Press Release  Massachusetts Elementary and Secondary Education Board Updates Competency Determination

METHUEN — Members of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education today approved regulations that will help standardize what school districts must require for students to earn their Competency Determination, which was previously based on a qualifying MCAS score. 

In alignment with new state law, the requirements outlined today are tailored to cover what MCAS tests at the 10th grade level do and eventually to also cover the equivalent of a year-long course on U.S. history. Governor Maura Healey’s Statewide K-12 Graduation Council is looking more broadly at what statewide expectations for graduation should be.  

Massachusetts public school students are required to meet both a state standard, called the Competency Determination, and local graduation requirements in order to graduate from high school. Until this year, students generally earned their Competency Determination by earning a qualifying score on the high school MCAS exams in math, English language arts, and science, which they took by the end of 10th grade. In November, voters approved a ballot question that prohibits MCAS from being used to earn a Competency Determination. As a result of the ballot question, students must earn their Competency Determination through coursework “in the areas measured by the MCAS high school tests… administered in 2023." The state still administers MCAS tests in grades 3-8 and high school, but the high school tests are no longer tied to the Competency Determination. 

Today’s vote requires students starting with the graduating class of 2026 to earn their Competency Determination by satisfactorily completing coursework that is the equivalent of:

• two years of high school English language arts courses;
• one year of both Algebra I and Geometry courses or the equivalent of one year of both Integrated Math I and Integrated Math II courses; and 
• one year of a biology; Physics, Chemistry; Technology or Engineering course.

Starting with the graduating class of 2027, a student will also need to satisfactorily complete coursework in the equivalent of a one-year U.S. history course.  

“These are all important first steps in response to the outcome of November’s ballot question, which impacted the Competency Determination, not everything a student should know for graduation,” Education Secretary Patrick A. Tutwiler said. “As co-chair of the K-12 Graduation Council, I look forward to continuing a broader discussion about what we want for our high school graduates.”  

The K-12 Graduation Council is in the process of holding listening sessions in person and virtually, and the schedule is posted online.  

Details about today’s Board vote are available in the Board documents. 

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