Voters ended MCAS exit exams. Now, some worry new tests will replace them

Suleika Soto is a proud mom of two teens in the Boston Public Schools system. Both her daughters make the honor roll, but differences in how they learn, Soto said, affect how they scores on tests.

One of her kids, Soto said, learns best through collaborating with others and excels at exams. The other "chose on her own to relearn Spanish so she can better connect with our family in the Dominican Republic," Soto said, explaining that the district considers her daughter an English language learner. She is on an education plan for students with disabilities.

"Her teachers say she's ready for advanced classes and even college level work," Soto said. "Like many students with learning differences or multilingual backgrounds, she doesn't always test well on standardized tests."

That’s why Soto said she is among those calling for a "nuanced" way to determine if high schoolers are ready to graduate.

The state formerly required public school students to pass standardized tests called the MCAS. While students keep sitting for the exams, a 2024 ballot measure made it so they can fail them and still get a diploma.

As state education leaders and school districts search for a replacement metric, Soto contends that a "one-size-fits-all test can never measure a student's full potential.”

An early draft of potential recommendations, now under review by the state's K-12 Graduation Council, includes "end-of-course exams" that would be designed, administered and graded by the state.

Soto and others gathered at the State House Monday to argue against ever again hinging student graduation on statewide exams.

Jal Mehta, an associate professor at Harvard's Graduate School of Education, said at Monday's gathering that reintroducing such tests “not only ignores the will of the voters … it would also catapult us backwards to a world of test prep for relatively low-level knowledge.”

Gov. Maura Healey ordered the K-12 Graduation Council — comprised of state education leaders, educators, union representatives, students, parents and business executives — to review standards across the U.S. and recommend a path for Massachusetts by next June.

When voters ended the MCAS as an exit exam, some critics worried that without a clear replacement, education standards could vary dramatically across the commonwealth's more than 300 school districts.

In an earlier step, it released last month its “Vision of a Massachusetts Graduate," a six-point blueprint of broad skills it aims to ensure high schoolers possess and demonstrate before graduation. The document does not include details on how these skills would be evaluated.

Since last spring, the council has solicited community perspectives at eight public listening sessions and in a statewide survey.

“It not only ignores the will of the voters … it would also catapult us backwards to a world of test prep for relatively low-level knowledge.”

Jal Mehta

At Monday's gathering, Lisa Guisbond, executive director of Citizens for Public Schools, said her group opposes adopting new standardized exams. She said the community feedback her group has heard suggests the state should usher in grad requirements that emphasize "collaboration," promote "students' awareness of their own strengths and weaknesses" and "respect diverse cultures and different opinions."

Citizens for Public Schools has proposed that students demonstrate their knowledge through capstone projects or group presentations.

Erik Fearing, a longtime math and science teacher who now teaches special education in Revere, said he supports ideas, like capstone projects, that encourage students to become creative problem solvers.

His students have expressed "genuine joy" when he's assigned similar work. For example, Fearing once asked algebra students to write business plans and present them to a teacher "Shark Tank" panel.

"The depth of their learning is plain to see when they talk about how raising the price of their headphones design changes the funding needed ... ," Fearing said. "Or when they figure out how many cookies their food truck has to actually deliver every hour in order to meet their benchmarks.

"They're really doing mathematics in the most real way possible."