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Science MCAS added to list
Will be required for graduation
Article was written by Maria Sacchetti, Boston Globe Staff writer on June 29, 2005

 

WORCESTER -- Passing an MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System) science test became the state's newest high school graduation requirement yesterday, after heated debate over whether such exams will reshape the way biology, physics, and other sciences are taught.

The state Board of Education yesterday voted 6 to 1 for the new requirement, which will first affect the Class of 2010, this year's incoming eighth-graders. Students will have to pass one of four exams that match the science class they are taking in 10th grade: biology, chemistry, introductory physics, or technology and engineering. They will get their first run at the tests in 2008.......

......... But state board members, with the exception of the student member who voted against the idea, said the new requirement should get schools to spend more time on an often neglected subject.........

......... ''Making it a graduation requirement is really the only way we can ensure that students will get that experience," he said at the board's meeting, held at Clark University in Worcester. ''We need to move ahead now.".........

Source: Globe Newspaper Company.

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