Elimination of the MCAS graduation requirement: Vote Yes to question two | Opinion

It is time to eliminate the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System completion requirement.

On Monday night, in a narrow 4-4-1 vote, Cambridge City Council rejected a policy order to support ballot question two in the upcoming state election. A yes vote on question two would eliminate the 10th-grade MCAS — a battery of standardized tests designed to assess students' performance in English language arts, math and science — as a statewide requirement for high school graduation.

At the heart of the debate is the question of who gets to decide what level of performance a diploma means. Opponents of eliminating the graduation requirement argue that diplomas would become meaningless if individual districts determined what level of achievement students must demonstrate in order to graduate. Without a central authority to ensure compliance with basic educational standards, districts could let underqualified students fall through the cracks.

Proponents of the bill include the Massachusetts Teachers Association, which argues that eliminating the MCAS requirement would benefit both students and teachers. Students' abilities cannot be fully measured by a test, it says, and removing that requirement would allow teachers to better educate “the whole child.”

The MTA's argument is compelling, not least because few understand the realities of the classroom better than the people who spend their days working directly with students.

The teacher's understanding of the student is fundamentally different from that of the statewide administration. When the teacher thinks of his students, he thinks in terms of individual relationships and specific experiences. The administrator, on the other hand, only has to take “students” into account overall. Therefore, they inevitably rely on data like that of MCAS – without it, it is impossible for the administrator to account for the Commonwealth's more than 900,000 enrolled students.

The second voting question asks whether the teacher or the administrator should decide on the high school diploma. Ending the MCAS requirement would make the question of graduation more or less dependent on whether students perform adequately in their courses according to the grades assigned by teachers.

Both viewpoints provide useful insight into Massachusetts schools. While teaching is fundamentally a relational and intimate practice that imparts critical, unique knowledge about the student, understanding broader issues of equity and excellence across the state requires a bird's-eye view only possible through standardized numbers.

But these two perspectives are not as incompatible as they seem.

The MCAS and similar assessments are designed to measure the overall successes and failures of districts. By collecting a sample of each student (in the form of their MCAS score), the state can develop a sense of where students are excelling and where they are falling short.

However, these exams fall short when it comes to assessing individual students. Students have days off. They may have a teacher who is not a good fit for them. Maybe they are bad test takers. Such concerns are beyond a student's control and should not be the reason for them not pursuing a degree.

Viewed this way, the answer to the second question becomes clear: If these exams measure district performance more accurately than individual student performance, we must eliminate them as graduation requirements.

This does not mean that a system based solely on classroom assessments and district-implemented requirements is perfect. It may well be that there are teachers and schools in the Commonwealth willing to pass any student, regardless of ability. But this problem can also be solved.

The second question does not eliminate the need to conduct MCAS exams, which students must continue to take as an assessment of their aptitude. Rest assured, the state will continue to collect data at the county level. In fact, Massachusetts can use this data to ensure that educational standards remain high without making the MCAS a graduation requirement.

For example, if testing data indicates that students at a particular school are achieving higher graduation rates than current MCAS requirements suggest, this should draw statewide administrators' attention to the district. If all students in a district graduate but many cannot pass the MCAS, that would raise concerns that the school is not assessing students rigorously. By comparing graduation rates with MCAS performance, administrators can still assess which districts need additional support.

Rather than being used to penalize students with subpar test-taking skills, MCAS data should simply be used to enforce graduation readiness standards on a district-by-district basis. Individual students should not be held responsible for failings by the school they currently attend or for mishaps on exam day.

Students are partly responsible for their education, but we must take into account their age – they are also children and young adults – as well as the elements of chance that can influence test results. Much of the blame for poor testing must lie with the professionals and schools responsible for educating these students, along with many factors entirely external to the school system. Only by solving problems that exist at the school, district, community and national levels can true excellence be achieved.

This election day, vote “yes” on question two.

​​Allison P. Farrell '26, editor at Crimson Editorial, is a philosophy concentrator at Leverett House.