Melrose SC: Exempt Students Who Answered Racist MCAS Question

MELROSE, MA — A resolution to be presented at the School Committee Tuesday night will ask the state to waive the 2019 10th-grade MCAS graduation requirement for students who took it and answered a since-removed question asking them to write from the viewpoint of an "openly racist" character.

The resolution also asks the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to release old questions to "to ensure no such egregious errors happen again."

A letter signed by the School Committee and Mayor Gail Infurna says the question only serves to harm racial progress and does not belong in education.

"This exam was flawed, containing a writing prompt from Colson Whitehead’s “The Underground Railroad” where students were asked to write from the point of view of an openly racist character who actively forsakes slaves attempting to flee to freedom," the letter reads. "This question, which required students to adopt a racist point-of-view in answering the prompt, only provides seeds for furthering racial divides, fostering marginalization and bigotry and has no place in today’s educational landscape.

"The Underground Railroad" is a 2016 novel featuring a character that many, including the Massachusetts Teachers Association, said is openly racist. Numerous groups called upon DESE to invalidate the English league arts portion of the test.

The question itself doesn't count for students who already took the test before it was pulled. Students who were yet to take the test were told not to answer it.

See the resolution below:

A Resolution to Hold Harmless Those Students Who Took the 2019 10th Grade MCAS Exam with the Racist Writing Prompt.

Offered by School Committee Member Lizbeth DeSelm

• Whereas; the graduation requirement makes the tenth grade MCAS exam one of the highest stakes exams most Massachusetts students take; and
• Whereas: teachers, families, schools, and taxpayers all invest time and resources to give students the best possible chance at success on the exam; and
• Whereas: the recent 10th grade MCAS English exam contained an essay that required students to write a journal entry from the perspective of an openly racist character; and
• Whereas: the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) was unable to defend the question, quickly moving to not have it count; and
• Whereas: we only discovered this because students had the courage to violate the rules about discussing specific MCAS questions; and
• Whereas: research shows that exposure to negative stereotypes can have a negative impact on student performance; and
• Whereas: the impact of the racist question on performance cannot be quantified; now therefore be it
• Resolved: that the Melrose School Committee calls on DESE to exempt students who took the test with the rejected question from the graduation exam requirement; and further
• Resolved: that the Melrose School Committee calls for DESE to immediately implement a policy of releasing old MCAS questions, so that there can be transparency to prevent such egregious errors in the future; and further
• Resolved: that a copy of this resolution be delivered to DESE, the Governor, and the Melrose state and local legislative delegations and otherwise widely distributed.