Thanks to the Recorder and reporter Erin-Leigh Hoffman for highlighting significant problems with the Healey administration’s proposed high school graduation requirements (“Recommended high school graduation requirements face local uncertainty about implementation,” July 9). In 2024, voters approved ballot Question 2 with a 59% vote because they do not want standardized tests to be a barrier to graduation.
The governor’s proposals partially restore that barrier, which will again force teachers to teach to the test. It’s even more troubling that the requirements represent an outdated and failed approach to preparing our students for successful lives in our rapidly evolving and challenging society.
Citizens for Public Schools worked to educate Massachusetts voters about the 2024 ballot question to end the MCAS graduation requirement. After the vote, CPS solicited the views of hundreds of stakeholders across Massachusetts who attended our People’s Forums on Graduation Readiness to discuss how we know students are ready for life after high school.
Participants said they wanted schools to develop students’ critical thinking, academic literacy, communication and collaboration skills and civic mindedness, among other things. Few of these can be measured with standardized tests.
While the governor’s final recommendations include some potentially valuable elements, we believe that, overall, they miss the mark. We oppose the inclusion of a new set of state standardized tests via end-of-course tests for an undetermined set of high school courses. The administration’s stated intention is for these new tests to “meaningfully count” in determining whether a student can graduate. This goes directly against the will of the voters.
I encourage readers to reach out and talk to their legislators, school committee members, and school leaders, urging them to push back against efforts to reinstate the failed high-stakes standardized testing regime.
Lisa Guisbond, executive director of Citizens for Public Schools
Brookline