Campaign to eliminate MCAS graduation requirement in Massachusetts has begun • Rhode Island Current

As part of what is likely to be a costly battle over high school testing standards, a union-backed group on Thursday launched an effort to eliminate MCAS as a graduation requirement.

The Committee for High Standards Not High Stakes promoted a website and a new poll showing that, about three months before the November election, a narrow majority supports its campaign – yes to question 2.

The ballot question would remove the requirement that students pass the 10th-grade MCAS test in English, math and science to graduate high school. Instead, students must complete courses that meet state standards. Opponents of the question, which include business groups and nonprofits, say keeping MCAS as a graduation requirement is necessary to maintain statewide standards across all school districts and as a mark of college readiness.

But Max Page, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, said in a statement that the state's students would fail the MCAS graduation requirement.

“From increasing anxiety among all students, to undermining real education through test-focused instruction, to disadvantaging students of color, English learners, and students with learning disabilities, the MCAS graduation requirement is profoundly harmful to our students and does nothing to actually improve learning or critical thinking,” he said.

The anti-MCAS coalition also includes the Massachusetts School Counselors Association. The campaign has hired Jeron Mariani, who led the successful 2022 campaign for the millionaires' tax, as a consultant and Kristin Sosanie, who runs a New Jersey-based public relations firm, for communications.

The campaign released a memo from Mariani pointing to a recent poll of 700 likely voters that found 55 percent would vote yes on Question 2, 37 percent would vote no and seven percent were undecided.

“Voters have strong reservations about the MCAS's ability to accurately measure students' preparation for success after graduation,” he wrote. “Half of voters say they are not convinced that standardized tests can measure students' preparation for success after graduation (26 percent are not at all convinced), and 44 percent oppose the MCAS graduation requirement altogether (33 percent strongly oppose it).”

Washington, DC-based Lake Research Partners conducted the survey between July 13 and 17.

The poll came before a business-backed group opposed to the question launched a $250,000 advertising campaign. Major donors to the Committee to Protect Our Kids' Future include Eastern Bank CEO Bob Rivers, technology entrepreneur Paul Sagan and Ray Stata, co-founder of the Massachusetts High Technology Council.

Both sides have changed their names in recent months. The yes side initially called itself the “Committee to Remove Barriers to Academic Success for All,” while the no camp initially called itself the “Committee to Uphold Educational Standards for Students in Grades K-12.”

Both sides have until September 6 to submit their campaign finance reports, and they must then publicly disclose their spending by that date.

That ballot question is joined by four others on the November ballot: questions that would empower the state auditor to audit the Legislature, allow Uber and Lyft drivers to unionize, legalize psychedelic substances and establish a minimum wage for tipped workers.

This article first appeared on CommonWealth Beacon and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.