Brockton School Committee Approves New Graduation Standard to Replace MCAS Requirement

BROCKTON -- March 11, 2025, Brockton School Committee subcommittee unanimously adopts new graduation competency policy after MCAS change. The Policy Subcommittee voted 4-0 Tuesday to approve a competency determination policy requiring students to earn full credit in two years of English language arts, two years of mathematics, one lab science, and one U.S. history course in place of the MCAS graduation requirement eliminated by voters last November. Deputy Superintendent Sharon Walder, who developed the policy with a committee of every high school principal and key staff across Brockton High School, Edison Academy, and Champion High School, told members that MCAS "does not determine whether or not a student gets a diploma, that is our responsibility to determine." Students who already passed MCAS before November have already met competency determination and are unaffected. The policy also opens a retroactive diploma review pathway for any former student back to the class of 2003 who holds a certificate of attainment rather than a diploma, to be processed on request.