On behalf of the ARHS faculty and staff, I would like to offer a few observations about the article ’MCAS failures in science concern some Amherst parents’[Friday, October 24].
First, I would describe the headline, which implies that our students’ science MCAS performance is troubling, as misleading, and not based on the facts.
A few facts: 30 ARHS students took this year’s Chemistry MCAS and every one of them passed. In Biology, of the 316 students who took the test this year, 307 passed. I’m curious why this wasn’t judged as the newsworthy angle on the story. A headline supported by this data might read something like: ’ARHS students pass science MCAS with flying colors’. As it is, readers miss the real story and are left with the impression that something is amiss.
Lastly, the article suggests that the high school is inattentive, and, perhaps, indifferent, to the alignment of its curriculum with the demands of MCAS. The claim is both curious and ironic. In our public, televised explanations of our new 9th grade science courses, we clearly specified the ways in which the curricula enhanced the MCAS preparation students received in science. This seems to have been overlooked. What’s ironic is that, at the time, we were criticized for being overly MCAS-oriented; now it seems we aren’t sufficiently so. I am confident that the thoughtful, well-trained science teachers who designed the Ecology and Environmental Science courses have struck the appropriate balance, giving MCAS its due while maintaining a larger focus on providing all ARHS students with a rigorous science experience.
Mark Jackson, Principal
Amherst Regional High School