The Dennis‑Yarmouth Regional School Committee heard an update Jan. 6 on changes to the state competency‑determination (CD) process after voters approved a ballot question that removed the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education as the sole arbiter of the CD.

Superintendent Smith said the change requires districts to certify whether a student’s coursework “shows mastery of the skills, competencies, and knowledge contained in the state academic standards and curriculum frameworks” that were measured by the 2023 10th‑grade MCAS tests. "The MCAS will still be given," Smith said, "but we can no longer use MCAS alone to determine competency for awarding a high‑school diploma."

District staff briefed the committee on two practical and immediate challenges. First, the CD remains a separate legal determination from local graduation requirements; the district must set a certification process for the CD specifically. Second, there is a pressing near‑term group of students in the class of 2025 — the superintendent estimated roughly 16 students — who had not earned the CD under the previous MCAS‑based process and who may need coursework or other certified evidence to meet the CD before graduation. Superintendent Smith noted that the November 2024 MCAS retake may reduce that number because students who retook in November could meet the CD via those results.

Committee members discussed timing and options. Member Do urged rapid action: "Bring us something next week," he said, requesting a draft policy and procedures that could be used immediately for the class of 2025 while the district develops a longer‑term approach for 2026 and beyond. Member Landers, seeking clarity on the mechanics, asked whether a science competency could require physics; staff explained that a student need only meet the coursework/certification pathway for one of the science MCAS options that were available in 2023 (for example, biology or physics), not all science tests offered by the state.

Superintendent Smith said he would use model language circulated among Cape and Islands superintendents, run a draft past legal counsel and present policy language for committee consideration at the next meeting. He recommended either adding CD language to the existing graduation policy or creating a separate policy titled Competency Determination; the committee’s policy subcommittee offered to meet quickly to expedite review.

District staff cautioned that the window for the class of 2025 is short: second‑semester course enrollments and the semester calendar give only a few weeks to enroll students in coursework that might satisfy a CD before graduation. The superintendent and guidance staff will review individual transcripts to identify students who still need intervention and to recommend targeted coursework or other certification routes where possible.

No final policy was adopted at the Jan. 6 meeting. The committee directed the superintendent to prepare a draft CD policy and recommended procedures for immediate committee review at the next meeting, with legal review to follow.