Report examines Question 2, MCAS grad requirement

By Sam Drysdale 5 September 2024

BOSTON — Students with cognitive disabilities and English language learners who are held back from a diploma due to the MCAS exam could stand to benefit the most from a ballot initiative that would “greatly diminish the state’s role as a gatekeeper to high school graduation,” and lower the stakes of statewide standardized testing, according to a new report from Tufts Center of State Policy Analysis.

The report published on Thursday morning, one of a series analyzing the five questions going before Massachusetts voters this fall, says Question 2 to eliminate the MCAS graduation requirement would shift power from the state to local school districts and classroom teachers to determine if a student can graduate.

Currently, all Massachusetts high school students must pass their curriculum requirements to get a high school diploma, plus a standardized exam first given in 10th grade. They’re given several opportunities to pass, and alternative assessments are available for students with different learning needs.

Still, about 700 students — or 1% of the roughly 70,000 annual class size — who otherwise completed their graduation requirements do not pass this test every year.

Most of those 700 students are English language learners, have disabilities or have struggled with school attendance due to personal issues, the Tufts report says. These are the students who would benefit the most from the passage of Question 2: students who would now earn diplomas where otherwise they would not have.

“In a narrow sense, Question 2 is about a few hundred students each year — out of a statewide class of 70,000 — who lose the opportunity to graduate because they haven’t passed the 10th grade MCAS or otherwise earned a competency determination from the state,” the report says. “At the same time, it’s also about how removing the state graduation requirements could shift power to the districts and transform accountability across high school education in Massachusetts.”

Massachusetts is one of only a few states left in the country that requires passage of a statewide test in order to graduate.

Proponents of the test say that is because Massachusetts takes a more hands-off approach to curriculum development. Local Bay State municipalities have more control over what and how they teach in their schools, compared to other states; though every district uses the same curriculum frameworks, and teacher training and licensure are rooted in the same standards. The MCAS is a way to measure how districts using different approaches are leveling up to each other, test supporters say.

If Question 2 passed, districts would be in charge of determining a student’s fitness to graduate, without a state requirement. Supporters of the ballot measure — which removes the testing graduation requirement — say that with uniform state standards but not a test to teach to, schools can deliver the same educational quality while providing more individualized and authentic learning.

“With new authority over graduation standards, some districts might embrace the task of bringing teachers, parents, principals, superintendents, and other local leaders together to set meaningful course requirements, GPA standards, and other ways to prove graduation readiness. As part of this process, districts could also tailor requirements for English language learners and students with cognitive disabilities,” says a section of the report on arguments for a “Yes” vote on Question 2.

It goes on to say that fears about the “fragmentation of standards across over 300 distractions” should be assuaged by knowing that schools all still have to meet state-set standards. Additionally, it says, students would still have to take the test in grades 3-8 and 10, meaning the state would be able to continue to track education progress and identify racial and economic achievement gaps.

As for the arguments for a no vote, the report identifies that there are already stark district-level inequalities among Massachusetts’s schools.

“The idea that Question 2 would inspire local districts to set rich, student-focused standards for graduation begs the question: Why don’t they just do that now?” It says. “… If Question 2 passes, it’s even possible we’d see a race to the bottom among districts. That’s because the main measure people use to judge high schools is the graduation rate. And the surest way to boost graduation rates is to ease graduation requirements.”

It adds that ballot language implies, but is not specific about, some kind of enforcement for individual districts that loosen graduation requirements, such as using audits or reviews.

The Legislature could get involved following the question’s passage, Tufts researchers write in a hypothetical on potential legislative action, if additional clarification is needed to ensure that the state can oversee these audits of district-level graduation standards.

Lawmakers could also get involved by following other states in specifying a list of subjects and courses students must complete to graduate.

If the question is rejected, the Legislature and state regulators could take the opportunity to boost attention on those who struggle the most with the MCAS, the report says, or they could consider a more challenging MCAS “which would likely reduce graduation rates in the short term but create higher expectations that ultimately filter through to classroom innovation and richer learning opportunities.”