Massachusetts Business and Higher Education Leaders Say Students Should Have to Pass Common Assessments to Earn a High School Diploma.

As Massachusetts considers new high school graduation requirements, business and higher education leaders across the Commonwealth say declining MCAS scores demonstrate the need for a strong, statewide academic standard that ensures a Massachusetts diploma represents meaningful preparation for college, career, and civic life.

Statewide, only 45% of 10th graders met/exceeded expectations in ELA, down 6 points from 2025 and 16 points from 2019; 44% did so in math, down 1 point from 2025 and 15 points from 2019; and 41% met/exceeded expectations in high-school science, down 5 points from 2025.

At a time when large numbers of students are not meeting statewide academic expectations, Massachusetts should be strengthening, not weakening, the academic standards attached to a high school diploma. Graduation standards must establish a common definition of readiness and require students to demonstrate that they have met it.

The final report of the Governor’s Statewide Graduation Council includes the administration of end-of-course assessments in key academic subjects but does not make clear how the assessments will be used to determine whether a student is ready to earn a diploma.

Business and higher education leaders are urging the Healey Administration to go further by requiring students to demonstrate a minimum level of proficiency on objective, state-designed end-of-course assessments in key academic subjects to graduate high school. They reissued 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
• Sara Fraim, CEO, Mass Technology Leadership Council
• 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
• Bob Rivers, Executive Chair & Chair of the Board of Directors, Eastern Bank
• 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
• Aaron Vega, President and CEO, Western Mass Economic Development Council