... placing too much stress on students. They also point out that the test is longer than both the SAT and the Massachusetts Bar Exam for lawyers. They feel that preparation for such a long extensive test takes up to much valuable learning time and this might cause teachers to start to teach the test instead of to the curriculum to which the test was designed to assess. These critics go on to say that vocational-technical students would be disadvantaged on high standard academic exams. According to information found at www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/2002/results/0403vtcdprogrpt.pdf on test scores for students receiving proficient competency scores for the City of Chicopee broken down for vocational-technical students and academic students would appear that this argument has no basis. Class of 2003 enrollment for C.C.H.S. academic students was 244, 94% passed MCAS, and vocational-technical enrollment was 109 and 94% of these students passed MCAS. C.H.S. academic enrollment was 211 ...

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