Newswise — A report released today by the Center for State Policy Analysis (cSPA) at Tufts University's Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life examines the core arguments for and against Massachusetts Ballot Question 2, which lets Massachusetts students graduate from high school without passing the 10th grade MCAS or otherwise proving their readiness to the state.
"The impact of this ballot question hinges on the individual responses of over 300 local school districts," said Evan Horowitz, executive director of cSPA. "They’ll each need to craft appropriate standards for graduation, consistent with state learning expectations, while resisting the temptation to boost graduation rates by setting a low bar."
Today’s report is the second in a series covering all five state ballot questions, to be released over the next two weeks.
Key findings include:
- Question 2 would make Massachusetts one of the few states without a common graduation requirement, whether in the form of a test or a standard curriculum.
- While 10th graders would still take the MCAS, the stakes would be dramatically lower, potentially freeing teachers to focus on knowledge and skills that fall outside of test parameters.
- The direct impact of eliminating MCAS would be limited. In any given year, several hundred high school students—or less than 1 percent of Massachusetts’ high school seniors—are unable to graduate because they fail to pass the MCAS or otherwise prove their readiness to the state.
- Students with cognitive disabilities and English language learners are among the most likely to struggle with the MCAS and could benefit most from more flexible measures of graduation readiness.
- Letting districts set graduation requirements could make it hard to maintain educational standards across the state. Districts with low or falling graduation rates would be tempted to compensate by lowering expectations.
cSPA’s analysis of Question 1 was released earlier this week. In the coming days, cSPA will publish reports on the remaining state ballot questions in Massachusetts.
Executive Director Evan Horowitz will be holding a virtual presentation for media on these reports on Tuesday, Sept. 10. For more information and to RSVP for this briefing, please contact Robin Smyton in the Tufts Media Relations Office at [email protected].
cSPA provides expert, nonpartisan analysis of legislative proposals and ballot questions in Massachusetts. It is based at Tufts University and supported by Tisch College along with a diverse group of funding sources from across the political spectrum. These funders have no involvement in cSPA's work across the Massachusetts ballot questions.
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