I was aware that educational outcomes took a nose-dive during the height of the COVID pandemic, and had heard there was a move afoot to stop requiring students to pass the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) in order to graduate. When I recently ran into Max Page, friend and president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA), he gave me a two-minute update on MCAS reform.

I wanted to learn more, so we scheduled a phone call. Our conversation inspired me to write this column.

With 115,000 members, MTA represents the majority of educators, classroom teachers, professional staff, and educational support professionals working in public schools, colleges, and universities across Massachusetts. The MTA is committed to human and civil rights and advocates for quality public education in an environment in which lifelong learning and innovation flourish.

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 federally mandates standardized testing, but does not require students to pass a test in order to graduate. Massachusetts, along with only eight other states, requires a passing test score in order for students to graduate.

Additionally, school systems with high percentages of students who don’t pass can be put into receivership by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). The Achievement Gap Act of 2010 upped the allotment of charter schools and gave power to DESE to take over underachieving schools, giving it control over curriculum, disciplinary policies, “basically everything.”

Receivership results in the loss of community democratic controls over how schools are run. School committees become meaningless. Teachers, who lose collective bargaining rights, flee to other districts. Southbridge, one of three school districts that has been in receivership along with Lawrence and Holyoke, had a 40% teacher turnover rate this year. Not surprisingly, the Boston Globe concluded in 2022 that, “School takeovers by the state haven’t worked.”

Although the MCAS are required each year between third and 10th grade, except ninth grade, it’s the 10th grade test that counts for graduation. According to Page, about 700 students in the state each year pass their courses, but fail the MCAS and don’t graduate.

Students with “the most significant cognitive disabilities” can take an alternative version of the MCAS, but what happens to students whose parents don’t know such an alternative exists? What happens to students for whom English is their second language? Students who have recently resettled in the U.S.? Students living in low-income school districts, with tax bases that can’t provide needed educational resources? Students who don’t do well taking standardized tests? Students with learning disabilities?

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How ludicrous that a mainly multiple choice exam focusing solely on English language arts, science, and math determines whether a student is allowed to graduate from high school! What about history? Civics? Art? A student who demonstrates creativity, who can write a brilliant essay, who can think critically, but fails the MCAS due to test anxiety, won’t graduate regardless of their school performance.

What is lost for all students when teachers are pressured to prioritize teaching to the test above everything else? What happens to those 700 students who never graduate?

Max believes that high MCAS scores are mostly correlated with family income and education. Real estate agents beckon their customers to “Come to Wellesley. We’re one of the top 10 MCAS scoring communities.” The pause on MCAS because of COVID was associated with a higher graduation rate among low-income and BIPOC students, suggesting course grades are a better predictor of student competence.

Max pointed out that many colleges and universities are making standardized admissions tests optional, including Harvard, Tufts, and Massachusetts public universities, in order to help level the playing field for low-income and BIPOC students. These schools don’t lower expectations, but are open to a multiplicity of evidence indicative of a potential student’s achievement and abilities.

Until I ran into Max Page, MCAS testing had not been on my radar. My daughter is 31. I have a “grand-dog,” but no grandchildren; no reason, I thought, to be focused on school issues. Having spoken with Max, I understood I needed to get involved for the sake of the children whose potential is thwarted by a test. The MCAS graduation requirement perpetuates a racist and classist system of educational inequality that should drive all of us to take action.

An Act Empowering Students and Schools to Thrive, known as the Thrive Act, would remove the MCAS graduation requirement, instead allowing school districts to certify students have satisfactorily completed coursework showing mastery of the skills, competencies, and knowledge required by state standards. The legally required MCAS would continue (much to my chagrin), but wouldn’t be used to deny students diplomas and take over school districts.

And it won’t pass without our voices! Call now and ask your legislator to support The Thrive Act (H. 495 / S. 246) — use malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator for contact info.

Thanks to western Mass. legislators who have co-sponsored the Thrive Act: malegislature.gov/Bills/193/H495/Cosponsor.

An MTA-supported ballot petition letting Massachusetts voters weigh in on replacing the MCAS graduation requirement needs 75,000 signatures to appear on the November 2024 ballot. Add your signature now! Email Paul McClory at pmclory@massteacher.org to find a location collecting signatures.

Sara Weinberger of Easthampton is a professor emerita of social work and writes a monthly column. She can be reached at columnists@gazettenet.com.