Speaker 1: It's Nightside with Dan Ray on WBZY, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: MII, Nicole, thank you very much. By the way, kickoff
Speaker 2: the late about twenty minutes in Kansas City due to lightning,
Speaker 2: so they took the players off the field. So the
Speaker 2: Ravens and Kansas City going about twenty minutes later. Remember
Speaker 2: when we used to live in an area where we
Speaker 2: had a championship football team. My god, it seems so
Speaker 2: long ago, doesn't it. But I am never going to
Speaker 2: bitch and moan about the New England Patriots. By the way,
Speaker 2: this is Nightside, Gary Tagwig, not a sports tuck show.
Speaker 2: But just real quickly, I will never complain about the
Speaker 2: New England Patriots. I don't care how bad it gets.
Speaker 2: I don't care if they don't win a game this year.
Speaker 2: It doesn't matter to me. We had twenty years of bliss,
Speaker 2: of just unparalleled bliss. I don't want to hear anybody
Speaker 2: ever complain about the Pats. It's time to rebuild. Live
Speaker 2: with it, Live with it people. So I guess while
Speaker 2: I'm on football, I should say coming up at eleven o'clock,
Speaker 2: Nicole Yang is going to join us from the Boston
Speaker 2: Globe and we'll talk about my buddy Gerard Mayo making
Speaker 2: his coaching debut. Jacobe Brissett is going to be the quarterback.
Speaker 2: Sunday at one o'clock, the Patriots will open up in Cincinnati.
Speaker 2: It's just so weird, right to have the Patriots and
Speaker 2: their season opener at one o'clock on a Sunday, where
Speaker 2: it wasn't that long ago they wore the Kansas City
Speaker 2: Chiefs and they were hosting a Thursday night season opening
Speaker 2: football game at Foxboro. But those days are over, so
Speaker 2: Sunday had won, the Pats open up in Cincy. Got
Speaker 2: to be a long year, as it should be, but
Speaker 2: they will rebuild. I have a lot of faith in
Speaker 2: Gerrod Mayo, so we'll talk to Nicole about that. And
Speaker 2: I just don't want the quarterback to get killed. I
Speaker 2: mean their offensive line is who little Swiss cheese action.
Speaker 2: The Truth About Horses terrific story written by author Christy Cashman.
Speaker 2: A lot of people know Christy town philanthropists, actor, producer, author.
Speaker 2: What doesn't she do? Her and her husband Jay? They
Speaker 2: own a castle. They have a castle in Ireland. I mean,
Speaker 2: my god, God, is there anything they don't do? When
Speaker 2: do they sleep? I'm really curious about the whole castle thing,
Speaker 2: how that went down. But she has a terrific story
Speaker 2: about a fourteen year old Rehes Tucker, and it's about
Speaker 2: training horses. Everybody loves a story about horses. I mean,
Speaker 2: I don't have a horse. I rode a horse once.
Speaker 2: I was with my family on vacation. We were in
Speaker 2: Santa Fe, New Mexico, and uh, they needed the jaws
Speaker 2: of life to get me off the horse. I'm not
Speaker 2: flexible in many areas, specifically the groinary. That's right, I said, groinery.
Speaker 2: So when you put me on a horse, you need
Speaker 2: to You need a rib spreader to get me on
Speaker 2: and the jaws of life to get me off. But
Speaker 2: who doesn't love horses? Who doesn't love a story about horses?
Speaker 2: This is a this is you got to check this out,
Speaker 2: and not a clock. We talked to Ben Selko. He
Speaker 2: is a nominated IMMAN nominated excuse me, filmmaker. He does
Speaker 2: great work. He's a friend of mine too. I know
Speaker 2: bet He did the Mary Tyler Moore documentary which I loved,
Speaker 2: which was fantastic. But he has a new one out
Speaker 2: and it is crazy. It's crazy. Just when you think
Speaker 2: you've seen it all right, you go, what excuse me?
Speaker 2: What chasing a true crime con man? Killer lies? A
Speaker 2: serial killer expert Stefan Bergonne from France? Is he what
Speaker 2: he seems? This is an incredible tale. It's an incredible
Speaker 2: tale about a gentleman who became very accustomed to telling
Speaker 2: incredible tales. Obviously, it's crazy, it's nuts, it's crazy. It's
Speaker 2: sick too. I mean, but here's the thing. You know,
Speaker 2: the whole thing about serial killers and murder and all that.
Speaker 2: It's very disturbing. But people can't take their eyes off it.
Speaker 2: They cannot take their eyes off it. You can stream it.
Speaker 2: It's a three part series. You could see it on Hulu.
Speaker 2: It's from National Geographic in Hulu but streaming on Hulu
Speaker 2: right now. And I suggest you check it out if
Speaker 2: you love the whole true crime thing. People love it.
Speaker 2: My wife is it, loves it, loves it. She's a calm,
Speaker 2: very successful business woman. We go on a trip true crime,
Speaker 2: just the things that are coming out of the radio
Speaker 2: that she's just riveted to and I go, who are you?
