BOSTON (WWLP) – New legislation on Beacon Hill is looking at ending MCAS graduation requirements and changing the state’s takeover system.
The bill, An Act Empowering Students and Schools to Thrive, also known as the Thrive Act, was introduced this session to change how students and schools are evaluated.
Currently, students have to pass the MCAS in order to graduate. Instead, under the legislation, it would be the academic coursework that would prove the students ability.
The bill would also end the state’s school takeover system and replace it with a “comprehensive support and improvement system.”
“This one test is the future of a students ability to get a diploma, and it also could determine whether or not the school is taken over by the state. So, that’s an outsized relationship to a single test,” said Sen. Jo Comerford of Amherst.
With how things stand now, a school can be partially or fully taken over if a school district has low MCAS scores. However, there is no clear-cut way out for schools to exit the takeover.
According to supporters of the bill, state takeovers “target” school districts with high poverty rates. Massachusetts is only one of eight states that requires passing a standardized test to graduate.