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Now that MCAS is no longer a requirement for graduation, the question for school districts is how to determine student competency. More importantly, what happens to students on track to graduate in 2025 who have yet to pass the MCAS?
It’s a question Winchester High School is grappling with and with graduation less than five months away, they have to grapple quickly.
In November 2024, voters passed a referendum 51 to 49% that ended a state mandate that required 10th graders to pass the MCAS in order to graduate high school. While many applauded the move, it left a gap for students who have yet to pass the exam, but are set to graduate because retesting is no longer an option.
“A lot of people think we can now just meet graduation requirements in districts, and then we’re all set where actually the language in the law is that competency determination is designated as something separate,” said Assistant Superintendent of Schools Jennifer Elineema, during a recent School Committee meeting.
She added the immediate concern is for students who have failed to pass MCAS.
Students who have passed the test have met the competency requirement and can proceed to graduation.
Elineema said when it comes to the determination of competency, there is some definite gray area.
In the wake of November’s vote, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), the Board of Education and state legislators are all trying to navigate the now murky waters of guidelines or parameters and responsibility.
But for Winchester the path is clear, Elineema said, adding the district needs to determine its own competency requirements, which the School Committee then needs to approve and set as policy in addition to graduation requirements.
She also noted the state dropped this new “guideline” on districts across the commonwealth right before winter break, which is why the committee was just hearing about it.
Elineema said she thought the best plan forward was:
• Work internally with an administrative team to draft recommendations to the policy subcommittee.
• Meet with the policy subcommittee to discuss the recommendations by late January.
• First reading of the new policy at School Committee by early February, get feedback
• Second reading and vote on the policy at the School Committee by late February.
“I will say, just to say this again, it’s possible we do this work, and it’s very short-term work that then has to be revised, redone, or it is mandated to us by the state going forward,” Elineema said. “But that’s where we sit right now, and we need to make those plans.”
School Committee member Michelle Bergstrom asked if it was possible for students to do an alternate MCAS portfolio, where a collection of a student’s work is used to determine educational performance.
Elineema said unless the student had been approved for a portfolio alternative prior to the November election, that option was also dead.
Committee member Chris Nixon worried DESE or the Legislature would come out with guidelines or mandates that might impact what the board does.
“It could be mandates and it could be guidelines,” Elineema said. “It won't be anything for this year, they’ve been pretty clear about that. It won’t be that quick.”
Nixon said he only asked because he sees the opportunity of determining competency requirements as a sort of green light “for us to be really reflective on what we think it should be in Winchester and make it our own.”
Elineema said that made sense and agreed they should tailor the requirements to the district’s priorities.
School Committee Chair Karen Maruyama Bolognese said if the timeline worked for Elineema, then they were fine with it.
She admitted it was a little fast.
“But that’s what DESE is urging, that we’re quick with this, we’re clear with this, we get it out to families and students,” she said. “We do want to be fair, for all of our students so that they know what the expectations are.”
