SAUGUS —The School Committee approved the competency determination policy in a unanimous vote Thursday evening. The measure will require that students earn passing grades in several academic areas in lieu of MCAS scores, which are no longer required as a graduation metric.
On Thursday, Middle High School Principal Dr. Carla Scuzzarella presented a draft of the competency determination policy, which will pair with other graduation requirements.
The competency determination policy is not a replacement for the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS), as students are still required to take the MCAS.
“The MCAS vote that happened in November…removed the MCAS as the competency determination for graduation,” Superintendent Michael Hashem explained. He said that since the MCAS became a requirement to receive a school diploma, the competency determination was a satisfactory score on the MCAS test.
“We have graduation requirements at Saugus High School and students were required to pass MCAS. Now, they’re just required to take MCAS…So that’s why the district has worked on its own competency determination,” Scuzzarella said.
She said the important piece was having something to measure the skills and competencies in the state frameworks in subject areas up until the end of sophomore year.
These subjects include English 9, English 10, Algebra 1, Geometry, and a small amount of Algebra 2. Science requirements currently include Biology or an introduction to Physics, according to Scuzzarella.
Scuzzarella noted that members of the class of 2025 who would have first taken the MCAS sophomore year would be allowed to graduate if they received a passing grade on the test or the competency determination before the November vote.
“We still have some students, as most high schools do, that haven’t passed everything as seniors. They will now have to meet what we’re proposing,” she said.
Students who did not pass the MCAS will now have to receive a passing grade in the equivalent of English 9 and English 10, Algebra 1 or Algebra 2, Geometry, and a passing grade in Biology, Chemistry, or Physics, according to Scuzzarella.
“That’s what we’d be looking for in addition to our own graduation requirements,” she said.
Hashem explained that even if there was a retest in the future for the class of 2025, it would not count as it would not meet the competency determination due to the vote in November.
“Right now, we need this,” Hashem said. “This is kind of urgent because it affects the graduating class of 2025.” He continued that this would be the test that would stand, by a vote of the School Committee, unless the rules changed again in the future.
Committee Chair Vincent Serino, Vice Chair Thomas Whittredge, and Ryan Fisher voted to approve the measure. Stephanie Mastrocola and John Hatch were absent from the meeting.
