State officials weigh options to replace MCAS
BOSTON (WWLP) – The Massachusetts Board of Education met on Tuesday to work on a new set of regulations to ensure all Massachusetts high school graduates have hit their learning benchmarks.
Education Board inches toward vocational school reforms
Students in Massachusetts high schools will still take the MCAS, but it will no longer determine whether they are able to graduate. Instead, each student will need to meet certain competency benchmarks in areas like English and math.
The Board of Education is still working on how to define 'competency' to make sure students are held to the same standard. The State is also considering adding additional competency areas–such as US and world history–but is adamant that the MCAS will not be replaced by another test, but instead by coursework and teacher recommendations.
According to the board's vice chair Matt Hills, almost 1,500 current high school seniors have failed to pass the MCAS AND coursework requirements.
'We have a really immediate problem, to stick that requirement in front of a student in the middle of grade 12 is problematic at best. I don't even know how a district deals with it,' Hills said.
As of now, one solution the board is considering is issuing waivers to current high school seniors to allow them to graduate as the state continues to work out new regulations. The board expects to present its first set of new regulations as early as next month, with the hopes of having the requirements apply to the graduating class of 2026.
WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on WWLP.com.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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