Speaker 2: And the MCST. I've never understood the MCST. I've never
Speaker 2: understood the reason for it. The Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System,
Speaker 2: a state wide standard based assessment program about Yeah, we know,
Speaker 2: you have to pass it in the tenth grade or
Speaker 2: you can't graduate. Now, Dev McCarthy will vote yes on two,
Speaker 2: which means if you vote yes on two, that's a
Speaker 2: no for the m CAST. We are going to talk
Speaker 2: to her about why she believes the m CAST should
Speaker 2: go away. We did reach out to the mass Department
Speaker 2: of Education. They did not respond. They were not interested
Speaker 2: in joining us tonight, but if they want to call in,
Speaker 2: please do. I got to be honest with you. As
Speaker 2: a parent, I was like, okay, kids, just take it. Fortunately,
Speaker 2: my kids past hasn't been an issue. It does cause
Speaker 2: a lot of anxiety, a lot of anxiety, and I've
Speaker 2: always sat back and I've just wondered, shouldn't school be enough.
Speaker 2: I'm not saying that you should eliminate the m CAST
Speaker 2: because I want it to be easier for kids. I
Speaker 2: don't want it to be easier for kids. I think
Speaker 2: in many aspects our children have it too easy as is.
Speaker 2: But we pay money, we pay tax is, we want
Speaker 2: a good school system. Sometimes we move to cities or
Speaker 2: towns with a higher tax rate. Because we want a
Speaker 2: quality school system. Why do we need the m cast
Speaker 2: to look over the teacher's shoulders to make sure the
Speaker 2: teachers are doing a good job. Like, if I'm a
Speaker 2: teacher and you got the M cast, I'm kind of pissed.
Speaker 2: It does give me a couple of days off. I
Speaker 2: get a couple of days off, you know, because I
Speaker 2: can just hand up the test. But the m casts
Speaker 2: are basically looking over my shoulder to see if I'm
Speaker 2: doing a good job. Do we Is that necessary? Isn't
Speaker 2: that why we have school? And I'm not being a jerk. Look,
Speaker 2: I love my kids' school. My kids have had terrific
Speaker 2: experiences with students where we live, with educators where we live.
Speaker 2: I'm not bitching. I'm asking the question, isn't the school
Speaker 2: system enough? I mean, we have a principal, we have
Speaker 2: an assistant principal, we have guidance counselors, We've you know,
Speaker 2: various departments. I mean, isn't that enough to make sure
Speaker 2: that our kids are learning properly and developing the proper aptitude.
Speaker 2: And obviously, when we're gonna talk to deb coming up,
Speaker 2: are the mcast accurate?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 2: And I think so? I think sometimes, you know, we
Speaker 2: will let kids off the hook a little bit. Well,
Speaker 2: oh they'll get it. Oh they don't need mad for
Speaker 2: what they're going to do in life, or they're not
Speaker 2: going to need science for what they want to do
Speaker 2: in life. Well they may not, but they have to
Speaker 2: learn how to tackle a subject or a topic that
Speaker 2: is a challenge to them or unfamiliar to them or
Speaker 2: uncomfortable for them, so that when it comes to real
Speaker 2: life and they have to take on projects and challenges
Speaker 2: in life to make a living that they don't like
Speaker 2: and they're not comfortable with, they have the confidence to
Speaker 2: attack it. You know. I understand that one of my
Speaker 2: kids is never going to be a mathematician, never going
Speaker 2: to teach an MIT, never going to work in a lab,
Speaker 2: never going to work as an engineer. But I think
Speaker 2: it's necessary for them to learn how to take on
Speaker 2: the challenge, you know. So sometimes it's just getting back
Speaker 2: to the basics reading, writing, and arithmetic and being staunch
Speaker 2: about it and making the kids do the work. But anyways,
Speaker 2: Deborah McGrath is going to join us who says vote
Speaker 2: yes on two which means no on the M cast,
Speaker 2: and we will talk to dev and we also want
Speaker 2: your phone calls on this six seven two five, four
Speaker 2: ten thirty. I'm about eight thirty. We can start taking
Speaker 2: some calls. But here's the deal with the calls, folks.
Speaker 2: I'm not running the type of show where people come
Speaker 2: in and scream and yell and beat people up verbally.
Speaker 2: If you're a parent, you have an opinion on the mcast,
Speaker 2: or you've been involved in the mcast, you have an
Speaker 2: experience with it, and you can enlighten us and bring
Speaker 2: something to the conversation. If you're a student and you've
Speaker 2: taken the mcst and you you've had anxiety over it
Speaker 2: and you don't see the need for it, or maybe
Speaker 2: you do see the need for it, or equal opportunity.
