MCAS is still a thing for Medford 10th graders

MCAS may no longer be a graduation requirement, but it doesn’t mean Medford 10th graders won’t still be taking them.

“There’s compliance that is put from the federal level onto the states to make sure that we are adhering to common core, to local frameworks and so the participation in MCAS has always been a requirement, and continues to be a requirement for us, and participation is not optional,” said Interim Superintendent Dr. Suzanne Galusi. “Students should be taking the MCAS, and so we have been informed that it is still going to be an accountability measure for local districts.”

In November 2024, 59% of voters agreed MCAS should not serve as the competency determination for high school graduation.

“This mandate has removed MCAS being used as a graduation requirement for competency determination, but it is still going to be used to assess and put a rating to districts in terms of their accountability,” she said.

Current graduation requirements are the following:

• English — 4 years

• Wellness — 4 years

• Math — 4 years (including geometry and algebra)

• Science — 3 years (including biology and chemistry)

• Social Studies — 3 years

• Foreign Language — 2 years

• Fine Arts — 1 year

• Community Service — 4 years (60 hours or roughly 15 per year)

Galusi said once Question 2 was approved by voters, it put a whole lot of work on school districts to figure out. She said officials had many meetings with a large number of people on the high school level and came up with a new policy regarding graduation and competency.

Proposed changes

“We’re not looking right now to fully change our local graduation requirements, but we do need some updated language,” said Galusi.

Under proposed changes, everything would essentially stay the same except for the competency determination. Galusi said some things were tweaked, such as math is now an integrated program, and “foreign language” is now “world language.”

Galusi said the number of years attached to each subject is still the same; only the competency part has largely changed.

But for students moving forward, and those who have yet to pass the 10th grade MCAS requirement, Galusi said competency will be earned by completing grade 9 and 10 English, integrated Math 1 & 2, and high school biology, as aligned with the state frameworks “and participation in MCAS ELA, math and biology tests as assigned.”

Galusi also said students that receive a “not meeting expectation” score will have to participate in at least one retest.

For the Class of 2025, if students have earned their competency determination by passing the grade 10 ELA, math and biology, they are all set.

“They’ve met that competency determination, and provided that they’ve met the local graduation requirements, they will be all set to graduate,” she explained.

For students who have not earned their competency determination, Galusi said the district is already vetting their coursework history and working with parents and caregivers to get students to graduation with competency determination.

Galusi said there are still internal conversations around how students will understand that while MCAS is no longer a graduation requirement, it is an important assessment — and not only for them.

Unless they are going for a scholarship that is tied to an MCAS score, and Galusi said somewhere that’s the case, MCAS won’t hold students back, “but it will impact the district.”

Reactions

School Committee member Paul Ruseau argued that while the district might still be required to give the MCAS test, students are not required to take it.
Ruseau said he believes most kids will take the test as a matter of course.

“I think it’s important to understand that the requirement is given to them, but is not required,” he said.

Galusi reminded the School Committee that the whole situation is very fluid. The governor has just created a committee to figure out exactly what the referendum vote means for districts, she said, and it’s created a lot of conversation.

“I hear what you’re saying, but right now, we are beholden to the mandate, which only removed the local graduation requirement, and so we still are going to have our accountability rating tied to this test,” the superintendent said.

Galusi also said she wouldn’t be surprised if districts received further guidance before the end of the year in terms of graduation requirements.

“I think I’m going to be back here probably more than once to update this policy on behalf of the Medford School Committee,” she said.

A motion to update the police on graduation requirements passed unanimously.

Have you got a story idea, tip or question you would like us to try to answer? Email gottaknowmedford@gmail.com.