By Brooke Thomson
President & CEO

Associated Industries of Massachusetts has always championed the value of education and high standards. That is why this association was a driving force behind the landmark Education Reform Act of 1993.

It is also why we agree with Governor Maura Healey and other state leaders that the Massachusetts Comprehensive Achievement System (MCAS) must remain a requirement for students to obtain a meaningful high-school diploma that will open doors for them throughout their lives.

People, intelligence and innovation are the raw material of the Massachusetts economy. This state does not have natural resources such as limitless energy reserves or millions of acres of farmland for wind and solar development. Massachusetts instead runs on a workforce that is second to none and an education system that has made our state the epicenter of knowledge industries such as biosciences, health care, computer science and advanced manufacturing.

MCAS was part and parcel of the 1993 reform law, which paired a large increase in education dollars with higher educational standards and accountability. The exam, which requires that students demonstrate a sophomore-year competence in math, English, and science to graduate high school, is the instrument that ensures that accountability.

A group of past chairs of the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education noted recently that the basic principle of the 1993 reforms was that all students should be educated to high standards and that the progress of every school and student toward achieving that goal should be regularly measured. The graduation requirement of passing MCAS (with provisions for extra support, multiple attempts, and alternate pathways) was intended to give school systems a powerful incentive to provide students the content and instruction they needed to succeed on a 10th-grade competency test.

MCAS has proven to be a reliable indicator of a student’s college and career readiness. Brown University research suggests that “high school MCAS scores predict long-term success and appear to reflect students’ academic skills.” The exam has helped to make Massachusetts public schools the envy of the nation – the state has led the nation for decades in performance measured by the National Assessment of Education Performance, commonly known as the nation’s report card.

MCAS is also an instrument of equity. Requiring students to meet a state standard to graduate from high school ensures that all districts are setting a minimum academic standard. Eliminating the MCAS graduation requirement would leave Massachusetts without a common, objective measure of achievement that all students, across all communities, are expected to meet. In its place would be more than 300 local graduation standards.

The demands of the Massachusetts knowledge economy are only going to increase. Governor Healey’s Economic Development Bill includes proposals designed to make Massachusetts a global hub for life sciences, climate-tech and applied artificial intelligence (AI) – all of which will require people with measurable math, science and communications skills. It adds up to an unprecedented opportunity for qualified students at a time of persistent labor shortages.

Nelson Mandela said that education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world. In Massachusetts, MCAS represents the best way to put that change within the reach of the next generation.