State education Secretary Pedro Martinez last week announced proposed new graduation requirements that are meant to replace the MCAS exam voters opted to reject as a graduation requirement in a 2024 ballot referendum.
Among the new requirements are state-developed “end of year-assessments” that critics say would be another version of the high stakes tests voters rejected in 2024; capstone projects in which students demonstrate mastery over a subject; and completion of MassCore course requirements which mandate that students complete four units of English, four units of mathematics, three units of a lab-based science, three units of history, two units of the same world language, one unit of the arts and five additional courses.
During a meeting on Monday (June 22), members of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) had pointed questions about the new requirements.
Board Vice Chair Matt Hills questioned how the state could institute its new requirements without first defining how the state-developed end-of-year assessments would count toward a student’s graduation requirement. The current language Secretary of Education Pedro Martinez cited in his description of the end-of-year assessments states that the tests will “meaningfully count toward students’ academic record.”
Said Hills: “I’m wondering how you’re going to do this in anywhere near the amount of time you’ve given yourself to do it,” addressing Martinez and state Education Secretary Stephen Zrike. “It’s not clear you have the statutory or regulatory authority to do what you want to do.”
Martinez said he plans to implement the new requirements in time for students entering the 9th grade in 2028 to meet them by graduation in 2032. But Hills noted that the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) would need to get legislative approval for the new requirements, which could need buy in from teachers unions and school superintendents whose districts would be required to implement the new requirements.
“If I were a district leader — you’ve got to be kidding me,” Hills said. “I think you’re taking something that could be really good and risking the whole thing crashing under its own weight.”
Martinez said he is confident that districts could implement MassCore, noting that 70 percent of districts in the state currently adhere to at least some of the requirements. But in the wake of the end of the use of the MCAS exam as a graduation requirement, Martinez said, the state must take action.
“We’re trying to balance the implementation risk, but also the sense of urgency because what we have today is not ok,” he said.
While students are still required to take the MCAS exam, Martinez said that students are aware that it’s no longer and graduation requirement and, therefore, aren’t taking it seriously.
“Our high school assessment is becoming less and less reliable as we speak,” he said.
Teachers and education activists have long opposed the use of the MCAS exam as a graduation requirement, noting that in many districts instruction has been narrowed to subjects taught on the test, leading to a kind of test-prep mentality in schools critics label “teaching to the test.” That form of instruction has often deprived students of access to the arts and other areas of instruction.
In the 2024 election, 59 percent of voters opted to scrap the use of the exam as a graduation requirement. Under the new requirements being proposed by Martinez, students would be required to formulate a post-secondary plan for college or career readiness training, complete courses in financial literacy, artificial intelligence, digital literacy and civic readiness and fill out forms to qualify for state and federal financial aid.
Board member Erica Fisher questioned whether the new requirements would constitute an unfunded mandate. Massachusetts law requires the state to provide funding for newly imposed laws our requirements that cause local municipalities or school districts to incur new costs.
“Districts are stretched thin now and will be in more dire straights over the next two years,” Fisher said. “Even if it’s just one new course, that means they’ll have to have another body in the classroom.”
In a statement, The Massachusetts Teachers Union last week expressed support for the broader goals Martinez laid out for high school students to master, but restated its opposition to the use of high-stakes tests as a graduation requirement.
“Preparing students for a test and preparing them to be well educated, engaged, productive and fulfilled adults are two different tasks; public education must prioritize the latter,” the statement reads. “Voters agreed and chose to end the MCAS graduation requirement, understanding how a high-stakes standardized test narrowed and reduced the quality of the education available to students in public schools.”
