As students once again take the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) exams this spring, educators and policymakers across the state are redefining what it means to graduate from high school without a standardized testing requirement.

Following last year’s decision to eliminate the MCAS graduation mandate, school districts are now setting their own standards for demonstrating academic mastery. Previously, students needed a scaled score of 472 on the English Language Arts MCAS and 486 on the Math MCAS to pass.

In order to ensure common educational standards across the state, Massachusetts Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler is currently leading a statewide initiative – the newly established Graduation Council – to draft a more robust definition of what it means to graduate from high school in Massachusetts, and expects to deliver a set of recommendations to Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey by the end of this calendar year.

“We’re calling it the Graduation Council,” Tutwiler said. “We’re beginning conversations around [questions such as] ‘What are the substantive content areas that we want students to experience? What are the competencies that we expect each student to master and be able to demonstrate? And what are the experiences we expect students to have?’”

Although passing the MCAS is no longer mandatory for earning a diploma, the assessment itself remains a federally required measure of academic progress, and districts continue administering these exams to fulfill those obligations. As a result, some are left wondering how exactly this development impacts students.

“I do worry about how serious high school students will take the MCAS, given that successful performance is no longer required for graduation,” Tutwiler said.

While each district previously set its own specific coursework standards but relied on passing the MCAS for a diploma, communities now have greater freedom to define how students demonstrate mastery in English, math and science. Originally, the MCAS fulfilled the Competency Determination (CD) standard. Now, individual communities can decide how they’d like to meet the CD standard.

“Communities have to decide how their students are demonstrating mastery, through course completion, in the content areas of English, math and science – reflective of the same content areas and standards that were assessed on the MCAS,” Tutwiler said.

While statewide policymakers are working to address these new changes, Wayland school officials and educational administrators are currently engaging in their own discussions about what it means for students to graduate moving forward. Wayland School Committee Chair Erin Gibbons explained that with the removal of the MCAS requirement, Wayland has begun reexamining its graduation standards.

“It has made the school committee think about reevaluating the graduation requirement,” Gibbons said. “Because the [MCAS and graduation requirements] kind of go hand in hand, [we are] seeing where there might be room for change because the graduation requirements haven’t been looked at in a long time.”

Previously, passing the MCAS served as evidence of student competency in key subjects, reducing the need for districts to define additional graduation standards. Now, the Wayland School Committee and school administrators are considering alternative ways students can demonstrate academic mastery.

“I think there’ll be some guidance that’s going to come out from the Department of Secondary Education later this year around May [regarding the] MCAS,” Gibbons said. “There’s this window right now where we have to find a way to somehow determine that students are competent without using MCAS as that barometer.”

According to Gibbons, one idea under consideration includes requiring students to achieve at least a 60% average in Algebra II and Geometry classes. For students who struggle to meet this standard, the school would provide supportive resources, including special education assistance, to help them succeed.

The school would also provide alternative options for students who do not pass required classes, failing to meet the competency requirement. These options include retaking the class over the summer or creating a portfolio to demonstrate mastery of essential skills.

“It would be great if students [could provide] thoughts or input on what was suggested and what we approved and voted on last week for the replacements of [the MCAS graduation requirement],” Gibbons said. “[We’d like to hear] suggestions going forward as well.”

Since 2003, the MCAS had been required for graduation across public schools in Massachusetts. However, in the 2024 general election, voters chose to eliminate the MCAS graduation requirement which marked the end of a long-running debate over the role of the MCAS as an “exit exam.” With 59.1% of votes in favor, its removal indicated a growing public sentiment that the tests’ drawbacks outweighed its benefits.

“There’s long been a very fraught discussion over standardized testing and, in particular, who benefits and who is most hurt by it,” Tutwiler said. “I think the history of that discussion landed squarely in the conversations around whether to keep [the MCAS] as a graduation requirement or move on to something else. The voters were very clear that they were ready to move on to something else.”

The MCAS was originally administered to students from third through tenth grade enrolled in public schools. In high school, students typically took three subject-specific MCAS exams: Biology in 9th grade and English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics in 10th grade. Designed to measure students’ proficiency in key academic areas based on Massachusetts curriculum frameworks, the MCAS served as a uniform accountability tool for public schools and gave families an objective measure of their child’s and school’s progress.

Supporters of removing the MCAS graduation mandate argued the tests were inadequate measures of students’ full academic capabilities, particularly English language learners and students with disabilities. Opponents, including business leaders and Gov. Maura Healey, emphasized that the MCAS ensured statewide academic rigor and correlated strongly with future earnings in the labor market.

Without the MCAS graduation requirement, districts may potentially set less rigorous standards, leading to inconsistencies in graduation requirements across the state. As a result, some are worried that over time, employers and colleges might view the Massachusetts high school diploma as carrying a lower or uneven level of academic rigor, diminishing its perceived value.

However, Tutwiler explained that there are different ways to measure how students are performing in Massachusetts from the number of students earning industry-recognized certificates to the number of students graduating from high school having already taken a college class or a college-level equivalent course, like an Advanced Placement course.

“I would say these are all pretty substantive indicators of the quality of the education that Massachusetts high school students are getting,” Tutwiler said. “While we’re working on hammering out what a new graduation requirement might look like, I feel pretty confident that students are still getting an excellent education in Massachusetts, and there are other things I could point to indicating as much.”

Although Tutwiler says he fought hard to keep the MCAS graduation requirement, he explains that he also respects the process and respects the outcome. Looking ahead, he aims to work around the Graduation Council to figure out what the path forward looks like in terms of graduation requirements.

“I think we have a really unique and important opportunity to collaboratively define what it means to graduate from high school in Massachusetts,” Tutwiler said. “It’s not merely about what Pat Tutwiler thinks. It’s not merely about what Gov. Healey thinks. It’s about what Massachusetts thinks.”