More High Schools Look Beyond Exit Exams

What should it mean to graduate from high school?

Massachusetts has been wrestling with the question since last year, when voters decided that students should no longer have to pass a comprehensive, statewide exit exam called the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, or MCAS, to graduate. The test covers math, science and English language arts, and passing it in grade 10 had been a graduation requirement for 21 years. The vote to remove this graduation requirement sent officials back to the drawing board — and added Massachusetts to the growing list of states turning away from comprehensive exit exams.

In 2002, more than half of states conditioned high school graduation on passing exit exams; by 2024, just eight did so. This month, New Jersey advanced a bill to end exit exams, and New York is phasing out its own exam.

The Problem With Exit Exams

Critics of exit exams say they put too much weight on the outcome of a single test, discounting the many other ways students may have shown their learning throughout the year.

In Massachusetts, a major teachers union had advocated for doing away with the MCAS in part because teachers were dedicating too much time to preparing students for the exam and teaching test-taking skills, at the expense of other learning.

Standardized tests don’t capture whether students are leaving school with the skills they need to handle today’s complex world, says Harry Feder, executive director of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, an organization that advocates for alternative evaluation methods to standardized tests.

Multiple choice tests are more likely to reflect kids’ ability to memorize than their ability to engage in deep learning, Feder says. Even tests where students write a five-paragraph essay only check whether they can apply a formulaic approach to writing, he argues. Feder advocates for portfolio- and project-based assessments scored using a standardized rubric.

Other critics contend that certain student groups, like English language learners and children with disabilities, are disproportionately likely to struggle with tests, making the practice unfair.

In Massachusetts, very few students were prevented from graduating due to failing the MCAS. They could retake the test and appeal the test to be allowed to show knowledge in a different way. But a study found that, among the less than 2 percent of 2019 students who were denied a high school diploma on account of being unable to pass the test or successfully appeal, most of those students were English language learners or had disabilities.

The Value of Exit Exams

Keri Rodrigues, president of the National Parents Union and a parent of a high school senior in Massachusetts, says that while the MCAS has its flaws, it gives parents and others a clear assessment of how schools and students are doing. Rodrigues worries that, without a clear feedback tool like the exit exam, parents won’t know if their kids are leaving high school prepared for college and well-paying jobs. One study found that students with higher MCAS scores were generally more likely to enroll in and graduate from college, and have higher median earnings at age 30.

The MCAS set a fairly low bar, testing 10th graders on their mastery of 8th grade-level knowledge. If states adopt high-quality exit exams, teaching to the test will be the same thing as teaching a strong curriculum, Rodrigues says.

Rodrigues bristles at the assumption that children with disabilities, like her own son, cannot pass the test. She says if kids aren’t clearing the bar, that’s useful feedback to the school system for how it needs to improve and which kids need more help: “MCAS doesn’t create the inequity, it reveals the inequity.”

Other Visions and Expanding Beyond the Exam

Some states are broadening the ways in which students can show their skill mastery. They’re having students complete a skills demonstration that’s aligned with their intended path after high school: college, workforce or military.

Indiana, for one, stopped requiring a statewide exit exam for the class of 2023, sparked in part by state officials’ alarm over rising absenteeism and flat college enrollment rates, as well as desire that students leave school with greater career awareness and readiness.

The state instead required students to complete certain coursework as well as a relevant test, certification, project or other option based on their post-high school plans. For example, that could include taking a nationally recognized college-readiness exam or military aptitude test, obtaining an industry-recognized certification, or completing a federally recognized apprenticeship, among other options. Students would also need to do a project-, service- or work-based learning experience.

Colorado instituted a similarly flexible approach, starting with the class of 2021. The state created a menu of state-approved options for students to demonstrate skill mastery; schools pick which ones of these they want to make graduation requirements. The list includes passing some college-level courses, obtaining industry certifications, presenting capstone projects, passing military or college entrance exams, and more.

A group of New York schools, meanwhile, has been requiring students to complete four projects to graduate high school. The consortium (which now totals 38 schools) received a waiver from the state 25 years ago to skip all but the English portion of the statewide high school exit exam. Instead, their students must do a capstone science experiment, social studies research paper, and analytic English essay, and must detail their process of solving a math problem. Each project involves a written component and oral presentation. A 2020 study found students with similar backgrounds who graduated from consortium schools were more likely than traditional school peers to graduate high school and enter and remain in higher education.

Massachusetts Looks Ahead

Massachusetts recently released a first look at what its new high school graduation requirements could be. The state has not yet determined when the requirements would be implemented but says they likely will be introduced in phases. In the meantime, the state will not have uniform graduation requirements, though students will still be required to get full credit for certain classes.

Unlike Colorado, which gave students options of completing an exam or a project, Massachusetts is considering having students do a little of everything.

A council of stakeholders released recommendations that, in place of a single comprehensive exit exam, Massachusetts students be evaluated based on a mixture of several end-of-course exams and a capstone project or portfolio. The new requirements also put a greater focus on students’ next steps, and require taking a financial literacy class, completing a student financial aid application, and developing a college or career plan. The state would also require coursework in various areas.

The new requirements aren’t finalized, and the report itself lists concerns that need to be addressed (such as whether the full slate of proposed coursework leaves too little flexibility in students’ schedules). And, significantly, the state needs to determine how much weight to attach to each part of the graduation requirements.

The Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education applauded the inclusion of end-of-course exams, saying that standardized exams provide an assessment of student achievements that’s more uniform than school grades, with the latter liable to vary based on schools’ and teachers’ approaches. But these exams “must count toward graduation in a meaningful way,” the alliance urged.

The state stresses that the proposed end-of-course exams aren’t a new kind of high-stakes exam because “no single test will represent a barrier to graduation for any student.” Still, Feder says how high stakes they feel will depend on how much each one is weighted toward graduation.

Rodrigues, meanwhile, believes the expanded list of requirements could make it more confusing to tell how well the school system is preparing students. “What it really does is just pile on more courses, more projects, more checklists … it spreads responsibility around so many inputs that when kids aren’t ready, no one is going to be accountable,” she says.

The council will refine its recommendations as it prepares a final report for June 2026.