Speaker 2: If you disagree with me or you disagree with dev listen,
Speaker 2: I welcome all discussion. Still come in. Yelling and screaming
Speaker 2: it gives me a headache. All right, come in, you know,
Speaker 2: let's let's have a conversation about this at six one
Speaker 2: seven two, five, four ten thirty The Mcast. Yeah Your
Speaker 2: Name Next with Deborah McGrath on wbz's night Side.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Ray Live from the Window World
Speaker 1: night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: Welcome back, Gary tankwa here for Dan tonight six one, seven,
Speaker 2: two four ten thirty is the telephone number. Give us
Speaker 2: a call here and jump on with night Side as
Speaker 2: we talk about the mcast. Now, if you're a parent,
Speaker 2: I want to hear from you. If you've been involved
Speaker 2: in this, you have thoughts on both sides of the street.
Speaker 2: If you will, please welcome to the conversation. And I'm
Speaker 2: going to talk to Debah McGrath right now. Dev. Thank
Speaker 2: you for joining us here on wbz's Night Side.
Speaker 3: Well one, I thank you for having me. The name
Speaker 3: is mccafey, not McGrath.
Speaker 2: Oh, I'm sorry.
Speaker 3: Well that's okay.
Speaker 2: We got a little table here. Been a long day
Speaker 2: for me. At least I got the first name, right, Deb.
Speaker 3: Okay, Well that's okay, long day for me too. So
Speaker 3: we're in the same boat. Okay, nice to meet you.
Speaker 3: And what did you say your name was?
Speaker 2: My name is Gary. Nice to meet you together, all right, Dev,
Speaker 2: good to meet you too, Okay, Dev McCarthy excuse me,
Speaker 2: all right? So the vote gash on two campaign? Why
Speaker 2: should we get rid of the MCST. So we're not.
Speaker 3: Getting rid of the MCST. That's not true, the mcast
Speaker 3: will still be given. I think it's important to note
Speaker 3: that I was an educator for twenty five years and
Speaker 3: that this question simply eliminates the high stakes, not the
Speaker 3: high standards. The standards don't go anywhere. The mcast is
Speaker 3: not going anywhere. This will simply allow a certain percentage
Speaker 3: of students that we see year in and year out
Speaker 3: who are being denied a diploma because of a learning style.
Speaker 2: Okay, well you got to help me out here then,
Speaker 2: because really I'm a little lost, because okay, you're saying,
Speaker 2: so you want to keep the M cast right, is staying?
Speaker 3: The mcast will still be given. It's not going anywhere.
Speaker 3: So what happens is there are students who meet all
Speaker 3: of the core requirements grades nine through twelve, and there
Speaker 3: are hundreds of these stories every year. There's over seven
Speaker 3: hundred kids who do everything that they need to do
Speaker 3: in school, but because they did not pass that one test,
Speaker 3: they're deny in diploma. And so this question will provide
Speaker 3: educational equity for all learners.
Speaker 2: So I'm lost when you say education, when you say
Speaker 2: educational equity to all learners, So I mean, what's the
Speaker 2: point of having it is? If you've what's the point
Speaker 2: of having the m cast if you flunk it and
Speaker 2: it doesn't matter.
Speaker 3: No, So that's not what's going on here. So they
Speaker 3: are learners who are dyslexic, who can present some of
Speaker 3: the best learning in the classroom September through and they
Speaker 3: A B students. They are the stronger students when they demonstrate.
Speaker 3: They're all speaking on performance assessment tasks. But when the
Speaker 3: MCAST is given. One of the things that I think
Speaker 3: people don't understand is test is design, specifically with the
Speaker 3: distractor and the multiple Joy's question. So my dyslexic learners
Speaker 3: can miss the word not and so if they know
Speaker 3: the content, but it's the fine detail in the print.
Speaker 3: The other thing that happens over and over again. You
Speaker 3: have really strong science and MAP students. They manipulate the data,
Speaker 3: they construct it, they use it in challenging and complex ways.
Speaker 3: But the question asks them to write three paragraphs about
Speaker 3: how they got their answer. If you're a dyslexic student,
Speaker 3: that is not necessarily a strength. You're really good in science,
Speaker 3: but that's not what you're being measured on. You're measured
Speaker 3: on your ability to construct a well formulated, prescribed paragraph
Speaker 3: that explains, So it's those students who are showing up
Speaker 3: in our class, doing their work, getting good grades, who
Speaker 3: will have the opportunity to get the diploma because they
Speaker 3: didn't this one cast.
Speaker 2: Okay, so what you're saying, no, I got now, so
Speaker 2: what But to me, this is fine, you know, no,
Speaker 2: but and I agree with you. I don't think you
Speaker 2: should have the M cast at all. Well, okay, so
Speaker 2: here's my point, Like, this is what I don't understand that.
Speaker 2: This is what I don't understand is that you said
Speaker 2: there are basically there are no options. There are no
Speaker 2: allowances for kids with learning disabilities with the M cast.
Speaker 2: That's what you're telling me.
Speaker 3: Well that's true.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, I mean but that's okay, that's insane to me.
Speaker 3: Vote I told I said that.
Speaker 2: I said that. I said that at the opening of
Speaker 2: the show.
Speaker 4: I agree with you.
