The November MCAS ballot question was suggested by this teacher

“I knew where this was going,” she said. But “I felt like I had no choice because someone had to stop this system of harm and bring attention to it.”

Now McCarthy is taking her with him Resistance to MCAS testing among voters. As vice president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, she is leading a ballot initiative this November to repeal the MCAS high school graduation requirement. McCarthy's search is an example of the frustration many educators and parents share over MCAS, which is sparking the largest revolt against testing in Massachusetts in two decades.

In many ways, the pandemic provided fertile ground for Question 2 to emerge this fall. State education leaders' decision to resume MCAS testing in spring 2021 after a yearlong hiatus angered numerous educators, parents and even local officials who worried about the stress it would place on students. Full-time in-person instruction did not resume in many schools until this spring, and students were woefully behind in learning.

McCarthy's act of defiance ended years of frustration with MCAS. She had seen this first hand It sparked fear among children and resentment of the way the state used the results to punish schools and deny diplomas to hundreds of marginalized students each year. She felt she could no longer keep up with a testing system that she vehemently opposed.

“My silence has caused even more damage,” she said.

If voters approve the ballot measure, high school students will no longer have to pass MCAS exams in English, math and science to receive their diplomas. Instead, students would be required to complete coursework certified by their district in subjects that meet state academic standards.

Question 2 has divided the state's education community. Proponents of the repeal, which include the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, say the MCAS graduation requirement forces schools to focus on the subjects tested by MCAS, leading to high levels of anxiety and retesting evokes in the students. About 16,000 10th graders failed at least one of the three MCAS exams last spring, results released last week show.

But opponents, including Gov. Maura Healey, the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents and educators breaking away from union ranks, say the requirement has been crucial in moving Massachusetts public schools from the middle of the pack nationally to the top in academic performance bring to. They believe this ensures that the recipient of each diploma has the foundational skills necessary for success in college or career.

Many opponents also point out that ultimately just over 700 students who failed the MCAS are denied a diploma based on the requirement alone—about 1 percent of all prospective graduates each year. Repealing the rule could end up causing more harm to students, they say.

“It is unfair to give children a diploma when they are not ready to graduate and have not achieved a certain level of achievement,” said Cynthia Agruso, a math teacher at Agawam Junior High School, who opposes the repeal.

Massachusetts established the MCAS graduation requirement in the Education Reform Act of 1993 and signed it into law a decade later. It was controversial from the start, sparking numerous protests, proposed legislation and even litigation over fears that it would harm students from disadvantaged backgrounds. (Most students denied a degree have a disability or are learning English.)

For many educators, graduation requirements are just the core of their concerns.

Educators begin preparing students for the MCAS in elementary schools, which teachers say forces them to spend too much time on it Exam preparation. They also have major concerns about the state using MCAS scores to assess school performance.

If a school's test scores are persistently low, the state can impose dramatic changes, including requiring teachers to reapply for their jobs. Educators also note that scores show wide disparities between students of different racial backgrounds each year, raising concerns about test bias.

Jessica Tang, president of the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts, said McCarthy has been an advocate for calling for a repeal of the MCAS graduation requirement.

“Unlike many of us, she knows what it was like to teach when MCAS wasn’t a graduation requirement,” she said, and that’s why McCarthy “remembers when there was more joy in teaching.”

Critics say the ballot question is part of a broader strategy by teachers unions to permanently dismantle the state entire testing system.

McCarthy wasn't always against MCAS. When the exams first came out, she thought the results could help educators improve their teaching practices – pointing out weaknesses in teaching and helping them meet state standards. She was so enthusiastic that she became known as the “MCAS Data Guru” at Jacobs School, which she also attended as a child.

“I would say for the first five years I stayed true to the data,” she said.

But then she began to realize that schools in lower socioeconomic areas performed worse than schools in affluent neighborhoods, even when their instruction met state standards.

Eventually, she joined with other like-minded educators who planned to boycott the MCAS exams in 2021, calling themselves “conscientious objectors.” She coordinated with dozens of Cambridge teachers, whose union issued a press release about their boycotts that received widespread media attention.

McCarthy “frankly felt that MCAS was hurting children,” said Mary Henriksen, who worked with her at Jacobs School for more than 20 years. “She was a phenomenal teacher, she had great compassion for her students and always did whatever she needed to help them.”

That morning three years ago, a small group of supporters gathered alongside McCarthy outside Jacobs School. Her mother, then in her mid-80s and in a wheelchair, held a sign that read, “Let Deb Teach.” McCarthy then went home and did what any teacher would do: she marked papers and planned lessons.

“I felt like I was living my values,” she said.

McCarthy has not administered MCAS since then. The following year, she was punished again for boycotting the test and then left the classroom to serve as vice president of the MTA. She said saying goodbye was a difficult decision.

“Being in a classroom is my life force,” McCarthy said.

Now she's turning her attention to stopping high-risk testing. McCarthy was the first to sign the petition that launched the ballot question last summer, and the union obtained the signatures needed to place the question on the ballot after lawmakers refused to repeal the requirement entirely.

“This should never be a system that harms students, but unfortunately that is exactly what is happening,” McCarthy said. “If this (ballot measure) passes, there will be hundreds of children who will have the opportunity to graduate.”

James Vaznis can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @globevaznis.