Three Nipmuc High School seniors presented their Mastery Learning Records to the Mendon‑Upton School Committee on Jan. 6, 2025, saying the records let students explain internships, specialty programs and other learning that a conventional transcript or standardized score does not capture.

The students — Arlo Gibbons, Hannah (last name not provided) and another senior — described using the Mastery Transcript Consortium platform to aggregate evidence, produce PDF pages for college admissions and include access codes that let colleges view a student’s MLR alongside the official transcript. District staff said the program is moving from a pilot for seniors to a broader rollout for 10th graders and that faculty will provide feedback to student submissions.

The district’s presentation described the MLR as a multi‑year pilot intended to “tell students’ stories of success beyond grades.” At the meeting district staff said roughly 16 students were completing MLRs and that faculty will provide formal review and final approval before the MLR becomes an official school record sent to colleges.

"I chose to do the mastery learning record because I had a bunch of great learning opportunities in previous years here at Nipmuc that I really wanted to showcase," said Arlo Gibbons, a Nipmuc senior. "With the Mastery Learning Record, I was able to specifically highlight [my NASA experience] and go more in‑depth into it and how it made me a better learner."

Another student who identified herself as Hannah said the MLR lets applicants show "a lot beyond numbers" and gives colleges a fuller sense of a candidate than SAT scores or short essays. "It's not time or life, but school administrator ends up on the desk of every superintendent," she said, referring to a recent feature on the program, and noted that some students had recorded video supplements in addition to the MLR page.

District staff described mechanics and safeguards for the record. Student entries are supported by counselor and faculty advisors, then reviewed by a school official; the district only transmits pages the school has approved. Staff said the MLR lives on the Mastery Transcript Consortium platform and remains accessible to students after graduation; a recent graduate contacted the school to access his page, staff said.

District staff also addressed questions about how colleges receive MLRs: the MLR is delivered alongside traditional materials and in some cases a counselor’s letter or the application packet includes the MLR access code. Staff said the consortium provides a running list of institutions that have accepted MLR submissions, and that colleges unfamiliar with the format can be contacted by the consortium for orientation.

Officials described a plan to expand MLR work: faculty will advise two students each during a scheduled feedback day on Jan. 13, and the district is introducing the MLR to the current 10th grade. Staff emphasized that the school provides final approval of MLR content because the district treats accepted MLR entries as an official school record.

The presentation included questions from committee members about measuring the MLR’s effect on admissions. Staff said it is hard to quantify direct admissions impact and described ongoing efforts to capture outcome data and self‑efficacy measures through partner organizations such as the Applied Learning Leadership Institute.

For now, district leaders said MLRs are a complement to — not a replacement for — traditional transcripts and that students may choose whether to send the MLR to particular colleges.

The committee did not take a vote on the MLR program at the meeting; staff said they would return with draft policy language and broader implementation details later in the term.