Speaker 3: But what I'm not I don't want to yell. I
Speaker 3: just didn't hear the beginning of the show. Like you,
Speaker 3: I had a long day and I happen to come
Speaker 3: in at age fifteen, so I didn't hear you in
Speaker 3: the beginning of the show. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: No, Yeah, I know we're arguing. I don't understand. But
Speaker 2: to me, what I find frustrating is not your point
Speaker 2: the question. I think that to me, the fact that
Speaker 2: this question has to be asked, that if a kid
Speaker 2: is a learning disability, that there is an allowance for
Speaker 2: them with the m CAST. I thought that was already done.
Speaker 2: I'm fortunate as a parrot my kids don't have learning disabilities.
Speaker 2: K I would thank you very much. Okay, so I've
Speaker 2: never had to deal with this. I'm shocked that a
Speaker 2: kid with a learning disability does not receive an allowance
Speaker 2: with the m CAST.
Speaker 3: Well, I thank you for those sentiments. I will tell
Speaker 3: you this, we have been trying legislatively for over a
Speaker 3: decade to get this handled, and there are some who
Speaker 3: have been at it for about fifteen years, and we
Speaker 3: have not been able to get this addressed legislatively through
Speaker 3: the Department of Education, and so we brought it to
Speaker 3: the ballot. I will tell you that in the fall
Speaker 3: we were able to get one hundred and seventy nine
Speaker 3: signatures really easy. In the spring we had parents who
Speaker 3: collected more than ten thousand on their own. I think
Speaker 3: the other thing about this question that is really had
Speaker 3: when I said educational equity that students who go to
Speaker 3: private schools they don't have to pass the INCAST. I
Speaker 3: work with educators who would remove their kids from the
Speaker 3: public school system and send them to a private school
Speaker 3: so that they didn't have to meet the mandates of
Speaker 3: this one time test score to get a diploma.
Speaker 2: And that's expensive, well.
Speaker 3: And that's the educational equity piece, right for your working
Speaker 3: class family, they can't afford that, and so they're denied
Speaker 3: that opportunity of equity because they can't afford to go
Speaker 3: to a private school. I come from a family where
Speaker 3: the learners. Some in the family we are dyslexic. And
Speaker 3: the problem with passing a one time test like a
Speaker 3: lot of times like they'll have the answer to the
Speaker 3: question underneath the picture or at the bottom of the page,
Speaker 3: and so it's about the ability. To me. Sometimes I
Speaker 3: feel like we're asking a child who is color blind
Speaker 3: to find the color purple on a page, and so
Speaker 3: their disability is not accommodated with this one time test.
Speaker 3: And so this really is about allowing students the opportunity
Speaker 3: to get a high school diploma. I heard a story
Speaker 3: last night a dad in Cambridge who lost tuition scholarships
Speaker 3: to go to college because he couldn't pass the test,
Speaker 3: he didn't get a diploma, and it literally destroyed his life.
Speaker 3: I'll tell you one other, real quick one. You're going
Speaker 3: to be seeing our commercial coming out. We have a
Speaker 3: student in the commercial. She's been an ab student. She
Speaker 3: did not pass the science poor as a ninth grader,
Speaker 3: and so now as a sophomore, she can't take the
Speaker 3: enrichment class. She has to take an extra science class
Speaker 3: to teach her how to pass that test. People talk
Speaker 3: about how this child who's now a young adult, has
Speaker 3: like literally had their self confidence destroyed even though they've
Speaker 3: been a strong academic student because they couldn't meet the
Speaker 3: metrics of this one time science test.
Speaker 2: Okay, but now, deb while I agree with you, did
Speaker 2: this student have a learning disability?
Speaker 3: Well, I so I did not have that student in
Speaker 3: my classroom, but I can.
Speaker 2: This is what's confusing about it.
Speaker 3: Very well be dyslexic, but I wouldn't know that.
Speaker 2: Okay, but this wasn't in my classroom.
Speaker 3: But I can tell you that I had plenty of
Speaker 3: students in my classroom who were dyslexic, who did not
Speaker 3: demonstrate their true intellectual on a one time test.
Speaker 1: Score.
Speaker 2: That's fine, But this is why your cause is confusing.
Speaker 2: You just told me about a young woman who didn't
Speaker 2: pass a certain section of the MCST test, but you're
Speaker 2: not and you're saying now that her life is ruined,
Speaker 2: which I think is terrible. I'm not an MCST guy anyways,
Speaker 2: but we don't know if she had a learning disability.
Speaker 2: So to me, if you're saying the mcasts are bad
Speaker 2: because it does not accommodate kids with learning disabilities, why
Speaker 2: don't just go all the way, I mean, why even
Speaker 2: have the why you even have the m test to
Speaker 2: begin with.
Speaker 3: Because first of all, I'm not the Commissioner of Education.
Speaker 3: I'm just an educator who has left the classroom to
Speaker 3: try to realign and do something about the palm that
Speaker 3: we're seeing every year. So if somebody wants to bring
Speaker 3: a ball a question next year that removes the mcast,
Speaker 3: let's have a conversation. But that's not what this is about.
Speaker 3: This is the mcast will be in place. We will
Speaker 3: still have the standards. We have standards, base report cards,
Speaker 3: we have lesson plans aligning to the standards. We have
Speaker 3: the best standards uh in the country. Standards aren't going anywhere.
