MCAS: The debate over Question 2, an effort to drop the high school ‘exit exam’

Question 2 on the November ballot seeks to end a state mandate that Massachusetts public high school students pass the MCAS in order to graduate.

The MCAS, officially called the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, is the series of standardized tests taken at several grade levels to evaluate student learning in English, math and science. For decades, the tests have been a source of controversy within the education community.

In 2003, the state made the 10th grade MCAS a graduation requirement. If passed, the ballot measure would no longer allow schools to withhold diplomas from high schoolers for failing the exam.

The Massachusetts Teachers Association, the state’s largest teacher’s union, is spearheading the “Yes on 2” campaign. Its leaders argue the mandate prioritizes the development of test-taking skills at the expense of classroom instruction that more holistically prepares kids for college or work. They also say the graduation requirement disadvantages students with disabilities, those from low-income backgrounds or whose first language is not English.

Supporters of the MCAS as a condition to graduate argue it’s a uniform method the state can rely upon to assess students’ readiness for college and careers, and to identify gaps in student achievement while setting a high bar for mastery of certain subjects.

Here’s a closer look at Question 2 and the arguments for and against it:

What exactly would Question 2 do?

The ballot measure would end the state’s use of the 10th grade MCAS test as a graduation prerequisite or high school “exit exam.”

What your vote means, as written by the secretary of state’s office

“A ‘yes vote’ would eliminate the requirement that students pass the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) in order to graduate high school but still require students to complete coursework that meets state standards.

“A ‘no vote’ would make no change in the law relative to the requirement that a student pass the MCAS in order to graduate high school.[/keyfigures]

Should the stakes around the test be dropped, high schoolers would still be required to successfully complete coursework that meets state curriculum standards in English, math and science. It’s unclear, however, how coursework might differ from district to district.

Today, the only other mandatory courses are U.S. history and four years of physical education. The measure would not alter those requirements.

And, Question 2 does not ask voters to dispense with the MCAS altogether.

The state could keep administering the tests — which students sit for in grades 3-8 and 10 — and keep using them as a way to gather data and assess student and school district performance.

If Question 2 passes, the new rule would take effect for this year’s senior class, or those set to graduate in spring 2025, according to a spokesman for the Massachusetts Teachers Association. The vast majority of students pass the test on their first try, according to academic researchers and state education officials.

Students first started taking the MCAS in 1998 in the wake of the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993, which upped state education funding and developed new content and accountability standards to try to level the playing field between districts. With the exception of a brief hiatus during the pandemic, the MCAS has been a graduation requirement for two decades.

Fewer than a dozen states, including Massachusetts, require an exit exam for graduation. In the mid-1990s, twice as many states forced students to test out of high school, according to the National Center for Fair & Open Testing.

What do supporters of Question 2 argue?

The effort to scrap the MCAS graduation requirement didn’t emerge all of a sudden: it reflects a years-long push by the teacher’s union to boost more “authentic” instruction and autonomy in the classroom.

And campaign organizers argue dropping the “high stakes” around the exam has taken on greater urgency in recent years.

“The [COVID-19] pandemic ratcheted it up, like what are we doing, offering this stressful and limiting test at a moment of a pandemic?” said Max Page, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association.

Question 2 proponents argue MCAS prep cuts into instructional time and dampens the joy of learning, often causing students stress and anxiety. They add it stifles the development of life skills like how to collaborate on projects, speak in public or think critically.

“The MCAS simply measures the ability to be a good test taker,” said Deb McCarthy, a former teacher and vice president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association. “We know that our students are not standardized and that they present diverse, rich, learning profiles.”

Students who fail can re-take the MCAS several times before the end of senior year or lodge an appeal based on work samples, GPA or a transcript. But critics argue the re-test process preoccupies students from engaging in other courses, and in extreme cases, they claim students have dropped out of school after failing the test.

“There are certainly multiple factors of why a student may drop out of high school, but failure to reach the ‘cut score’ on the 10th grade MCAS is certainly an important one,” Page said.

The Massachusetts Teachers Association has so far poured $3.2 million — all in-kind contributions — into its “Yes on 2” campaign, based on the most recent financial reporting period ending on Sept. 1.

What do opponents of Question 2 argue?

A coalition of business leaders, state policymakers and educators say the MCAS is the only objective metric the state possesses to measure a student’s readiness for graduation. They argue it raised expectations for students and strengthened the state’s education rankings and reputation.

Eliminating the MCAS as a graduation tool, opponents say, will create a patchwork of criteria across the state’s 300-plus school districts and widen inequities.

Keri Rodrigues, a Woburn mother of three and founder of the parent advocacy group Massachusetts Parents United, said there’s risk in leaving measures up to each district.

“Kids that are going to school in Boston, in Lawrence, in Brockton, in Springfield, they could have a different set of requirements than kids that are going to school in Wellesley, Newton, any of the other suburbs that are more well-resourced,” she said. “Those kids are going to have to meet a much more rigorous requirement to pass graduation. And are going to be a hell of a lot more prepared to go into college and take those college-level courses.”

Opponents also contend the MCAS graduation requirement helps institute “corrective action” by allowing comparison of student performance across different schools and districts.

