MCAS Jitters Spur Schools to Reduce Student Stress
by Ed Hayward
Monday, April 2, 2001
The Boston Herald

The fourth-graders in Kristina Reeves’ class at the Charles Sumner Elementary School in Roslindale are preparing for the MCAS exam by massaging their temples, breathing slowly and thinking thoughts about a safe, comfortable place.

With their heads resting on arms folded over their desks the other day, the students pinched their eyes closed at first, some peeking out of one eye. Then after a few minutes, they all followed Dr. Gloria Deckro’s plan.

“ Where are you now?” asked Deckro, a relaxation expert with the Mind/Body Medical Institute.

Deckro comes to the Sumner to help kids fight stress at home and in school as they face the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exams next month.

As they delve into the techniques pioneered by institute founder Dr. Herbert Benson, the children seem a million miles from MCAS.

“ Dominican Republic,” one piped.

“ In a garden with my whole family,” said another.

“ I see big dots,” muttered another child, almost ready for sleep.

Deckro asked the children to write the root causes of their stress on the board. Chalk scratched out “fights, tests, reading, homework, yelling, not having something.”

The byproducts of that stress: “shaking, headaches, sweat, ‘feels like hitting,’ ‘’ the children responded.

What helps? “Peace, sleep, music, hug something, say sorry, play Nintendo,” they offered.

Across the state, parents and teachers report the MCAS is stressing out their children and students. Compared to other standardized tests, MCAS takes longer and combines multiple-choice with open response answers in English, math and science.

MCAS becomes a “high-stakes” exam this year for sophomores, who are members of the first class required to pass their 10th-grade exam before they can graduate.

Fourth- and eighth-grade students take the full MCAS this year and some exam sections will also be given to third-, fifth-, sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders.

Usually, there are no stakes attached to the exam below 10th grade. But in Boston, MCAS scores are part of the criteria principals use to decide which students to promote to the next grade level. So for these 10-year-olds, the MCAS is already high-stakes.

“ It’s a reality,” said Lourdes Santiago, principal of the Sumner. “We deal with it. It’s in the air. We talk about it from day one.”

Santiago said the program was chosen not in hopes of raising test scores, but in helping students cope with stress generated in the home or neighborhood. Boston elementary schools do not have counselors on site.

Seated at their desks, the children in Reeves’ class know the MCAS counts.
Jessica Esteve, 10, said her heart “beats real fast” when she gets nervous. While she has the most trouble in math, she feels confident she will pass MCAS. “In order to pass the fourth grade, you have to pass the test and I don’t want to get kept back,” said Esteve. “I want to go to middle school in 2003.”

Students have been working overtime on writing and math skills to boost their scores. Last year, out of a class of roughly 80 kids at the Sumner, 45 percent failed English, 57 percent failed math and 35 percent failed science.

Deckro offers the children a “tool box” of relaxation strategies, small things they can do physically and mentally to combat both the symptoms and the causes of the stress they are feeling.

“ We’re not saying stress is bad. A certain amount of stress is necessary,” said Deckro. “We aren’t saying you should get rid of all stress. But if you have a toolbox to use, you can keep yourself where stress is optimal.”

© 2001. The Boston Herald. Used by permission.

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