HUDSON — Hudson Public Schools leaders recently discussed the next steps after Question 2 was approved during the Nov. 5 election.
The question eliminated passing the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) exams in order to receive a high school diploma. According to the Secretary of State’s office, 59.1% of voters approved the question.
MCAS will still be taken by students, but the results will not stop them from graduating if they meet the requirements of the school district they are in.
“It’s important for everyone to know that the high school MCAS is still being administered and still required by the state,” Superintendent Brian Reagan said during the Dec. 3 School Committee meeting.
The MCAS data will still be used for accountability measures for school districts, he said. Reagan did believe that superintendents across the state are worried about how the accountability of the test will be impacted. If it is not such a “high stakes test” anymore, he asked, “Will they take it seriously?”
Reagan said the scores for 10th graders tend to be better on average than other grade levels. He attributed this potentially to the fact the students know they need to get a certain score to be eligible for their diploma.
Reagan said, “So we’ll have to see how that all unfolds over the next several months. We’ll see.”
MCAS began as a way to measure competency determination for schools, and he said certain thresholds needed to be met for graduation eligibility. MCAS was one piece to meet eligibility.
There are local requirements, he said, for high school graduation, like passing four years of English and three years of mathematics. Students still have to satisfactorily complete coursework that has been certified by the school district and show mastery of skills contained in the state academic standards and curriculum frameworks. The MCAS exams measure these frameworks in terms of the subject content they test students on.
“There’s still tying the test into sort of this idea,” Reagan said.
Reagan said, “We don’t have a recommendation for change tonight. We’re still waiting, but I didn’t want too much time to go by without … just addressing this with everyone.”
The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released guidance about Question 2 on Nov. 6. Reagan said he was “underwhelmed” by the few pages of guidance the department gave as it just noted that the new law could take effect Dec. 5, 2024, and that more guidance will be forthcoming.
He said, “I thought they might have something … prepared.”
The good news, he said, was that students who have met the competency determination, i.e. passed the MCAS, already are all set.
The Dec. 5 date for the new law has not been confirmed, Reagan said. Also, any students who took the November retests will have their results be eligible for graduation.
“I just think that’s important for people to know that what we’re really talking about is the group of 10th graders who will be taking it in the spring,” Reagan said.
He wanted to pull together a small group consisting of himself, Assistant Superintendent Kathy Provost, high school administrators and curriculum-makers from English and language arts, math and science departments to work on recommendations to the School Committee on how to address the issue.
He said, “We do think it’s important for the local district to codify what it means to meet the [competency determination] in Hudson, and that’s what the state is expecting us to do.”