Speaker 3: This is simply about providing educational equity for those students
Speaker 3: who can't pass that one time event.
Speaker 2: All right, Dev McCarthy is our guest, She says, vote
Speaker 2: yes on two which would get which would get rid
Speaker 2: of the m cast passing score requirement to graduate. That's
Speaker 2: the way I understand it, which pretty much says to me, yea, yeah,
Speaker 2: passage score requirement to graduate. But yeah, all right, we're
Speaker 2: going to clear this up in a minute. Passing score
Speaker 2: to graduate four kids who suffer learning disabilities? Correct?
Speaker 3: Correct, There is nothing in the language that says kids
Speaker 3: who stuff learning dis So what you're saying, So.
Speaker 2: What you're saying if a kid flunks the m CAST,
Speaker 2: they should still be able to graduate.
Speaker 3: Am I saying that a student too flunks the m
Speaker 3: CAST and meets all of the requirements ninth grade through twelve,
Speaker 3: they meet all of the metrics, pass all of their classes. Yes,
Speaker 3: I think they should be able to get based upon
Speaker 3: their high school to POMA.
Speaker 2: That's what I said at the beginning.
Speaker 3: We've got four years the English've got to do this
Speaker 3: three years, go ahead. I'm missing something, that's the case.
Speaker 2: But if that's the case, what's the point of evening
Speaker 2: at me.
Speaker 3: Why are you yelling at me? Because I'm not the
Speaker 3: one who says you have to have the m CAST.
Speaker 3: Who's don't yelling at me? I'm not I understand that.
Speaker 2: But the point is is you came on. You came
Speaker 2: on and you said that it should be what what
Speaker 2: the what the situation says, if you flunk the m
Speaker 2: cast and you have a learning disability, you should you're
Speaker 2: allowed still to graduate. Now you're saying if you have
Speaker 2: if you look at cash, That's what you said to
Speaker 2: me at the top of the show. That's what you said.
Speaker 3: Because I do believe that if you if you do
Speaker 3: not pass the m CAST, I believe you should get
Speaker 3: a high school diploma if you meet the metrics that
Speaker 3: are in place.
Speaker 2: So why even have it? So I don't even understand
Speaker 2: this question.
Speaker 3: I can't argue about why. I'm not the one who
Speaker 3: has brought the m CAST forward as a state requirement.
Speaker 3: It's a law. That's not me. I'm just trying to
Speaker 3: provide equity to the students. And it's not just me.
Speaker 3: This is thousands and thousands and thousands of parents and
Speaker 3: educators and community activists like the support on this. We
Speaker 3: can't even keep up with the signs because every time
Speaker 3: we turn around and get another yes on tu signs,
Speaker 3: they're gone. You can't keep up. People are really engaged
Speaker 3: in this issue, and so it's this isn't a me thing.
Speaker 3: This is a coalition of educators, parents and former students
Speaker 3: who are asking that they be so much more than
Speaker 3: a one time test score.
Speaker 2: So yes on two says thank you, just so, just
Speaker 2: so I understand, because yes on two says, if you
Speaker 2: flunk the m CASH you should still be able to graduate. Period.
Speaker 3: It says that if you meet the metrics, the course requirements.
Speaker 2: And flunk the m CASH, you could still graduate, and you.
Speaker 3: Do not pass a one time test score, you would
Speaker 3: still get a diploma. Currently, you have students who do
Speaker 3: everything that they need to do as freshmen, do everything
Speaker 3: that they need to do with software right, do everything
Speaker 3: that they need to do as juniors, and do everything
Speaker 3: that they need to do as seniors, and then they
Speaker 3: get the MCAST score and that some of these kids
Speaker 3: are only four points off, some are six points.
Speaker 2: What if they what if they plug two sections of.
Speaker 3: Oh no, you can pass two sections and only flunk
Speaker 3: one and you still can't get the diploma.
Speaker 2: What I'm saying is if you if you.
Speaker 3: Say three different tests, it's three different tests. It's not sections.
Speaker 3: There's a math test, right, there's an e l A test,
Speaker 3: and there's a science test. And so one of the
Speaker 3: things that you see a lot is like really strong
Speaker 3: science students who do really good on the science test, right,
Speaker 3: and they do really good on the math test.
Speaker 2: I understand they may not do.
Speaker 3: So good on the e l A test. Yes, they
Speaker 3: would be denied a diploma. They could be a straight
Speaker 3: A math student, they could be a straight A science student.
Speaker 3: But if writing was not their four K. Let's say
Speaker 3: they were a dyslexic learner. Let's say they were a
Speaker 3: student on an IP. Let's say they were a student
Speaker 3: that had only been over here for two years and
Speaker 3: hadn't mastered the English language. Even though they passed math,
Speaker 3: even though they passed science, and even though they had
Speaker 3: good grades, they could not get a diploma because they
Speaker 3: didn't pass the English test.
Speaker 2: What if they flunk two out of the three?
Speaker 3: Still no tests, Still no, no, don't make a difference.
