By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — The School Committee unanimously approved a new competency determination policy for Lynnfield High School students during an Oct. 7 meeting.
Assistant Superintendent Adam Federico recalled during a recent meeting that voters approved a ballot question during the 2024 presidential election that eliminated passing the MCAS exam as a graduation requirement for high school students. He said the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is requiring school districts to adopt competency determination policies for high schools.
“This is a framework for determining do kids have mastery in those areas that MCAS once assessed,” said Federico. “That is mathematics, English language arts and science. This policy is asking us to put together a framework for how we are going to make sure kids are meeting that competency.”
Federico stressed that, “MCAS is not going away.”
“The kids will all still take it from third grade to 10th grade,” said Federico. “We still need it for federal funding and it is still a metric we can use to look at how are we doing with the frameworks and how our kids are doing, but it no longer has that high-stakes implication in terms of graduation. It is still used for the John and Abigail Adams Scholarship Program.”
Federico said the high school’s graduation requirements will not be changing.
“Beyond the competency determination, the Lynnfield High School graduation requirements as laid out in the Program of Studies is still in existence,” said Federico. “We are not proposing any changes to those right now.”
Federico noted that Gov. Maura Healey signed an executive order in January that created the K-12 Statewide Graduation Council. According to the executive order, the council will “advise the governor and the Legislature on the development of a statewide graduation requirement.”
“The council is looking at this issue,” said Federico. “There is more to come. We need to stay tuned on that.”
Federico said DESE is requiring school committees to approve each district’s competency determination policy by New Year’s Eve.
“We also need to submit our current graduation requirements by Dec. 31,” said Federico.
Federico said the competency determination policy will require LHS students to pass math, science and English language arts classes as well as the final exam or final project in each course.
“Those things come together to form the competency determination,” said Federico. “Starting with the Class of 2027, U.S. history will also come into the competency determination. That will be the fourth subject that makes up that part of being eligible to graduate. Meeting the competency determination doesn’t mean that you graduate because you will have to meet our local requirements as well. It’s just like with MCAS. You can pass the MCAS, but you still have to meet graduation requirements.”
LHS Principal Patricia Puglisi said students are required to pass four years of English, four years of math, three years of science and three years of history in order to graduate from high school. She said the high school’s graduation requirements are “far above” the competency determination standard DESE is requiring.
“All of our courses have a very robust scope and sequence that includes what the final assessment, project or experience will be,” said Puglisi. “They are consistent across teachers. We have that mastery skill focus and we have it documented. Those will be included in our submission.”
According to the competency determination policy known as Policy IKFE, the school system will be required to make sure students with disabilities have “met the competency determination and local graduation requirements prior to graduating that student.”
“Students with disabilities who have been placed in out-of-district placements must meet the requirements of the competency determination policy of the placing school district,” states Policy IKFE. “Discussion of the competency determination must be a part of the IEP team’s transition planning.”
Policy IKFE also seeks to ensure English language learners “both achieve language proficiency and meet the competency determination requirements” before graduating from LHS.
Federico also said the policy includes language for students who enroll at LHS after their freshman year.
“If a student may come to us after their ninth grade year, we will need to ensure they meet the requirements,” said Federico
Federico also said the policy outlines an appeals process for students who do not meet the competency determination’s requirements.
“There also needs to be a process for students from previous years who would now like to have a transcript review,” added Federico. “Kids who maybe didn’t pass the MCAS from the Classes of 2003 all the way through 2024, anybody who didn’t get their diploma because of MCAS can contact us. This lays out the specific process. The school principal will review it and, if they are eligible, will confer a diploma.”
School Committee member Jamie Hayman said DESE’s competency determination requirements are “totally different” from Lynnfield High School’s graduation requirements.
“There is no way that you can graduate from Lynnfield High School without successfully getting past this hurdle,” said Hayman about LHS’ graduation requirements.
Puglisi said Hayman was “100 percent correct.”
School Committee Chair Kristen Grieco Elworthy thanked Federico and Puglisi for developing the competency determination policy.
“It is challenging that MCAS is gone and there was no recommendation to replace it,” said Elworthy. “I appreciate both of you taking it on at this point.”