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A competency requirement plan is now in place for those few students caught between the end of MCAS era and a pending graduation.
“It’s obviously a little bit of an odd situation, because we’re already in February, and graduation is coming up in June,” said School Committee member Tim Matthews, speaking to the urgency of the issue.
Winchester High School students need to meet two goals to graduate: pass a local requirement and meet a competency determination. In November, however, voters overwhelmingly answered yes to a ballot question that ended a state mandate requiring 10th graders to pass MCAS in order to graduate.
The move came with consequences for those students who have yet to pass the MCAS, but are scheduled to graduate this year.
Assistant Superintendent Jennifer Elineema recently presented the School Committee with an option for the students in graduation limbo.
She said Competency Determination would be awarded to students who complete the following courses with a passing grade:
• English, grades 9 and 10
• STAG 9 and STAG 10 mathematics ( statistics, trigonometry, algebra and geometry) or equivalent for students transferring in from other districts
• At least one of the following — introductory (or higher) courses in physics, biology or chemistry
The district will also accept equivalent coursework completed at prior schools as long as it’s in line with Winchester’s practices for credit transfer and course alignment, according to the presentation.
“We also just wanted to be very clear, this does not pertain to any senior who either passed the MCAS or passed any of the retest up until November, because the new law took effect in January,” said Elineema. “So anyone who already passed, this does not apply to them, this is simply for those students who need to meet a competency determination before this June.”
It also only applies to 2025 graduates.
Elineema said since the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is signaling that more guidelines regarding competency will be forthcoming, it makes sense to simply focus on the Class of 2025 for now.
School Committee member Tom Hopcroft asked Elineema if she could ballpark how many students would be impacted
“We’re in the single digits,” she said. “I recognize how fortunate we are. Many districts are really grappling with this as it’s a much bigger number of students and how to solve this.”
Matthews agreed the new competency determination was in all likelihood an “interim waypoint on our journey to getting to something more final.” But he added, “I thought it was a good waypoint for us to be at.”