Speaker 3: You could have. We have a story of a kid
Speaker 3: who was a class valedictorian in a sub class. He
Speaker 3: had that pulled away from him because he didn't pass it.
Speaker 3: So you have to pass it doesn't make a difference.
Speaker 3: And that's what we're saying, is.
Speaker 2: No, I understand that, but you don't understand my question.
Speaker 2: My question was if they flugged two three, if they
Speaker 2: flunk two out of three, does that change your mind
Speaker 2: at all? Like if they plugged two out of three,
Speaker 2: would you be like, oh wow, they flugged two out
Speaker 2: of three. That's a different story than flunking one out
Speaker 2: of three.
Speaker 3: So I'm here to talk about the question and what
Speaker 3: the question does. And the question allows students to get
Speaker 3: a high school diploma based upon their academic performance grades
Speaker 3: nine through twelve.
Speaker 2: Right, okay, thank you very much for your time.
Speaker 3: I oh, thank you. It nice to meet you.
Speaker 2: Well, it's nice to me too. That was extremely painful.
Speaker 2: I agree with you, though it sounds like I didn't,
Speaker 2: But I agree with you one hundred percent. I don't
Speaker 2: see why we have the m cast at all. Thank
Speaker 2: you very much. Deb. We appreciate the phone call. I
Speaker 2: we appreciate you coming on. So that's what yes, and too,
Speaker 2: I want some parents to call in on this, you know,
Speaker 2: and what do you think? I mean, I think if
Speaker 2: you have a good student and they flunked the M
Speaker 2: cast in the tenth grade and they can't graduate, I
Speaker 2: think that's dumb. And I don't think teachers like the
Speaker 2: m cast either. It just puts more pressure on them.
Speaker 2: All Right, Some calls on this coming up at six, one, seven, two, five, four,
Speaker 2: ten thirty on WBZ.
Speaker 1: You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's
Speaker 1: news radio.
Speaker 2: You know, I am such a hypocritic. Gary tanking way
Speaker 2: for Dan Ray tonight. I said at the opening we
Speaker 2: wanted to take calls. It talked to Deb McCarthy about
Speaker 2: question two, which paraphrasing here, says, if you flunked the
Speaker 2: M cast in the tenth grade, you can still graduate,
Speaker 2: and I agreed with her, and I wanted to have
Speaker 2: an intelligent conversation and I ended up yelling. So I
Speaker 2: apologize because I got extremely confused on what her point
Speaker 2: was though I agreed with it. And maybe it's on me,
Speaker 2: but parents, what do you think of the M cast? Fortunately,
Speaker 2: I've never really had to concern myself with it. I
Speaker 2: was just not going to rob my producer, you know.
Speaker 2: I always just thought it was a measuring device to
Speaker 2: see how the school was doing, and that if I
Speaker 2: really wasn't aware until we brought up this topic with
Speaker 2: to have it on the show that if you did
Speaker 2: not pass one of the elements of the m cast
Speaker 2: in the tenth grade you couldn't graduate. That seems a
Speaker 2: little harsh to me. Let's talk to Paul about this
Speaker 2: and task at Paul. You're up on WBC's night set.
Speaker 2: How's it going?
Speaker 3: Hey?
Speaker 4: How you doing?
Speaker 2: What's up?
Speaker 4: Am I on?
Speaker 2: You're on? All right?
Speaker 4: Hey? What's the percentage of people who don't pass? Anyone
Speaker 4: have that?
Speaker 2: It's a great question, and I should have asked her
Speaker 2: on that cold check the old Google machine right now.
Speaker 2: And while I do that, I'll ask you where do
Speaker 2: you fall on this?
Speaker 1: Well?
Speaker 4: I think that you gotta have some kind of way
Speaker 4: of testing. You're going to make sure the teachers that
Speaker 4: teach them well they should be teaching. I think that helps.
Speaker 2: Why do you need that, though? I mean, listen, if
Speaker 2: you have a principle, if you have the administration was
Speaker 2: it was our educational system doing so crappy before that
Speaker 2: that we needed the m CAST. I don't ever remember that,
Speaker 2: And maybe I was just lucky because I had great teachers.
Speaker 2: I went to a great school system. Now, I went
Speaker 2: to a school system in Main, Paul that was not
Speaker 2: you know, Lincoln, Massachusetts or Wellesley, where it had an
Speaker 2: unbelievable tax base. We actually, come to think about it,
Speaker 2: we had a get tax base because we had a
Speaker 2: huge paper company that was like ninety five percent of
Speaker 2: the tax base. But I went to a small school
Speaker 2: in Mexico, Maine, and my teachers were great. I didn't.
Speaker 2: I don't. I don't understand it. I mean, I don't.
Speaker 2: I just don't get it. Like if you's, are the
Speaker 2: MCST simply a way of administrators covering their ass you
Speaker 2: know what I mean? I mean, if you have a principal,
Speaker 2: you have an assistant principal, you have a board, you
Speaker 2: have the school board. Can't they decide if the teachers
Speaker 2: are doing a good job. Why do we need a
Speaker 2: standardized test to tell us if they are or not?
