About 30 years ago I moved back to Hadley after working as an engineer at a textile mill in New Hampshire. I went to UMass to earn my license to teach middle school science while working part time on my brothers’ farm. My sisters were all teachers, and my aunt was a professor at UConn. In my family teaching is revered and respected, and I was happy to learn what to do to teach and teach well.

Teaching was changing dramatically as the 1993 Massachusetts Education Reform Act had just been signed into law by then-Gov. William Weld. For schools, state standards were introduced. Teachers have these standards in place to make sure we are teaching similar topics during the year and from year to year. For teachers, we now had to take tests to prove our proficiency, in addition to having a degree.

As an eighth grade public school science teacher, the Massachusetts Science and Technology/Engineering (STE) Curriculum Framework (our state standards) covers a range of topics, including chemical reactions and matter, chemical reactions and energy, metabolic reactions, genetics, natural selection, and weather. The STE framework also includes eight science practices that students develop in grades 6–8, such as asking questions, analyzing data, and constructing explanations. The expectations are enormous for students.

From the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website, the Massachusetts Science and Technology/Engineering Curriculum Framework is designed to help students develop the skills and knowledge they need to be ready for college, careers, and citizenship. Students are assessed on these skills and subject matter through the MCAS STE tests, which are given in grades 5, 8, and 9/10.

This testing will continue if you vote “yes” on Question 2. Looking at this ballot question, the state standards will stay in place and the MCAS will still be given. The difference is it will no longer be required to pass the MCAS test to earn a diploma.

Here is what some of my eighth graders ask you to think about when deciding how to vote on this question:

“My thoughts about the experience is that MCAS should not be required to graduate because what if someone is stressed all about taking the test? They would most likely not want to take it. I think MCAS should not be a thing as it makes students very stressed out and even if they are a good student, if they are stressed out at that moment of taking the MCAS they would most likely get most of the questions wrong just because they are pressured to take this test.”

“I think MCAS is unnecessary. It puts a lot of pressure on kids to prove what they have learned even though the proof is already there from their work and participation in class. The stress can throw their mind off and the MCAS results won’t be accurate and suddenly the amount of stress they’re feeling determines whether they fail or not.”

“Please vote yes on Question 2 of the 2024 ballot questions. Right now, you need to pass MCAS to graduate, but I believe that shouldn’t be the case. MCAS can already make people anxious/nervous which can cause them to test badly, not be able to focus and/or do their best. Other kids have situations where they can’t do their best performance either way. I think MCAS should still take place and I do think it is important in a child’s education, but I don’t think it should determine the rest of a 15-year-old’s life. Or have kids who are still in middle school be worrying about a test that they won’t have to take for years. Not graduating can get kids out of really good colleges, jobs, etc. A child can have straight A’s and fail the test because they have some sort of condition or tests can make them nervous. There are good test takers and bad test takers and that has nothing to do with their grades. Please take this into consideration.”

Eight other states still require students to pass a test to graduate, although New York is looking to drop the Regents exams to earn a high school diploma, according to Chalkbeat New York. Forty-two states do not have a test as a mandate for a high school diploma.

Please join me in listening to our students and keeping the state standards, while eliminating the requirement to pass the MCAS in order to graduate. Vote “yes” on Question 2.

Jack Czajkowski lives in Hadley.