Final week, Massachusetts took a major step backward in its dedication to schooling and pupil success by repealing the requirement for highschool college students to move the Massachusetts Complete Evaluation System (MCAS) to earn their diplomas.
The choice to desert this customary displays a rising pattern throughout the nation to decrease the bar on accountability in schooling—a shift that allegedly promotes fairness however really harms college students, particularly those that most want assist.
For many years, MCAS has offered college students, households, and educators with an goal measure of pupil achievement, making certain that graduates meet important tutorial requirements earlier than pursuing employment, enlistment, or postsecondary schooling alternatives.
The MCAS commencement requirement has been a foundational factor of Massachusetts’s success, driving one of many nation’s most revered schooling methods and setting a excessive bar for college kids. By eradicating this requirement, we’re diluting the worth of a Massachusetts diploma, sending college students into the following part of their lives much less ready and fewer aggressive.
Massachusetts leaders, together with Governor Maura Healey, Secretary of Schooling Patrick Tutwiler, and Senate President Karen Spilka, opposed dropping the commencement requirement. They need to be counseled for his or her dedication to accountability.
Some supporters of the repeal argued that eradicating MCAS necessities can be a transfer towards fairness, suggesting that standardized assessments unfairly drawback sure pupil populations. Others contended that testing hampers important pondering and prevents individualized instruction. However decreasing requirements will not be the reply.
Schooling fairness means making certain all college students have entry to high-quality schooling and the assist they should meet rigorous expectations. Eradicating this important tutorial benchmark does nothing to handle the underlying problems with inequity—and can probably exacerbate them.
