There are at least 33 adult high school diploma programs identified by the Massachusetts Department of Education (MDOE) located in 21 communities in Massachusetts. Many serve youth who are recent dropouts; others serve students age 22 and older. Although specific program designs differ, most work with the local high school or school system to award a high school diploma. All are locally funded through fees or funding from school systems or governments. Older students will be the ones most affected when MCAS is imposed as a graduation requirement. After June 2005, all adult students must pass the MCAS tests or be denied a state-approved high school diploma.

In November 2002, Commissioner of Education Driscoll granted a waiver to older students from the MCAS tests as a graduation requirement. That waiver ends after June 2005. Younger students from the classes of 2003, 2004 and 2005 were excluded from the waiver. After the waiver was granted, there were varied interpretations of Commissioner Driscoll's intentions, since it included the phrase, "...clarify standards for graduation from these programs," as well as the statement: "Thereafter, students will also need to meet the competency determination in order to be awarded a high school diploma."

While it was clear that a competency determination would be required, the wording of the waiver seemed to allow for development of different standards for adult students. In a November 2003 meeting to clarify the department's position, Associate Commissioner Jeff Nellhaus explicitly stated that MCAS is MDOE's competency determination. After June 2005, all students in Massachusetts, regardless of age or type of program, will be required to complete local requirements and pass the MCAS tests to qualify for a state-approved high school diploma.

Adult Diploma and the GED Diploma
After the waiver ends, students who meet local requirements but have not passed MCAS can only be awarded a certificate of high school completion, not a diploma. Such a certificate is inferior to both a state-approved diploma and the GED, and it is not accepted for admission to state colleges and even some private colleges. It is also doubtful whether many employers or training and apprenticeship programs will accept such a certificate. Adult students do not want an inferior certificate.

Students choose alternative diploma programs because they want a high school diploma from their area or local high school, and want the personal satisfaction of making up for an important misstep in their lives. Many others, especially foreign-born or those with undocumented learning disabilities, do not perform well on tests like the GED or the MCAS. However, they have developed solid basic skills by the time they graduate and successfully demonstrate those skills in their communities, colleges, training programs, and the workforce. Alternative diploma programs offer adults an opportunity to earn credit for real-life competencies gained through experience or the chance to make up learning missed in a previous high school. For others, especially younger students, GED may be the best choice. We need both GED and alternative programs in order to meet the needs of all of our students and ensure no adult is left behind.

MCAS is not the appropriate competency determination for older students; adult competency determination should be based on adult standards. Most younger students (age 21 and under) have had 10 or more years of instruction based on K-12 Curriculum Frameworks in preparation for the MCAS test. MCAS is not an appropriate form of assessment for older students (age 22 and up). Older students should be assessed by adult standards for several reasons:

• Older adult students and nearly all foreign-born adult students lack preparation for MCAS. Currently, only the English Language Arts and Mathematics tests are required. When the MCAS subject area tests are introduced, it will be impossible to remediate the 10 years of background and content knowledge required to pass.
• ABE funded classes are mandated by MDOE to follow ABE Curriculum Frameworks, not K-12 Curriculum Frameworks. Alternative diploma programs that place students in ABE funded classes do not and cannot prepare them for MCAS. There is no funding for adult programs to provide MCAS remediation.
• Adult programs and adult students are different from public high schools and their students. Adult programs focus on literacy and academic skills more than on content knowledge, are funded at much lower per-pupil costs, and have far fewer hours of instruction than public high schools. Students over age 21 are working or looking for work, have family responsibilities, and cannot spend five days per week in school like younger students.

What Is the Alternative to MCAS?
Massachusetts Adult Diploma Programs support the development of strong standards for adult students; however, those standards should be based on the Adult Basic Education (ABE) Curriculum Frameworks. Adult and Community Learning Services (ACLS), the adult education division of MDOE, has contracted with UMass-Amherst to develop new standardized assessments based on those adult curriculum standards. In addition to the UMass assessment work, ACLS has also established a Performance Accountability Working Group of practitioners to develop recommendations for performance accountability. We hope to work with them to develop a set of standards appropriate for adult diploma students.

What are the human and financial costs if MCAS is implemented for older students? The cost will be high for the state and its citizens. Adult diploma programs are locally funded, not state funded. If they cannot award state-approved high school diplomas, most of these programs will be forced to close, resulting in higher state costs as more students are forced into state-funded GED programs. Older and foreign-born students will take longer and cost more to prepare for the GED; many will not pass. Without a high school diploma, thousands of adults will be denied opportunities for training, college, and career advancement. This will have a negative impact on our workforce and our communities. We cannot leave these students and their families behind. The price is too high.

Mass. ADP Position Statement, 2/23/04.