By Brooke Thomson
President and CEO

In 2023, Associated Industries of Massachusetts honored Worcester Technical High School and Roger L. Putnam Vocational Academy in Springfield for remaking what were once underperforming schools with high dropout numbers and low graduation rates into two of the best vocational institutions in the country.

The turnarounds came after each school – led by principals, school committees, faculty, students and the business community – committed to melding academic rigor with job skills. Each school now features a strong emphasis on academics, producing students who join the local labor force with employable skills and high achievement.

The transcendent success of Worcester Tech and Putnam Vocational reminds us that standards and accountability breed success. That’s why Associated Industries of Massachusetts and its 3,400 member companies strongly oppose Question 2, a union-backed initiative on the November ballot that would remove the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) as a graduation requirement or high-school students.

The question would also prohibit any future statewide assessment from being used as a graduation requirement.

We agree with Governor Maura Healey and other state leaders that MCAS must remain a requirement for students to obtain a meaningful high-school diploma that will open doors for them throughout their lives. As a national leader in K-12 education, Massachusetts must maintain high education standards, so our kids are prepared for college and career in a state economy that runs on knowledge, intelligence and innovation.

Diluting those standards means that many students will not have the skills they need in math, English, or science to succeed.

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 from high school, is the instrument that ensures that accountability.

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 state’s single, objective standard for a high school diploma means every school district in Massachusetts would devise its own requirements for graduation. That would result in more than 300 different standards, leading to unequal assessments of student readiness for college and careers and wider inequities in student achievement and opportunities.

The stakes on Question 2 couldn’t be higher.

The proposed Economic Development bill on Beacon Hill calls for the commonwealth to invest as much as $1 billion for industries such as life sciences, climate tech and advanced manufacturing that require well-educated workers.

Education was again in the forefront in August when AIM member Eli Lilly and Company opened the Lilly Seaport Innovation Center (LSC), a research and development facility in the Boston Seaport dedicated to advancing Lilly’s efforts in RNA and DNA-based therapies. as well as discovering new drug targets to create life-changing medicines across several disease states, including diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegeneration and chronic pain.

“The opening of LSC expands upon Lilly’s long-standing presence in the Boston area,” said Daniel Skovronsky, M.D., Ph.D., chief scientific officer and president, Lilly Research Laboratories, president, Lilly Immunology. “We are committed to being supportive neighbors in this hub of discovery and innovation, further collaborating with leading institutions and new talent to continue delivering transformative medicines for the people who need them most.”

AIM and its board of directors urge a “No” vote on question 2.