The Class of 2024 marches onto the athletic field for the graduation ceremony at Sharon High School in Sharon, Mass., on June 2, 2024. (Janine L. Weisman/Rhode Island Current)
Massachusetts, long the darling of American education, is about to shut down a major engine of its success. Ballot Question 2 asks voters to end the requirement that students pass a fairly low bar on the state’s 10th grade test to receive a diploma. Sadly, Question 2 will probably pass.
Its advocates stoke fears about student stress (more on that below), cheered on by exaggerated, dire data spread by the Massachusetts Teachers Association that has been so debunked, not even the union uses it any more. But, as we all know now, killing misinformation is tough…