Speaker 2: I mean, Paul, can't you tell when you have a
Speaker 2: good teacher or a bad teacher? Can't you? Why do
Speaker 2: we need a test to tell us that? I never
Speaker 2: understood it.
Speaker 4: Well, they're actually teaching for the MCST, most of them probably.
Speaker 2: I don't know if that's good. You know, Paul, I
Speaker 2: don't know if that's good because if you're teaching, if
Speaker 2: you're basically teaching kids to pass a test to keep
Speaker 2: your job, that's not good because that means that you're
Speaker 2: not customizing your academic program to the kids in your
Speaker 2: class like I'm teaching it.
Speaker 4: I'm they only teach English and English and the in that.
Speaker 4: So what's the sense of taking your science classes? They
Speaker 4: don't or history? No one knows anything about history. You
Speaker 4: ask some people on the street something about history, who
Speaker 4: was a certain president? They don't even know. So even
Speaker 4: the standardized test of SAT is not even right. They
Speaker 4: should have science and history, so I mean, you know,
Speaker 4: you eliminate everything on that. So m cast are probably
Speaker 4: showing that before you got out. Is they're trying to
Speaker 4: round you up a get more round. Maybe I don't know.
Speaker 4: I can't figure it out now.
Speaker 2: I don't know, but I will tell you this, and
Speaker 2: I appreciate the phone call. A lot of colleges dropping
Speaker 2: SATs and standardized testing. You know, my kids are playing
Speaker 2: for college SAT optional. Yeah, I mean my SAT scores sucked.
Speaker 2: I didn't do. I mean, I think my combined score
Speaker 2: is barely a thousand. I'm doing okay, I ain't grob
Speaker 2: I did all right. You know it's look, folks, it
Speaker 2: is about busting your ass and working hard. Okay, good
Speaker 2: question by the collor Paul. One percent of the Massachusetts
Speaker 2: students do not graduate from high school each year because
Speaker 2: they did not pass the MCAST one percent. So it's
Speaker 2: a seven hundred kids. Seven hundred kids is a lot
Speaker 2: a Massachusetts student did not graduate from high school because
Speaker 2: they didn't pass the MCAST. One percent is a small number.
Speaker 2: It's a small percentage, but seven hundred sounds like a
Speaker 2: large number to me. I don't know. That's just I
Speaker 2: don't know how you guys study habits, keeping deadlines and
Speaker 2: when I say reading, writing, arithmetic, of course I'm simplifying it.
Speaker 2: I understand we have technology and computer sciences and the
Speaker 2: way kids learn are different than they learned when I
Speaker 2: was a kid, and so forth and so on. I
Speaker 2: understand all that. Believe me, I get it. I mean, hell,
Speaker 2: you got to teach AI in school. Now it's here, man,
Speaker 2: it's here. How do you manage AI? How do you
Speaker 2: deal with Ai? AI writes term papers for kids, which
Speaker 2: that scares the hell out of me. It really does.
Speaker 2: Kids not being able to write scares it's but they don't.
Speaker 2: They don't have to write, you know. I think most
Speaker 2: parents don't even think twice about the m CAST. If
Speaker 2: your kid flugs, then you flip out. But I don't
Speaker 2: think any of us think twice about it. They don't,
Speaker 2: we don't. I've never seen the need for it. I
Speaker 2: never have seen the need for it. And I've just
Speaker 2: struck my shoulders. Okay, it's MCAST. Teachers have some days
Speaker 2: off because you're taking the MCAST test. And believe me,
Speaker 2: I am pro teacher. I am pro teacher. I think
Speaker 2: we are very fortunate. My kids have had some fabulous teachers,
Speaker 2: people that could have made a lot more money in
Speaker 2: the private sector, and they choose to teach, and they
Speaker 2: don't make the money that they would have made if
Speaker 2: they had gone in the business, or gone into the
Speaker 2: law school or mid school or what have you. And
Speaker 2: I believe that the majority of teachers are good. I mean,
Speaker 2: just like any other profession, you're gonna have some bad ags,
Speaker 2: you're gonna have some bad apples. It's not gonna work out.
Speaker 2: But I can't understand that if you're a teacher and
Speaker 2: you've got the mcast looking over your shoulder. That's going
Speaker 2: to kind of suck. It really does. I think it does,
Speaker 2: and I think it was put in place to make
Speaker 2: sure teachers do their job. Isn't that what the administration
Speaker 2: is supposed to do? Isn't that what I'm paying taxes
Speaker 2: for the administrators to do? Coming up at nine o'clock,
Speaker 2: Chasing a true crime con man. This story is unbelievable.
Speaker 2: It's a three part series streaming on Hulu, and we're
Speaker 2: going to talk to the filmmaker Ben Selko about it.
