Massachusetts students and voters deserve much better than the Healey Administration’s final graduation requirement recommendations, which include a rebooted version of the MCAS graduation requirement that voters decisively rejected in 2024.
While the governor’s final recommendations include some potentially valuable elements, we believe that, overall, they miss the mark. We have significant concerns about several key components, especially the inclusion of a new set of state standardized tests, which state officials call “end-of-course” exams. The administration’s stated intention is for these new tests to “meaningfully count” in determining whether a student can graduate. We believe these tests go directly against the will of the voters, who emphatically rejected the use of statewide, standardized exams as a barrier to graduation in passing Question 2 in 2024.
We also question the wisdom of imposing costly new requirements during a fiscal crisis that is leading to thousands of public school staff layoffs and cuts to educational programs and services across the Commonwealth. → Read More


































