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NEW BEDFORD — Both Massachusetts and New Bedford voted decisively to end the MCAS graduation requirement, with 59% of the state and 69% of the city voting for repeal, according to results available Wednesday morning.
Reactions across the South Coast varied. Teachers in New Bedford’s schools celebrated the news on Wednesday, the very same day that some students were pulled from their classes for MCAS retakes. Meanwhile, advocates for keeping the test recognized the result, but wondered if the “call for change” from voters had a clear path forward.
Superintendent Andrew O’Leary issued a strong statement about the MCAS’ repeal, saying, “Our high expectations for our schools will not change.” O’Leary had not taken an advocacy position on the ballot question, and he said Wednesday that MCAS “is neither the sole measure of readiness nor the most significant barrier, as we have repeatedly emphasized when asked” about the ballot question.
The results of the MCAS question will now follow the process of all initiative petitions, said Debra O’Malley, a spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s office. The results will go to the Legislature to become certified, and the measure only becomes law 30 days after certification. In a typical year, certification happens in early December and the law would go into effect in January — but the Legislature could delay or work to amend the law that voters have passed.
State Rep. Jim Hawkins, a Democrat from Attleboro who won his reelection in Bristol’s 2nd, has been a vocal proponent of the MCAS requirement repeal. He said that he didn’t know if the Legislature planned to resist the results of the ballot question. “It’s hard to predict what they’re going to do,” he said. “I hope they go with the will of the voters.”
The Legislature did not repeal the MCAS graduation requirement when they had the chance, as part of the Thrive Act — a bill that Hawkins introduced — which is what prompted the teacher’s union to push for the ballot question in the first place.
In New Bedford, all six wards voted for the repeal of the MCAS graduation requirement. Across the state, most cities and towns similarly favored repeal — and the only region that voted “No” was the Boston suburbs, including towns such as Concord, Newton, Needham, and Brookline.
‘Yes’ advocates and local teachers celebrate repeal
At New Bedford High School, Kelly Murphy celebrated the results of the ballot question, but still had her day shaped by its strictures and mandates.
The special education teacher said that Wednesday was a retake day for students who did not pass this spring’s MCAS test in English Language Arts. So Murphy and several of her students were pulled from their classroom to readminister and retake the test.
“Classes where I co-teach, I’m not in there. I’m proctoring today,” Murphy said. “So I can’t give all my kids the time and energy they deserve.”
Murphy also said that several of her special education students will miss class for two days to complete their retakes with extended time — which she said is to their detriment.
However, the results of the ballot question were welcome news for Murphy. “It’s honestly very encouraging, especially with a lot of other stuff going on right now,” she said.
Peter Piazza, a UMass Amherst researcher who spoke on The Light’s Community Conversations panel about the MCAS question, said Wednesday that he still thinks the “Yes” vote will be good for students in Massachusetts. But he said this shouldn’t be the end of the road in the commonwealth.
“I’m for new accountability, not no accountability,” Piazza said. He said that MCAS tests were an imperfect tool, and that their shortcomings for measuring the skills of English learners made it the wrong tool for Massachusetts. “It was a bad fit for our current demographic reality,” he said.
He said the federal election results are discouraging for making policy progress or conducting further research on education reforms. “But this is something Massachusetts can do as a state. Massachusetts can be a leader in public education at a time when the policy environment at the national level … is more hostile to public schools.”
‘No’ supporters accept results, ask about a way forward
One of the most prominent voices on the “No” side of Question 2 was Ed Lambert, whose public service as Fall River’s former mayor and a longtime state representative on the South Coast shaped his opinion on the ballot question.
“I vividly recall the rationale for implementing this requirement 30 years ago,” Lambert said. “Students in New Bedford and Fall River and Brockton were being shortchanged because we didn’t have high expectations for them. We assumed a mediocre education was good enough for them. And we have to ensure we don’t go back to that.”
Lambert sees the results as voters asking for a change. But he said that it’s not clear what the change will be. “OK, let’s move to a different system,” he said. “But we need some improved system to ensure equity and uniformity across the commonwealth.”
Lambert’s fear is that removing the MCAS graduation requirement — which was essentially the main statewide graduation requirement — means districts will look to “improve graduation rates while doing less to prepare students for the future.”
In New Bedford, though Superintendent O’Leary did not take a strong position on the MCAS ballot question, his statement on Wednesday to The Light also looked to the future, and reemphasized his position from a recent op-ed in The Light, that school funding (not testing) has been the main driver of student opportunity and success.
O’Leary said that “our schools hold students to the highest standards and teachers apply strong instructional practices” — in other words, that he was not so worried about testing. Instead, O’Leary is concerned about the state’s funding priorities.
He wrote: “This past year … funding has shifted toward shoring up wealthier towns with declining enrollments, and Massachusetts has actually increased funding for selective and screened-admission schools, while holding growing, diverse districts to historically low increases.”
“Pushback on high-stakes testing is understandable,” O’Leary said, but, “the ballot question overlooks real, tangible barriers to student success.”
As for next steps, the Legislature could certify the ballot questions as soon as this month. At the moment, there are no proposals for creating a new statewide graduation requirement, even though some legislators have signaled interest.
Email Colin Hogan at chogan@newbedfordlight.org
