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High school juniors won t need to pass MCAS to graduate in 2022
By Katie Lannan
State House News Service
This year s high school junior class will not need to take or pass MCAS tests in order to graduate, under a change approved last week by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.
The move is one of a series of pandemic-influenced shifts the state has made within its standardized testing program since COVID-19 first shuttered school buildings last spring.
Students are typically required to pass 10th grade English and math MCAS exams in order demonstrate competency in the two subjects and graduate. Last year s 10th graders, the class of 2022, did not have an opportunity to take those tests last spring because education officials obtained a federal waiver and legislative approval to cancel the spring 2020 MCAS administration in the early days of remote learning.
Julie M. Cohen/Wicked Local and Michael P. Norton/State House News Service
With the announcement that all districts must provide high school students with full-time, in-person learning by May 17, Newton officials are formulating a plan to meet that requirement.
“Given the DESE [Department of Elementary and Secondary Education] announcement, we will now need to adapt the [remote] Wednesday schedule to meet state requirements,” said Julie McDonough, school communications director. “We had anticipated this announcement and had already begun the planning process.”
“There was more than two months notice to prepare for this,” said Newton resident Matt Hills, a DESE board member. “I am sure that NPS had very good reasons for starting four days having already been told two months ago by DESE that five days a week would be required.”
Weekly Roundup - The old normal
Matt Murphy
Recap and analysis of the week in state government
BOSTON - A quiet settled over Beacon Hill and the State House last week. And for a change, it was supposed to be that way.
The rhythms of the State House, and the bars, restaurants and lunch counters that cater to the capitol crowd, have been off beat for more than a year. The building itself is still closed to the public.
But as another Patriots Day came and went without marathon runners to cheer up Heartbreak Hill and to cheer to the Boylston Street finish line, at least the school-vacation lull felt familiar.
BOSTON This year s high school junior class will not need to take or pass MCAS tests in order to graduate, under a change approved Tuesday by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.
The move is one of a series of pandemic-influenced shifts the state has made within its standardized testing program since COVID-19 first shuttered school buildings last spring.
Students are typically required to pass 10th grade English and math MCAS exams in order demonstrate competency in the two subjects and graduate. Last year s 10th graders, the class of 2022, did not have an opportunity to take those tests last spring because education officials obtained a federal waiver and legislative approval to cancel the spring 2020 MCAS administration in the early days of remote learning.