With the approval of Massachusetts Question 2, the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System — a standardized test administered annually in grades three through eight and in one year of high school — has been officially eliminated as a graduation requirement. While Massachusetts is not alone in eliminating standardized testing requirements — only around a half dozen states still require exit exams to graduate — it is an outlier due to its less extensive graduation requirements.
Whereas most states have extensive coursework mandates, the elimination of the MCAS graduation requirement leaves physical education and education in civics as the only remaining statewide standards for high school graduation.
Medford resident Ellery Klein, a private music teacher and parent of two high school students, voted “Yes” on Question 2.
“I’m not opposed to any testing of kids, but my feeling as a parent has been that there is too much emphasis placed on [the MCAS]. So many teaching days go towards preparing the kids for the test. … [Teachers] end up having to spend so much time preparing the kids on how to take the test and trying to up their scores instead of, frankly, just teaching them the subjects,” she said.
Klein’s reasoning aligns with that of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, one of the most ardent organizational supporters of the “Yes on 2” campaign. Throughout the election cycle, the union cited a high prevalence of districts forced to “teach to the test,” as well as issues with equity in standardized testing, as reasons to replace the MCAS with different statewide standards.
Both the Medford and Somerville city councils passed resolutions endorsing an affirmative vote on Question 2 prior to the election. While both school districts have instituted their own comprehensive graduation requirements, in recent years, their scores have not significantly differed from state averages and are underperforming in some areas.
One former educator from Medford, who requested to remain anonymous, voted “No” on Question 2.
“I don’t think any teachers are unmotivated to have their kids do better, but I think we’ve kind of twisted the meaning of [the MCAS]. While we wanted the MCAS and other state testing to give proof to the inequities that we knew [existed in public education], now we’re blaming the inequities on the test,” she said.
In her view, walking away from the MCAS will relieve the upward pressure to close the educational attainment gap and result in greater inequities down the road. According to a nonpartisan report by the Tufts Center for State Policy Analysis, eliminating statewide graduation requirements has the potential to precipitate a “race to the bottom” among school districts looking to boost graduation rates by lowering standards for their students.
Melanie McLaughlin, a parent of three, was conflicted about her “Yes” vote on Question 2. Although she ultimately cast her vote in favor of eliminating the requirement out of concerns for equity, she remains worried about the vacuum of statewide standards that has been created in the wake of the passage of Question 2.
McLaughlin’s youngest daughter is intellectually disabled and on out-of-district placement, a practice designed to allow disabled students to attend schools in other districts if their home district cannot reliably meet their learning needs.
“Students with disabilities who need additional support … may attend [public school] up to 22 [years of age] based on their needs,” McLaughlin said.
The problem, according to McLaughlin, is that many may now opt to graduate on time, forgoing any further years of schooling they would have been entitled to had they not passed the MCAS. She cited higher graduation rates for disabled students during the COVID-19 pandemic to back up her claim that relaxed graduation requirements may lead more students and families to forgo additional schooling.
Regardless of their feelings on Question 2, all three Medford community members with whom the Daily spoke said that there is room for improvement in both statewide and district-level educational standards.
“I don’t know how much project-based learning there is; I don’t think there’s a ton of it. … I think because we are a community that doesn’t test that well, there is always this pressure on [teaching to the test],” Klein said.
She feels that greater investment in the arts would allow Medford students to demonstrate forms of intelligence she believes cannot be measured by a standardized test.
“The result of this question shows that most people agree that centering education around only test results is something that the majority of the public sees as problematic, and hopefully our leaders see that and take it into account as they plan what makes a good education,” she said. “[The passage of Question 2] is a good opportunity.”
