(Correction appended November 7, 2024)

Massachusetts mom Shelley Scruggs says she鈥檚 spent the last decade thinking and worrying about standardized testing 鈥� specifically the three exams her son would need to pass in order to earn a high school diploma.

A junior at a technical high school in Lexington, her son, who has ADD and an Individualized Education Program, has always found greater success with interactive, hands-on learning and is now studying plumbing.

Last spring, he took the English, science and math exams. While she believes it鈥檚 important to assess how kids are doing in school, a frustrated Scruggs sees the exam requirement as forcing teachers to teach to a test, narrowing curriculum, putting undue stress on students and making the most vulnerable feel bad about themselves.

Her son is one of the approximately 70,000 10th graders who sit for at least one of the three Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) exams each year. Based on state policies, students must earn a passing score on all three exams to earn a diploma. Those who don鈥檛 can try again at least four times and some students are able to participate in an appeal process or an alternative pathway. Ultimately, the vast majority of students 鈥� about 99% 鈥� meet the requirements.

Scruggs said her son鈥檚 experiences motivated her to try and repeal the state鈥檚 graduation requirement. She drafted a ballot initiative last year and began collecting signatures, ultimately joining efforts with the Massachusetts Teachers Association. After collecting 170,000 signatures, the union got the question officially certified on the Nov 6 ballot, where it will appear as Question 2.

Lexington parent Shelley Scruggs, who initiated the ballot question to end the MCAS grad requirement, told legislators: This test 鈥減enalizes students like my son who are just not good test-takers.鈥�

鈥� Massachusetts Teachers Association (@massteacher)

The measure does not propose eliminating the administration of the MCAS exam, but rather its role as a statewide graduation requirement. If it passes, students in Massachusetts would still need to meet the state’s course requirements of gym and American history and civics, along with locally determined requirements set by the roughly 300 school districts.

Scruggs recently got a call from her son鈥檚 guidance counselor: He passed his math and science MCAS exams, but failed the English exam by one point. Describing it 鈥渁s the best phone call I ever got in my life,鈥� she remains staunchly opposed to the graduation requirement and is campaigning alongside the union in favor of Question 2.听

The statewide teachers association has spent more than on the effort.  MTA President Max Page told  , 鈥淲e鈥檝e long  believed that this fixation on this one test does not help us understand how a student or school is doing.鈥� 

Page, and other union representatives, did not respond to 社区黑料鈥檚 multiple requests for comment. 

Those who want to keep the requirement and see the ballot measure defeated 鈥� including Gov. Maura Healey, Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler and The National Parents Union  鈥� argue that the MCAS is a high-quality assessment that is necessary to hold schools accountable, communicate progress with students and their parents and establish consistent academic expectations statewide.

According to the conducted between Oct. 2-6 by Suffolk University and the Globe, 58% of the 500 Massachusetts residents surveyed plan to vote 鈥測es,鈥� on Question 2, eliminating the MCAS graduation requirement, and 37% plan to vote 鈥渘o.鈥�

The state education department recently released the which predictably dropped in the pandemic鈥檚 wake and following the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education鈥檚 decision 鈥� implemented for the first time this spring 鈥�  to for what鈥檚 considered a passing score.

Statewide, 10th graders exceeded or met expectations on the English exam, 48% on the math exam, and 49% on the science one.  Historically, only of students 鈥� around 700 total 鈥� ultimately miss the requirement, the majority of whom are English language learners or have a disability.

Massachusetts resident Keri Rodrigues, president of the National Parents Union and the parent of five kids, one of whom receives special education services, believes that getting rid of the requirement in the name of kids with disabilities is 鈥渞eally offensive.鈥�

鈥淸My son] absolutely took and passed the MCAS 鈥� Kids like Matthew are capable not only of proficiency,鈥� she said, 鈥渂ut excellence.鈥�

Rodrigues argued that the data collected from MCAS scores actually contribute to equity, rather than detracting from it.

鈥淭he idea that we would just toss away data and call it social justice,鈥� she said, 鈥渋s just 鈥� it’s wild to me鈥� we need more data and information on our kids so that we can be better equipped to help them and figure out what the challenges are.鈥�

Massachusetts as a bellwether

The MCAS graduation requirement goes back to the 1993 Education Reform Act; it鈥檚 been used since 2003 as part of the graduation standard. Before that, the only state requirements were a U.S. history course credit and gym classes.

And what happens in Massachusetts, ranked the top state for public education nationally, matters greatly, said James Peyser, former state education secretary.

鈥淚 think Massachusetts in many ways is a bellwether for what goes on around the country鈥� If a question like this succeeds here, I think it’ll send a signal to policymakers and to union leaders and educators 鈥� around the country that maybe it’s time to abandon the whole exercise,鈥� he said.

As election day nears and the debate intensifies, neither side wants to focus on the high passing rate, according to Evan Horowitz, the executive director of at Tufts University who authored on the ballot measure. He found that those who don鈥檛 pass the MCAS typically don鈥檛 meet district requirements for graduation either.

Those in favor of the exam insist it鈥檚 a rigorous standard and those opposed insist it鈥檚 an unfair hurdle, 鈥渟o there’s sort of no constituency to the argument that actually this test might be too easy to really matter, certainly too easy to have a big, statewide fight over,鈥� he said. 

John Papay, director of the at Brown University and lead author of on the MCAS exam, said both test scores and course grades predict longer-term student outcomes and test scores can tell us something beyond grades about how well high schoolers are prepared for college and career. 

He remains concerned about how well vulnerable student groups are being served overall. 

鈥淭he question about the exit exam is a little bit of a red herring around this bigger, critically important question about, 鈥楬ow are we ensuring that English learners [and] students with disabilities, are getting the skills that they need out of the Massachusetts public education system?鈥欌��

Correction: An earlier version of this story mischaracterized the reach of the ballot proposition. The measure proposes the elimination of the MCAS听exam as a statewide graduation requirement. If it passes, students in Massachusetts would still need to meet the state鈥檚 course requirements of gym and American history and civics, along with locally determined measures, set by the roughly 300 school districts.听