Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School pPrincipal Sara Dingledy is proposing new graduation requirements for 2025 after Bay Staters voted to remove the state’s standardized test as a graduation requirement in November.
Dingledy recommends a passing grade in a number of English, math, and science classes offered at the high school for the current school year, while the district awaits state guidance for following years.
Dingledy’s proposal is that students pass one of the following English classes: English Language Arts 10, 11, or 12, Advanced Placement Literature, AP Language, and Humanities ELA 10 or 11.
Those students must also pass all of the following math classes: Algebra 1, Geometry, and at least one lab-based science class, such as Biology, Chemistry, or Physics for any AP science course.
Dingledy said that the change will only impact a handful of students who have not already passed the MCAS.
She presented the plan to the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School school committee on Monday; board members will likely consider approving the plan in April.
State voters decided in November that passing the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment (MCAS) should no longer be required for high school graduation. It is now up to high schools to set their own requirements so students can earn their Competency Determination, which allows them to graduate.
Dingledy added that while passing the MCAS is no longer necessary to graduate, students statewide will continue to take the test, which she said is a useful tool for educators. “It’s still a really important measure for all of us, and for teachers, and for all of us looking at the programming. It does matter,” she said.
Any student who meets the high school’s graduation requirements and has passed the state test this year is not impacted by the test being waived as a graduation requirement.
Re: standards for a HS diploma, this is entirely reasonable. Might I suggest also a civics class including reading the US constitution so people understand how our government is supposed to work? Or is that considered obsolete too?
I believe that requirement might first be applied to elected officials . . . and then work its way down to HS.
There is an education emergency in this country that needs to be addressed. We are graduating children who still do not know how to balance the checkbook and understand the basics in math in order to succeed in this world. With some of the highest education cost in the country as well as the state we should be doing better here.
I get what you’re saying, but… nobody uses checks or “balances checkbooks” anymore. There’s an app for that.
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