While numerous school districts and unions around the country debate whether children will be required to wear masks or not, one teacher’s union in Massachusetts is apparently worried about something scarier than COVID-19 – white supremacy. According to the union, the Massachusetts Teachers Association wants to do away with the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) as part of the requirements for graduating students. And the reason why –  because the standardized testing “allowed white supremacy to flourish.”

Making a statement, MTA President Merrie Najimy said, “The implementation of the MCAS and other standardized tests has had the exact opposite effect of what was supposed to occur when the system was introduced more than 20 years ago. Public schools in predominantly Black and brown communities have been taken over by state bureaucrats who have been using standardized testing as a tool not to improve opportunities for students. but instead, as one to pry public education from the hands of the families and educators who know best what their students need.”

Apparently, it isn’t just Najimy that opposes the testing. Democrat Jamaal Bowman said, “You have these third-party vendors creating these tests for school districts and states, and states are forced to implement them. So it made a lot of people a lot of money. But then the charter school industry is also part of that money train as well because the tests have been weaponized against teachers and schools and teachers’ unions. The more you say a teacher is bad and a public school is bad, the more momentum you have to close that school. And when school’s close, charter schools open.”

Paul Reville, who once served as the secretary of education argued that “The primary purpose of education reform in Massachusetts was and is equity. MCAS shines a light on how much students are learning. It highlights those Black, brown, and other students who are being failed by our education system,” he continued. “It calls attention to their challenges and provides a rationale for giving teachers support they deserve to help their students meet high standards.”

This piece was written by Jeremy Porter on September 18, 2021. It originally appeared in RedVoiceMedia.com and is used by permission.

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