District to develop local competency plan after state removes MCAS graduation requirement
Loading...
Summary
Following a state referendum that removed the 10th-grade MCAS as the statewide graduation competency, Winchester administrators said the district will draft a local competency determination for 2025 graduates and present recommendations to the policy subcommittee for school committee approval.
Administrators briefed the Winchester School Committee on Jan. 9 about state changes affecting the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) and the need for the district to define a local competency determination for graduation.
Dr. Alonema, the district presenter, summarized the current situation: the referendum removed the 10th-grade MCAS as the state-mandated competency determinant and left a transitional period in which districts must certify competency locally. “There is still a lot to be discussed,” Dr. Alonema told the committee, adding that guidelines from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) were expected but that the legal allocation of authority among the legislature, the state board and DESE remained unresolved.
District staff told committee members that very few current seniors lack an accepted competency determination; for students who had already met the MCAS-based competency by Jan. 6, that determination stands. For students with alternate MCAS portfolios already accepted, administrators said those accepted portfolios would still count for current seniors. The district will propose a short-term local certification for the class of 2025 and possibly for 2026 while state-level responsibilities are clarified.
Administrators proposed an internal timeline: draft recommendations to the policy subcommittee by late January, a first reading at the school committee in early February, and a second reading and vote by late February so affected students, families and schools have timely notice. Committee members asked the administration to consult disability-advocacy groups and special-education parent advisory committees as the district develops the policy, and to prepare for the possibility that DESE guidance could become more prescriptive later.
The committee did not vote on a final policy; members expressed general support for the proposed timeline and directed administrators to return with a draft for formal review and vote.
