Insiders weigh replacement standard after MCAS vote

After voters overwhelmingly cast their ballots to eliminate the requirement that Massachusetts high school students pass the MCAS exam in order to receive a diploma, the question of whether the state will pursue a new statewide standard in the exams' place — and what, exactly, that would look like — looms over the upcoming legislative session.

Education insiders said this week that conversations about implementing new education standards in wake of Question 2's passage are already happening, and those who had campaigned against the initiative are pushing for an urgent solution.

Gov. Maura Healey, who opposed the MCAS question, told reporters on Wednesday that the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education will further update regulations.

"It's time for us to continue what, frankly, was started before the election, which was to figure out the new path forward, and what is the new model for a really uniform standard," Healey said. "Because, again, my position is we shouldn't have different expectations for students depending on which ZIP code they're in. There should be a uniformity to our expectations."

She continued, "We're going to do that in discussion with, and in collaboration with a range of stakeholders. So more to come on that."

Last week, the governor said that the voters had spoken on the issue — though she left the door open to legislative changes.

"The voters have spoken on this and I think what's important now is that [the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education] move forward in getting the appropriate guidance out," she said.

With most votes counted, Question 2 to decouple the MCAS from graduation was approved by a margin of 59% to 41%. It takes effect on Dec. 5.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education issued a three-page question-and-answer sheet to districts on the new law on Nov. 6, which advises school leaders that in order to graduate, students now need to "satisfactorily [complete] coursework that has been certified by the student's district as written in the ballot question." It adds that additional guidance on certification is forthcoming.

Healey, Senate President Karen Spilka and House Speaker Ron Mariano said before the election that they were concerned about leaving Massachusetts without any statewide standard for receiving a high school diploma, and left the door ajar on potential legislative action to respond to Question 2 passing.

"What we're asking for is for the administration and the Legislature to urgently collaborate on a different state graduation standard, something that is uniform so we can protect equity for students," said Ed Lambert, executive director of the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education. "It's a process that should include a range of voices, including parents, teachers, business leaders, policymakers and others, to think about what the next iteration of a state graduation standard should look like."

Lambert said he believes the state should consider extending the current MCAS exam requirement for the next few years until a new standard can be developed.

"I think that would be reasonable, but it's not likely to happen," said Jim Peyser, the former secretary of education under former Gov. Charlie Baker, who is now an advisor at education nonprofit Bellwether.

Peyser, who opposed the ballot question, said the state will have to quickly come up with an alternative way to assess whether every high school graduate in Massachusetts is getting an equal education. But he was skeptical of whether the Legislature would be able to come up with an intervention before the end of the school year, or whether they'd be willing to continue the system that voters cast their ballots against for a few more years in the meantime.

"In a perfect world we would have more time. I don't think we have that luxury," Peyser said.

Sources say that when lawmakers, the administration, business groups and the teachers unions that backed the "yes" campaign were negotiating a compromise last spring to try to prevent the initiative from going to the ballot, there was traction around an idea that would have phased the MCAS requirement out over several years and allowed state education officials some time to draft a new regulatory framework to replace it with a new statewide standard. A compromise never emerged and the question went to the ballot instead.

Max Page, the president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association who led the effort to topple the MCAS graduation requirement, said he expects the law to be implemented immediately.

"It was 59% to 41%, I would put that close to a landslide. Either way, it's law, it's the will of the voters. Certainly, there is no doubt about the strength of support for this question," Page said. "So obviously, we just expect the law to be implemented as passed."

He added that there are state standards, "perhaps the highest in the country."

"They are encapsulated in what's called the curriculum frameworks, published for everyone to see, every grade, every subject area, every school," he said. "If you go to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's website, it says this is the way we guarantee there is a commonality across districts and across subjects and across teachers. And our educators and our members of the MTA take those standards very seriously. It's built into the teacher licensure. Is built into the textbooks. It's built into the report cards. So we have very high standards."

But the advocates who were on the "no" campaign say that's still not enough — that the value of a Massachusetts diploma is depleted without a statewide measure for all students to meet in order to graduate.

