Business and higher education leaders across Massachusetts issued a joint statement calling for the state to ensure all students attain the foundational academic knowledge and skills they will need for success after high school by requiring students to pass common assessments in core academic subjects to earn a high school diploma.

The Governor’s Statewide High School Graduation Council issued its final working group report last week that establishes a strong foundation for a new graduation framework. Key aspects of the final graduation standard still need to be defined including how end-of-course assessments will count meaningfully toward meeting the graduation standard.

Business and higher education officials across the state issued the following statement:

A high school diploma awarded in Massachusetts should represent real readiness for post-secondary success. The most inequitable outcome is granting students a diploma indicating readiness for college and/or career when, in fact, they’re not. When students graduate without mastering core academic skills, they face fewer opportunities, lower earnings, and diminished confidence and our economy suffers.

As business, college, and community leaders, we urge the Healey Administration to adopt a rigorous, statewide graduation standard that ensures every student has achieved mastery of essential academic and durable skills. Requiring coursework alone is not enough; students should be required to pass common sense, state-designed, end-of-course assessments in core subjects to graduate from high school. End-of-course assessments provide an objective clear, fair, and consistent measure of readiness regardless of zip code or background. Massachusetts owes its students the opportunity to earn a diploma that truly prepares them for college, careers, and civic life.

Signed,

• Karen Andreas, President & CEO, North Shore Chamber of Commerce
• Jay Ash, President & CEO, Massachusetts Competitive Partnership
• Tim Cahill, President & CEO, South Shore Chamber of Commerce
• JD Chesloff, President & CEO, Massachusetts Business Roundtable
• Nicholas M. Christ, Chairman & CEO, BayCoast Bank
• Christopher Cooney, President & CEO, Metro South Chamber of Commerce
• Zach Donah, President & CEO, Massachusetts Society of CPAs
• Melissa Fetterhoff, President & CEO, Nashoba Valley Chamber of Commerce
• Doug Howgate, President, Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation
• Jon Hurst, President, Retailers Association of Massachusetts (RAM)
• Ed Lambert, Executive Director, Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education
• Chuck Longfield, President, Longfield Family Foundation
• Nate Mackinnon, Executive Director, Massachusetts Association of Community Colleges
• Elizabeth Mahoney, Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs, Massachusetts High Technology Council
• Kathie Mahoney, President, MassMEP
• Robert J. McCarron, President & CEO, Association of Independent Colleges & Universities in Massachusetts
• Timothy Murray, President & CEO, Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce
• Amy Naples, Executive Director, Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce; Duxbury Chamber of Commerce
• Roy Nascimento, President & CEO, North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce
• Peter Nessen, President, Nessen Associates, Ltd.
• Kendalle Burlin O’Connell, President & CEO, MassBio
• Marie Oliva, President & CEO, Cape Cod Canal Region Chamber of Commerce
• Thomas O’Rourke, President & CEO, Neponset River Regional Chamber
• Mike O’Sullivan, CEO, One SouthCoast Chamber
• James E. Rooney, President & CEO, Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce
• Dr. Yves Salomon-Fernández, President, Urban College of Boston
• Marie Schwartz, Founder, TeenLife
• Tamara Small, CEO, NAIOP Massachusetts
• Brooke Thomson, President & CEO, Associated Industries of Massachusetts