Speaker 2: That's all coming up at nine o'clock right here on
Speaker 2: wb and Friday, Friday, nine o'clock, ten o'clock. Actually I
Speaker 2: screwed this up. Ten o'clock. We have some special programming
Speaker 2: for you. We have some special programming for you, and
Speaker 2: I have more information on that coming up right here
Speaker 2: on wbz's nice.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan ray Mine from the Window World
Speaker 1: night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio, Gary Tangway for
Speaker 1: Dan Raid tonight, hanging out all this week.
Speaker 2: As I mentioned, tomorrow night, we have a special special
Speaker 2: segment coming up at ten o'clock tomorrow evening. We will
Speaker 2: break down the Karen Read story now Karen Reid is
Speaker 2: in an interview that she recorded prior to the trial,
Speaker 2: or around the trial, maybe prior to the trial. I
Speaker 2: think for ABC is going to air tomorrow, so we're
Speaker 2: going to do some analysis of it. That's all gonna
Speaker 2: happen with Attorney's Bill Kick Him and Bob George tomorrow night,
Speaker 2: right here at ten o'clock on W will you will
Speaker 2: have seen what Karen has to say about the situation.
Speaker 2: I assume there will be some new information and I
Speaker 2: wonder if this and we'll also talk to our attorneys
Speaker 2: on how this is gonna help her possibly with the
Speaker 2: upcoming trial. Now here's the thing, Okay, if there's there's
Speaker 2: gonna be a new jury selection for this retrial, and
Speaker 2: they're gonna have to sit there and say, we did
Speaker 2: not see this special with Karen Reid was talking to
Speaker 2: ABC on twenty twenty about what went down in her opinion,
Speaker 2: in her eyes, the way she remembers it, how you're
Speaker 2: gonna pick a juror that won't see that, that's good
Speaker 2: luck with that. So we're going to be doing a
Speaker 2: little postgame analysis about that. I shouldn't say postgame analysis
Speaker 2: because you know, a police officer died. We're gonna be
Speaker 2: doing some post show analysis tomorrow night on the new
Speaker 2: information we'll learn from the telecast, the broadcast of Karen
Speaker 2: Reid on ABC with our attorneys Bob and Bill Bill
Speaker 2: and Bob Bill kick him and Bob George right here
Speaker 2: on WBC's Night Side. But just to wrap up again,
Speaker 2: my thoughts on mcast is, I've just never understood why
Speaker 2: we need him in the first place. We have to
Speaker 2: trust our teachers. You have to give more support to teachers.
Speaker 2: And again Deb McCarthy's joining us about voting us on
Speaker 2: yes on two question two Mass ballot Question two, which
Speaker 2: says to basically get rid of the MCAST passing score
Speaker 2: as a requirement to graduate, Well, if you don't have
Speaker 2: to pass it to graduate, I guess the point in
Speaker 2: having it is to measure how the educational system is doing,
Speaker 2: which is what I understood it to be in the
Speaker 2: first place. But then if it became a gateway to graduation,
Speaker 2: if you do not pass all three elements of the
Speaker 2: MCAST in your sophomore year in high school, you will
Speaker 2: not graduate. Plus it's the tenth grade. What happens if
Speaker 2: you get your act together, your junior and senior year.
Speaker 2: Shouldn't this be taking place their senior year and they
Speaker 2: should have an opportunity to retake it again. I don't
Speaker 2: understand that if you flunk the MCAST your sophomore year
Speaker 2: you can't graduate two years from now or two and
Speaker 2: a half years from now. That doesn't make any sense
Speaker 2: to me at all. I know some teachers were not
Speaker 2: in favor of this because it's sort of a watchdog
Speaker 2: thing on them that if the MCST grades in their
Speaker 2: school are down, it's going to make them look bad,
Speaker 2: which I can understand that. I think teaching is hard enough.
Speaker 2: Now you need somebody looking over your shoulder. It's hard,
Speaker 2: I mean the educ Being an educator is really hard.
Speaker 2: Being an administrator in education is really hard. It is
Speaker 2: a thankless job. The people that do it and do
Speaker 2: it well, you should receive a medal. You don't get
Speaker 2: paid enough. I understand you have off I understand you
Speaker 2: can get out of school at three. I understand all that,
Speaker 2: but I also know that there's a lot of work
Speaker 2: you have to do behind the scenes. The things that
Speaker 2: I still don't understand for teachers is where you know,
Speaker 2: when my kids were younger, they still buy supplies for
Speaker 2: the school, or they'll come to us as parents and
Speaker 2: they'll say, my god, I think I spent two hundred
Speaker 2: dollars on markers and notebooks when I went to school.
Speaker 2: That was a number two pencil and a notebook, and
Speaker 2: that was it. Because the schools aren't supplying it and
Speaker 2: the teachers can't afford to pay it on their own.
Speaker 2: Like when a teacher has to go out and buy
Speaker 2: school supplies, that I don't understand at all. You know what,
Speaker 2: can the m cast take the money you would save
Speaker 2: from Cannon the m cast and buy the school supplies
Speaker 2: so the teacher or the parent doesn't have to buy it.
Speaker 2: That's what I say. Chasing a True crime. Con Man
Speaker 2: and Celko, who directed this film It's Something Else, joins
Speaker 2: us next here WBC