When to vote

• Registration deadline: Oct. 26
• Apply to vote by mail: Oct. 29
• Early voting: Oct. 19-Nov. 1
• Election Day: Nov. 5

James Conway, a world history and psychology teacher at Revere High School, argues the mandate motivates teachers to teach content reflected in the exam and ensures teachers hold high expectations of all students.

“The MCAS test forces all of us to take ownership of passing these kids and making sure that they can get ahead,” he said in an interview. “It lets employers know, colleges know, that these kids have a high school diploma that’s actually worth something.”

The “Protect Our Kids’ Futures: Vote No on 2” coalition launched its first digital ad campaign in late July propped by more than $250,000 in financial and in-kind contributions from major business and tech industry members. The group has spent over $785,000 as of Sept. 1, Office of Campaign & Political Finance reports show.

Several state officials have also spoken out against the ballot initiative. Gov. Maura Healey said she supports it as an important assessment tool, while Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler has expressed concern about the array of graduation criteria that could emerge across districts if the measure passes.

A policy brief released in early September by Tufts University’s Center for State Policy Analysis did not take sides on the ballot measure. However, it raised questions about how the state would ensure districts meet state-backed standards for student learning.

“Exactly how this will be policed is unclear, but the ballot language seems to imply some kind of acceptable enforcement, potentially via reviews or audits of individual districts,” the brief states.

What research about Question 2 and the MCAS shows

Roughly 90% of high schoolers pass the Grade 10 MCAS on their first try, while 96% meet the threshold on a re-take or through a state-approved alternative to the test, according to the Tufts brief.

Only a small percentage of students do not pass the MCAS. Of roughly 69,400 high school test-takers who completed all other graduation requirements in 2019, about 1,200 students — or 1.8% — could not pass all three MCAS exams to earn their diploma, according to a June study by researchers at Brown University’s Annenberg Institute. Of that group, 85% were English language learners or students with disabilities.

The share of students who do not pass the MCAS and cannot fulfill their district requirements for graduation is even smaller, at roughly 700 students per year, according to the Tufts policy analysis.

“In a narrow sense, Question 2 is about a few hundred students each year — out of a statewide class of roughly 70,000 — who lose the opportunity to graduate because they haven’t passed the 10th grade MCAS or otherwise earned a competency determination from the state,” the brief states.

Still, some research suggests high school exit exams may lead to better post-graduation outcomes.

In 2011, the rate of Massachusetts students who went on to four-year colleges was higher than it was in 2003, the first year the MCAS graduation requirement took effect, Brown University researchers concluded in a 2020 study.

And according to their most recent study, released this year, MCAS scores predict longer-term post-secondary and economic success “above and beyond” certain other metrics, like grades.

“Our evidence suggests that students who have higher test scores indeed have better academic skills in tested subjects that pay off in the labor market,” the report states.

At the same time, students who nearly failed the test were less likely to earn a college degree, or, by age 30, earn a living wage — $48,807 for a single person in Massachusetts, the study noted.

The report, however, acknowledged the roles income and “family advantage” play in MCAS performance, as higher-income households can afford to invest in kids’ learning outside school or prepare them from an early age for standardized tests.

Researchers also added a cautionary note: schools that focus too much on raising test scores without improving students’ underlying skills won’t do much to boost academic or social skills.

“There’s no silver bullet answer to measure student progress and success,” said John Papay, associate professor of education and economics at Brown University and director of the Annenberg Institute.

“Some folks point to great student grades as a good measure. Some folks point to test scores,” he added. “And I think that what we found is they both show similar things, but also test scores predict long-term outcomes even if we compare students who have the same grades, who attend the same high school.”

Other perspectives

Rachel Williams-Giordano teaches AP U.S. History and AP African American history at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, a public high school.

While students at the school do “fairly well” on the MCAS, Williams-Giordano said it’s a “disruption” to their regular learning and thus a challenge.

She added it’s far from a comprehensive measure of a student’s abilities and said there should be greater emphasis on holistic education that includes decision making, financial literacy and civics education.

“An exam does not make something rigorous,” Williams-Giordano said. “You can give someone a really complex exam and they can be very successful on it, but they may struggle with arriving on time, meeting deadlines, writing something that’s cohesive on a consistent basis.”

Even many supporters of the high-stakes MCAS acknowledge its shortcomings. They recommend offering the test in more languages, making subject matter more culturally relevant and speeding up test result turnaround time.

Ed Lambert, executive director of the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education, said he’d also support adding some form of project-based component to the test.

“But the bottom line,” said Lambert, a Question 2 opponent, “is that having some measure of academic success as measured in a common assessment like the MCAS has to be part of that equation moving forward.”

The debate over this ballot question has created ripples on Beacon Hill. Jason Lewis, state Senate chair of the education committee, said he plans to file legislation in the upcoming session this January to replace the MCAS graduation requirement with the successful completion of MassCore, a state-recommended study of high school coursework that not all districts currently use.

“I believe we can improve and strengthen our public education system for all students, especially disadvantaged students, if we replace the MCAS graduation requirement with a more holistic graduation standard,” Lewis, who plans to vote “yes” on Question 2, said in a statement.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.