A statewide ballot initiative may not impact graduation rates at Brookline High School, but some advocates and education experts in Brookline are arguing that it will boost equity within the district and across the state.
The initiative, which is Question 2 on voters’ ballots across Massachusetts, aims to replace the state’s current MCAS graduation requirement with a certification of competency designed on a school-by-school basis.
While students would still take the federally-required MCAS exams each year, their scores would not determine their eligibility to earn a high school diploma — a practice that began in 2003.
In Brookline, students graduating from BHS must pass the MCAS and complete a minimum course requirement including classes in English, math, world language and science.
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In the past 10 years at BHS, no students have been barred from graduating as a result of the MCAS exams, according to the district’s deputy superintendent of teaching and learning, Jodi Fortuna.
Brookline’s School Committee is planning to vote on whether to endorse the ballot measure at its next meeting on Oct. 30.
Proponents of Question 2 such as the Brookline Educators Union and its parent organization, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, argue it will level the playing field for students from low-income families, students of color, students with disabilities and English language learners who are disproportionately held back from graduating as a result of the MCAS requirement.
BEU president Justin Brown said standardized tests like MCAS are not indicative of future success but rather of a student’s test-taking ability, adding that MCAS is “disproportionately punitive” for students from marginalized communities.
“It becomes an equity issue,” Brown said. “A high school diploma is an important part of anybody’s future, if they go into employment or into higher education.”
Bob Weintraub, a former headmaster at Brookline High School who held the position when the Massachusetts Education Reform Law — which introduced the MCAS graduation standard — was enacted in 1993, said he was an initial supporter of the MCAS exam but now believes it should not be a graduation requirement.
“There’s a mythology that if you have a high-stakes test, it’s going to dramatically change the achievement profile of the system,” Weintraub said. “There’s no evidence to support that.”
‘A high minimum bar’
Opponents of Question 2 say removing the MCAS graduation requirement would get rid of a vital statewide standard that ensures all students graduate with the necessary skills and knowledge they need for jobs or higher education.
Paul Reville, a former secretary of education for Massachusetts who helped create the MCAS exam, said the test was designed as a “diagnostic instrument” to spotlight students who had fallen behind and ensure that they get the help they need before graduating — even if it meant staying in high school for a year or more after their planned graduation date.
“The real punishment was to pass students along unprepared for the next level, so they go on to almost certain failure,” Reville said. “The equity move was … to say, ‘We’re going to guarantee you mastery of the things you need to be successful at the next level, and we’re going to set a high minimum bar to do that.’”
Reville also refuted Question 2 proponents’ claim that the MCAS exam is a high-stakes test, stating that students have at least five attempts to pass the exam and that there are other routes to graduate for special needs students and students who perform well in school but not on tests.
As of 2023, Massachusetts, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, New York, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming are the only states that require students to pass standardized tests in order to graduate.
About 12% of Massachusetts 10th graders did not meet expectations on the English, math and science portions of the 2023-24 MCAS exam, barring them from graduating until they retake the test and pass. In Brookline, about 5% of students did not meet expectations in all three subjects.
Of the 10th graders in Brookline who took the 2023-24 MCAS exam, the number of students who met or exceeded expectations in each subject was at least 20% higher for white students than for Hispanic and Black students. Roughly two-thirds of 10th grade students with disabilities did not meet expectations on the English, math and science MCAS.
Teaching lessons catered to standardized tests often takes time away from other lessons and activities, and worsens inequities as students from higher-income families have increased access to academic supplements like tutoring, Brown said.
‘It’s all about MCAS’
Weintraub, who went on from BHS to teach educational leadership courses at Boston University, said he saw the impacts of MCAS graduation requirements on students and educators when he visited schools across the state for his research.
“You go into many, many schools and it’s all about MCAS,” Weintraub said. “In all these schools where the low-income kids are, the whole education system is about MCAS, and that’s crazy.”
Reville argued that the content on the MCAS exam is worth teaching to. Nearly half of the exam is open-ended, encouraging students to think critically and analyze what they’ve learned in class, he said. If students don’t pass the first time, schools should provide additional resources, he said.
“We should not be lamenting the fact that they haven’t qualified for graduation in 10th grade,” Reville said. “We should be focused on what they can do in 11th and 12th grade to get ready for graduation and on giving them the extra help and support they need to get there.”
Voting for the 2024 elections will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Early voting in Brookline began on Oct. 19 and ends Nov. 1. To find your precinct and polling location, visit this website.