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| | The Best of CommonWealth Beacon OPINION | | Gov. Maura Healey meeting with students taking part in Fitchburg High School’s early college program on April 6, 2023. (Photo via Flickr/Governor's Press Office by Joshua Qualls) |
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| | | By Jon Bernstein, Sam King, Mark Lorion, Ron O’Hanley, and Corey Thomas |
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If school systems hand out high school diplomas that do not reflect real learning, students pay the price through fewer opportunities, lower earnings, and diminished confidence. In the coming months, the governor and state education leaders will finalize a new statewide high school graduation policy. They should adopt a requirement that ensures every student has mastered core academic skills and knowledge they will need for success. |
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Massachusetts has long been a national leader in education, but that advantage is at risk. Student achievement is declining, and racial and socioeconomic achievement gaps are widening. These trends threaten not only the state’s economic competitiveness, but, most importantly, the futures of individual students, particularly those who rely on public education as a pathway to opportunity. |
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The high school graduation requirement is a powerful tool the state can use to reset expectations for students. A diploma must do more than mark time spent in classrooms; it must guarantee readiness. It should signal that a student can read critically, write clearly, reason mathematically, and apply knowledge in real-world settings. A diploma must represent real readiness for college, careers, and civic life. |
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As leaders of some of the largest business associations in the state, whose members employ thousands of Massachusetts residents, we see the consequences when students graduate without essential skills. They struggle, businesses struggle, and the entire economy suffers. |
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That’s why we’re urging the Healey administration to set and enforce a rigorous, statewide high school graduation standard that is aligned with the demands of a competitive, knowledge-based economy, and to require that every graduate demonstrate they have truly met the standard by passing a common, uniform assessment. |
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Yet, simply taking a class does not guarantee learning. Student grades can be useful, but grading can be subjective and varies across classrooms, schools, and districts. As a result, students are too often told they are ready when they are not. |
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Students should be required to pass end-of-course assessments to measure whether they have mastered core academic content and foundational skills that prepare them to think critically, creatively, and innovatively. These assessments would provide a clear, consistent, and objective signal of readiness, regardless of where the student lives or their socioeconomic status. |
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