Massachusetts Just Scrapped Its High-Stakes Graduation Exam—But Your School District Pressure Just Got Higher

Massachusetts voters passed Ballot Question 2 in November 2024, eliminating the 10th-grade MCAS as a high school graduation requirement. However, MCAS remains mandatory for institutional accountability. The policy shift transfers competency validation from a single state test to local district coursework certification, elevating the role of MAP Growth—a computer-adaptive assessment with 0.81-0.90 classification accuracy—as the predictive engine for institutional MCAS performance. This creates a persistent 'MCAS Premium' for high-scoring public districts and increases due diligence burdens for private school families.

Greater Boston homebuyers choosing school districts, families evaluating public vs. private schools, parents researching assessment systems, buyers concerned about property value stability in high-performing districts.

• •MCAS pressure shifted from students to schools—districts now face institutional accountability without individual student gatekeeping
• •MAP Growth (computer-adaptive test) predicts MCAS proficiency with 81-90% accuracy, creating real-time forecasting for districts
• •High MCAS scores create measurable 'MCAS Premium' in property values (e.g., Newton, Wellesley, Lexington)
• •Local coursework certification for graduation creates risk of uneven standards across 400+ Massachusetts districts
• •Private schools use proprietary assessments (MAP Growth, CTP), creating informational asymmetry for buyers
• •Homebuyers face strategic choice: pay high property premium for transparent public school data or pay tuition with non-public private school data