Will the 26-year-old Competency Based Assessment for High School Graduation Cease at the Polls?

By Rosa Morales Simmons

BOSTON – On Nov. 5, 2024, Massachusetts will vote in favor of, or not in favor of the MassachusettsComprehensive Assessment System as a continual high school graduation requirement. The Boston City Council Committee on Education held a hearing to better understand the Yes on 2 or No on 2 positions.

Tania Fernandes Anderson and Julia Mejia of the Boston City Council Committee on Education, sponsored a hearing with other City Council members, educators and members of public to open the floor for opinions on the use of the 1998-implemented MCAS as a standardized test for high school graduation. The hearing addressed Question 2 on the ballot less than a month before Election Day, Nov. 5. 

“I often joke that if MCAS were around, I’d probably still be in high school.” Said City Councilor, Julia Mejia. “I am one of those kids that didn’t do well with test-taking.”

The statewide assessment is given to students in grades 3-8 in English Language Arts and Mathematics, with an additional Science assessment for grades 5, 8 and a high school grade. The MCAS was created along side the Massachusetts Education Reform Act in 1993 to emphasize accountability amongst educators, and to close education gaps in their schools.

“My kid is one of those kids that ended up in an exam school without having to take an exam.” Mejia said. “In her first year, she was determined to get the honor roll every semester, because she wanted to prove that she belonged.” She explained that students like her daughter, who did not take the entry exam were belittled by students that did.

Mejia added “not only did my daughter manage to get the honor roll every semester, she really proved that a test does not really determine her ability to thrive.”

President of Boston Teacher’s Union and former educator, Eric Berg, said his union supports Question 2. “It is time to move forward and provide Boston students with a well-rounded complete set of course offerings that prepares them for the world they’re about to enter.” He said, “experience has shown us that the MCAS graduation requirement denies them that experience.”

Berg added that the gold standard in educational achievement measurement done by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), showed a stagnate performance in the last 25 years, while course electives have been narrowed to allow for test prep, and the testing required throughout the year. 

President of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, Max Page, said “we and a dozen of allied organizations are against, is the punitive, high stakes use of the MCAS.” He pointed out that Yes on 2 does not eliminate the use of the data that the MCAS provides, since students will still take the assessment even after Massachusetts’ votes it out as a requirement.

Vice President of the Massachusetts Teachers Association Massachusetts, Deb McCarthy said  “as highly educated professionals we know it is morally wrong to deny our students a diploma based upon a one time, one size standardized high-stakes assessment.”

McCarthy continued to say that the MCAS only covers 43% of the curriculum and does not prepare students for the workforce, nor provide relevant skills.

The primarily Yes on 2 speakers continue to point out the alienating effects of the MCAS requirement on marginalized students, and how it challenged equity in education.

Secretary treasurer of the American Federation of Teachers of Massachusetts, Brant Duncan, who spoke on behalf of President Jessica Tang, said that “research has repeatedly shown that scores are tied to factors like income, parental education attainment, and the language spoken at home.”