Providence Mayor Angel Taveras reaffirmed his opposition to using the NECAP test as a graduation requirement, Dan McGowan of WPRI reported this morning. Taveras sent a letter to the state Board of Education he wrote:
“I worry that state leaders have imposed a graduation requirement on our students that is tied to a questionable measurement of individual proficiency and graduation readiness,” Taveras wrote. “Unlike tests designed to measure student achievement, such as the Regents exam in New York, the NECAP test was not designed to say whether students achieved mastery of a body of knowledge.
You can read the entire letter here. (Taveras sent an identical letter to the state Senate Education Committee)
McGowan reported the issue is of particular concern to Providence: “In Providence, more than 80% of students at four of city’s largest high schools—Alvarez, Central, Hope and Mount Pleasant— will have to improve their NECAP score by next year in order to graduate.”