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Healey releases new ‘framework’ of high school graduation requirements after voters nixed MCAS
The proposal includes end-of-course tests administered by the state, as well as capstone projects and financial literacy lessons.
Gov. Maura Healey shared the broad strokes of a new statewide high school graduation framework Monday, more than a year after Massachusetts voted overwhelmingly to remove the MCAS exam as a gateway to receiving a diploma.
Instead of a 10th grade MCAS exam, the proposed framework would include capstone projects or portfolios, financial literacy lessons, and end-of-course tests administered and scored by the state, among other steps.
The new approach to testing would feature exams “that are not high-stakes, but are [on] the actual course you just took,” Healey explained Monday.
“This is about reimagining high school in Massachusetts and making sure that every student who leaves a Massachusetts high school leaves with the tools, the resources, the wherewithal to be as successful as they can possibly be,” she told a crowd of students and educators at Dedham High School.
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Developed with the K-12 Statewide Graduation Council, the standards would ensure students are set up for success, no matter their plans for after high school, Healey said. The initial framework, she added, “gives our students the most rigorous, complete, and useful public education in America.”
In 2024, voters decided the state’s high schoolers should not be required to pass the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, or the MCAS, in order to graduate. But without the key standardized testing hurdle, state leaders were left searching for new high school graduation requirements.
The proposed framework seeks to fill the gap with end-of-course assessments in core subjects such as Algebra I, English Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies. The recommendations would also have students mapping out an individual career and academic plan to support their long-term goals.
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“I have high expectations of every young person in this state, and I want you all to have the tools that you need that are real, that are reachable, for success in today’s world,” Healey said. “So instead of putting up barriers to graduating, this is going to be about building bridges to the future that you want.”
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Standing alongside the governor, Norton High School student and K-12 Graduation Council member Annabelle Griffith said the recommendations “keep doors open, rather than closing them too early.” The council will continue to solicit input from stakeholders while refining the recommendations, with a goal of submitting a final report in June 2026.
Though still in its early stages, the framework has already been met with some pushback. While several education advocates, state leaders, and local educators applauded the new framework, the Massachusetts Teachers Association — the state’s largest teachers union — said it is not endorsing the recommendation for new end-of-course testing.
“Including state-developed and graded end-of-course exams in a set of new proposals for high school graduation requirements poisons a once-in-a-generation opportunity for stakeholders to come together and remake the high school experience for our students,” MTA President Max Page and Vice President Deb McCarthy said in a statement.
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The union further urged Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler and Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Pedro Martinez to withdraw the proposal for end-of-course exams. The MTA is represented on the K-12 Graduation Council, but Page and McCarthy said council members “did not vote on the recommendations; these are the recommendations of the secretary and commissioner, speaking on behalf of the Healey administration.”
They pledged to “vigorously fight” any attempt to reinstate standardized testing as a graduation requirement.
Speaking in Dedham, Healey clarified that the new framework “isn’t about reinventing the wheel, and it’s not about mandates.” She and Tutwiler both described the initial proposals as a starting point for further study and deliberation.
“It outlines the importance of coursework, offers more opportunities for students to demonstrate their learning in ways that reflect their strengths, and supports them in planning the next chapter of their lives, whether that’s higher ed or entering the workforce,” Tutwiler explained. “This is not about reinventing what works; it’s about amplifying strong practices already taking root.”
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