711bet Massachusetts Is Making Its High School Diplomas Meaningless

On Election Day, Massachusetts voters will have a chance to get rid of the state’s high school exit exam, which involves standards-based tests in math, sciences and English. The ballot measure is known as Question 2, and voting yes “would eliminate the requirement that students pass the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System in order to graduate from high school but still require students to complete coursework that meets state standards.”

Massachusetts is one of fewer than 10 states that still have exit exam requirements. It is also consistently ranked among the best states for K-12 public education — as are some of the other states with exit exams, like New York and Virginia. The MCAS is not a killer exam. As my newsroom colleague Troy Closson pointed out, “More than 90 percent of sophomores pass the test” on their first try. Furthermore, “Failing students can retake the exams several times or lodge an appeal.”

A summary of the arguments for and against Question 2 from the nonpartisan Center for State Policy Analysis at Tufts University states that “96 percent manage to eventually pass or otherwise prove their competency via one of the state’s alternate paths.”

I live in New York, and I went through the state’s public school system. We have a set of exams called the Regents — and I took many subject-matter Regents tests on my road to graduation. The Regents are also facing a backlash and may become optional as a result, which is part of a nationwide push against standardized testing that has been growing for a decade.

This despite the fact that, as The Times’s David Leonhardt explained, there is a body of research suggesting that standardized testing predicts success more accurately than grades alone and “test scores can be particularly helpful in identifying lower-income students and underrepresented minorities who will thrive.”

Regents exams are not exactly like the MCAS, and exit exams aren’t the reason that New York and Massachusetts have highly ranked public education systems. But I think we lose something when we give in to test anxiety, and the financial and educational costs are highest for students who need educational resources most.

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Calls for school crackdowns have mounted with reports of cyberbullying among adolescents and studies indicating that smartphones, which offer round-the-clock distraction and social media access, have hindered academic instruction and the mental health of children.

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