Since the 1996 debut of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment Test (MCAS), a student test used as a statistical marker of public schools, the test has been at the center of a debate between parents' organizations, teachers' unions and education groups.

The debate has focused on the administration and significance of the MCAS, initiated by Chair of the Massachusetts Board of Education John Silber.

Because grants are linked to schools' test scores, some educators are concerned that teachers will change their curriculum to concentrate on MCAS material.

The MCAS is given to all Massachusetts public school students in grades 4, 8 and 10. Still in the "tryout stage," according to the Massachusetts Department of Education, the test initially contained math, science and technology portions. Last April, the Board of Education added a combined English and language arts portion, including a writing section, and a history and social studies section.

The purpose is to ensure basic educational skills across the state, both for individual students and within every school. State officials analyze the results of the tests to determine the amount of money schools receive through Academic Support Services grants earmarked for improving basic skills and shoring up student performance on future MCAS tests.

While the Board of Education, Commissioner of Education David P. Driscoll and Governor A. Paul Cellucci all support the test, some teachers and principals have voiced concerns over the MCAS, questioning everything from the test's importance to its administration.

Roger O'Sullivan, president of the Cambridge Teachers Association, a local teachers' union, said that while schools should have some form of standardized testing, MCAS results should not be the sole determinant of aid to schools.

He says the fear of losing funding is prompting some schools to design their curriculum around material on the test.

"It should not be the be-all and end-all of the measurement of school performance," O'Sullivan says.

O'Sullivan also says one of the newest and most controversial measures of the test is problematic: the requirement of having to pass the MCAS to graduate, which will first apply to the class of 2003.

"I think there will be an outcry from parents and teachers who disapprove," he says of the requirement.

But Linda Neri, communications manager for the Massachusetts Coalition for Higher Standards, a public-interest group specializing in the issue of the MCAS, points to a piece of information she says many worried parents and teachers may not know: students who do not pass the test in the 10th grade can retake the test in the 11th and 12th grades.

"Students get to take the test again. It's not like they have a bad day [during the testing] and are prevented from graduating high school," she says.

Still, teachers say they worry that the time required to administer the test will detract from time devoted to school curriculum, as well as focusing the curriculum on the MCAS material.

"Many teachers think that the curriculum focuses too much on [the test]," O'Sullivan says. "A lot of questions have to be asked. The test is still changing."

"[The Massachusetts Board of Education] is looking at possibly shortening the length of the test, which would be a token of wisdom on their part," he adds.

"It's mainly a political adjustment," he says, adding there may be some political pressure on the Board of Education.

However, Neri contends that the length of the test is justified by its comprehensive nature, which tests students on a range of important skills.

"The MCAS requires students to write out answers and engage in complex problem-solving," she says. "The idea that it takes too much time is wrong. This is not wasted time. It gives students time to practice skills that are important."

Caught in the crossfire between teachers and administrators, parents have mixed feelings on the issue.

Josie Patterson, a parent of two children in the Cambridge Public School system, a first grader at Cambridgeport School and a seventh grader at Graham and Parks School, draws a distinction between the usefulness of the MCAS on the level of the individual student and on the level of schools.

"Do I think the MCAS helps the students? No. But I don't think that's its purpose. It helps the way schools are evaluated," she says.

"There are so many problems with individual schools that until school reform takes place, there is no true way to evaluate the success of individual schools. The MCAS can help," she says.

Patterson emphasizes the dilemma many parents face in the MCAS issue.

"I'm not a teacher-basher," she says. "It's not that I disapprove of the job teachers and principals are doing. It's just that there are some good teachers, and then there are some bad teachers. And the purpose of standardized testing [like MCAS] is to level the criteria."

"There is no perfect way to improve schools. Teachers and principals are not used to being held accountable, and the MCAS heightens the competitiveness of schools, especially in Cambridge," she says.

Mary Anne Hart, a parent of a kindergartner, second grader and eighth grader at the Agassiz School in Cambridge, also supports the MCAS.

"I am personally very supportive of the test," Hart says. "It is a relief that we have a standard that we, as parents, can look at to compare to other schools and other cities throughout the Commonwealth."

Hart says she believes that the kind of curriculum framework that the MCAS is based on is essential to an education.

This kind of school reform and accountability is scaring some Massachusetts public schools, Hart says.

"The public schools should stop fearing tests," she says. "I think a lot of schools, especially in Cambridge, are scrambling to build a curricula around the test."

Responding to complaints about the administration of the test, the Board of Education has tried to address possible problems. For example, to deal with areas with bilingual populations, the Board of Education is considering developing a Spanish-language MCAS.

With mounting political pressure from teachers' unions and interest groups, the Board is now focusing increased attention on the problems of the MCAS.

And as the third round of MCAS tests approaches, teachers and education officials alike are waiting to see what effect the tests will have on the future of standardized testing in the Commonwealth.