Since Question 2's passage, and news out of New York that their State Education Department will phase out the requirement of their statewide high school exam, only six states maintain mandatory exit tests for a diploma, according to FairTest, an advocacy center opposed to testing requirements. The six states are Florida, Ohio, Louisiana, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia.

"I think the fact that we now have among the lowest standards in the nation for graduation creates a sense of urgency about which the executive branch really needs to act on," said Paul Reville, secretary of education under former Gov. Deval Patrick and founder of the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy and the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education.

At least one powerful voice from the "yes" side also wants to see a new statewide standard.

Sen. Jason Lewis, who co-chairs the legislative Committee on Education, endorsed Question 2, with the caveat that he planned to file a bill next session to require all students to complete MassCore, a recommended set of courses for high school students.

"MassCore was adopted by the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in 2007 and is currently recommended for all students, but not required. Requiring completion of MassCore in order to receive a high school diploma would strengthen course offerings across all high schools, ensure that all students are receiving a rigorous education, and provide a consistent statewide graduation standard. My legislation will also consider other ways to encourage high-quality student learning experiences, like capstone projects, service learning, vocational/technical education, advanced coursework, and work-based learning. In drafting this legislation, I will be consulting with a wide variety of stakeholders and listening to the voices of students, parents, teachers, and school administrators," says a statement from the senator when he endorsed Question 2 in September.

Lewis held a virtual town hall prior to the election where he took questions from constituents about each of the ballot questions.

One participant asked, "How can we trust that the teachers union would be okay with your alternative?"

"Ah, very fair question," Lewis said. "I mentioned that we had a lot of discussions back in the spring. And that included with the leadership of the teacher unions, and so we certainly spent a lot of time discussing this alternative of MassCore being required as an alternative to graduation. So I know there's a lot of support for this among legislators, among a whole variety of stakeholders, including teacher unions."

He said implementing MassCore statewide would ensure that all students have access to a "rigorous set of courses in math, in science, in English, in the arts, in foreign language."

Asked about Lewis's bill, Page said that the MTA believes that every student should have access to MassCore, but that it would be expensive.

"We certainly think that having a strong course of study is far better than some kind of high-stakes test. But I think there's many details to be looked at," Page said.

About 83% of Massachusetts high school students follow the recommended MassCore course of study, Page said. But for some districts that would like to use the course framework, they don't have the funds to offer two years of world language instruction, which is part of the curriculum, he said.

Page said the state has newly available money to direct towards education initiatives through the voter-approved surtax on high earners, and could use some of that money to fund MassCore statewide.

"With MassCore, I don't think it's a bad idea to pursue that line of discussion," Peyser said. "But it's basically just a listing of courses. It doesn't say specifically what those courses teach. Also, to the extent that the courses that are a part of MassCore are supposed to cover all of the standards in the curriculum frameworks, if you took that really seriously, that would be a very high bar and one that would require a great deal of oversight."

Massachusetts is also a state with a deep tradition of local control in education. The state sets standards and frameworks for what should be taught in schools, but leaves it up to individual districts and teachers to decide what is actually taught in their classrooms.

Efforts to implement certain changes to the state's education system have run up against that local control imperative on many occasions over the years — a recent example of which were bills filed this session targeting early literacy instruction that would have required schools to use state-approved reading curriculum (S 2653 / H 4423). Both House and Senate bills received favorable recommendations from their respective Ways and Means Committees, and went no farther.

They received pushback from local school districts who do not want state-mandated curriculum in their classrooms.

"That's why we used the MCAS exam — we weren't telling schools and teachers how to teach. We were just going to assess if students learned what we believed was vital for college and career success," Peyser said. "It does raise potential local control issues."

Lambert said it wouldn't go far enough to just mandate that all districts implement MassCore.

"Because under the current system, they might self-report, but state officials will tell you they have no idea whether or not districts are actually delivering the content, the rigorous content. So it's certainly an element that should be part of the conversation. But I don't think it's enough," Lambert said.

Reville said he was glad lawmakers were working on a replacement standard, and again urged expediency in that process.

"The Massachusetts high school diploma has lost meaning as a result of this ballot measure, and I think it's incumbent upon leaders in the Commonwealth education leaders to restore a meaningful diploma to high school graduates in Massachusetts," he said.