The school committee recently approved new Competency Determination (CD) requirements for the high school classes of 2025 and 2026.

Initially, students had to pass the MCAS to meet their CD requirements that demonstrate their proficiency in common core subjects, but Question 2 on the state ballot struck down this measure last year.

Question 2 did not remove MCAS entirely—it’s still administered as a part of federal requirements, but it is no longer a state-mandated graduation requirement for high school.

Now public school districts, including Newton, have been left to come up with new CD requirements.

New Requirements

In place of the MCAS, the district will assess a student’s proficiency based on credits earned in high school level courses.

At Newton Public Schools, high school courses are taught from a standards set called the Massachusetts Classroom Frameworks. Students must earn the full amount of credits in at least two years of high school level English Language Arts (ELA) and math.

For science, students must receive the full amount of credits in one high school level course. This could be physics, biology, chemistry, or technology and engineering classes.

For reference, MCAS tests for math and ELA are administered up to grade 10, and the MCAS for science is given in either grade 9 or 10.

Nolin provides clarity, committee votes in favor

Superintendent Anna Nolin said the vote would not affect students who have already passed the MCAS.

She explained that the vote’s immediate effect will be small, saying that only three students in the class of 2025 will be given the new CD requirements.

However, there is a concern for English Language Learner (ELL) students who enroll at NPS in their later high school career.

They may not have the English language skills to be matriculated into a high school level ELA class.

Nolin recommended that the Committee vote in favor of the new requirements for the classes of 2025 and 2026.

“Kids are waiting to know what’s happening,” she said.

Ultimately, the School Committee agreed with Nolin.

Rajeev Parlikar, who represents Ward 1 in the committee, said setting the requirements could help families with students who haven’t passed MCAS give them peace of mind.

The School Committee voted unanimously in favor of approving new CD standards for the classes of 2025 and 2026. Christopher Brezski, chair of the school committee and representative for Ward 2, was absent.

But this doesn’t set everything in stone. The Department of Secondary Education and Gov. Maura Healey’s Graduation Council may come back with new requirements for CD standards for the class of 2026.