Bay State reformers backed MCAS over PARCC, think tank says

BOSTON – Debate over standardized testing in Massachusetts schools heated up Wednesday as the Pioneer Institute, an independent policy research organization, rebutted an argument backing adoption of a multi-state assessment system by pointing to the positions taken by two education reformers who helped to create the MCAS exam.

Former Massachusetts Republican Gov. Bill Weld and former state Senate President Tom Birmingham, a Democrat, who helped write the state's 1993 Education Reform Act, decried the federal Common Core standards during a 2013 forum presented by Pioneer. The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) test, developed by Massachusetts in partnership with other states, is aligned with the federal standards.