OPINION: MCAS Scores Underscore Need for Graduation Standards

As Massachusetts considers new high school graduation requirements, business and higher education leaders across the Commonwealth say declining MCAS scores demonstrate the need for a strong, statewide academic standard that ensures a Massachusetts diploma represents meaningful preparation for college, career, and civic life.

Statewide, only 45% of 10th graders met/exceeded expectations in ELA, down 6 points from 2025 and 16 points from 2019; 44% did so in math, down 1 point from 2025 and 15 points from 2019; and 41% met/exceeded expectations in high school science, down 5 points from 2025.

At a time when large numbers of students are not meeting statewide academic expectations, Massachusetts should be strengthening, not weakening, the academic standards attached to a high school diploma. Graduation standards must establish a common definition of readiness and require students to demonstrate that they have met it.

The final report of the Governor’s Statewide Graduation Council includes the administration of end-of-course assessments in key academic subjects but does not make clear how the assessments will be used to determine whether a student is ready to earn a diploma.

Business and higher education leaders are urging the Healey Administration to go further by requiring students to demonstrate a minimum level of proficiency on objective, state-designed end-of-course assessments in key academic subjects to graduate high school. They reissued the following statement:

A high school diploma awarded in Massachusetts should represent real readiness for post-secondary success. The most inequitable outcome is granting students a diploma indicating readiness for college and/or career when, in fact, they’re not. When students graduate without mastering core academic skills, they face fewer opportunities, lower earnings, and diminished confidence and our economy suffers.

As business, college, and community leaders, we urge the Healey Administration to adopt a rigorous, statewide graduation standard that ensures every student has achieved mastery of essential academic and durable skills. Requiring coursework alone is not enough; students should be required to pass common sense, state-designed, end-of-course assessments in core subjects to graduate from high school.

End-of-course assessments provide an objective clear, fair, and consistent measure of readiness regardless of zip code or background. Massachusetts owes its students the opportunity to earn a diploma that truly prepares them for college, careers, and civic life.

Signed,

Karen Andreas, President & CEO, North Shore Chamber of Commerce

Jay Ash, President & CEO, Massachusetts Competitive Partnership

Tim Cahill, President & CEO, South Shore Chamber of Commerce

JD Chesloff, President & CEO, Massachusetts Business Roundtable

Nicholas M. Christ, Chairman & CEO, BayCoast Bank

Christopher Cooney, President & CEO, Metro South Chamber of Commerce

Zach Donah, President & CEO, Massachusetts Society of CPAs

Melissa Fetterhoff, President & CEO, Nashoba Valley Chamber of Commerce

Sara Fraim, CEO, Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council

Doug Howgate, President, Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation

Jon Hurst, President, Retailers Association of Massachusetts (RAM)

Ed Lambert, Executive Director, Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education

Chuck Longfield, President, Longfield Family Foundation

Nate Mackinnon, Executive Director, Massachusetts Association of Community Colleges

Elizabeth Mahoney, Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs, Massachusetts High Technology Council

Kathie Mahoney, President, MassMEP

Robert J. McCarron, President & CEO, Association of Independent Colleges & Universities in Massachusetts

Timothy Murray, President & CEO, Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce

Amy Naples, Executive Director, Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce; Duxbury Chamber of Commerce

Roy Nascimento, President & CEO, North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce

Peter Nessen, President, Nessen Associates, Ltd.

Kendalle Burlin O’Connell, President & CEO, MassBio

Marie Oliva, President & CEO, Cape Cod Canal Region Chamber of Commerce

Thomas O'Rourke, President & CEO, Neponset River Regional Chamber

Mike O'Sullivan, CEO, One SouthCoast Chamber

Bob Rivers, Executive Chair & Chair of the Board of Directors, Eastern Bank

James E. Rooney, President & CEO, Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce

Dr. Yves Salomon-Fernández, President, Urban College of Boston

Marie Schwartz, Founder, TeenLife

Tamara Small, CEO, NAIOP Massachusetts

Brooke Thomson, President & CEO, Associated Industries of Massachusetts

Aaron Vega, President & CEO, Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council