would have discovered that in Revere, MCAS scores have been significantly raised without being artificially altered in any way.
This has come about only after years of hard work and smart work throughout the public school system intended to raise the scores as well as the reputation of the school system itself.
Cheating was apparently one of the Constitution’s main concerns in its study which focused mainly in taking a closer look at the integrity of school testing.
Superintendent of Schools Paul Dakin was amazed by the assertions. “How do you cheat (on the MCAS test) he asked?â€
His wonder about the case made by the newspaper was intensified because Revere has won numerous state and national awards over the last 8 years for raised MCAS scores and for gains made all around inside the school system.
State officials said no investigation is going to follow the newspaper report.
State officials said there were aware of the report and indeed talked directly to editors about it.
They said they run the numbers every year and that there is accountability with Revere’s figures.
This news is gratifying. It confirms what many parents already know in Revere – that their children are receiving a good education in the Revere Public Schools and they are run on the up and up.
The higher scores being achieved here represents the flowering of new ideas and efforts to make the public schools more relevant.
The higher scores have not been achieved because of cheating.
Even the suggestion is insulting to every teacher and school administrator working hard with the children of this city to raise their scores and to improve their lives through education.
