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Education Laws and Regulations

603 CMR 30.00:

Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System and Standards for Competency Determination

Section:


Most Recently Amended by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education: August 15, 2022


30.02: Definitions

Board shall mean the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, appointed in accordance with M.G.L. c. 15, § 1E.

Commissioner shall mean the Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Competency Determination shall have the same meaning as described in M.G.L. c. 69, § 1D (i). In accordance with M.G.L. c.69, § 1D (i), satisfaction of the requirements of the Competency Determination shall be a condition for high school graduation. A school committee (including the board of trustees of a charter school and, for publicly-funded Massachusetts special education students, the governing board of a private day or residential special education program) shall award the high school diploma or any other document connoting high school graduation only to a student who has satisfied the Competency Determination requirement and who has met local graduation requirements.

Consent shall have the same meaning as described in 603 CMR 28.02: Consent. Legal authority of the parent shall transfer to the student when the student reaches eighteen (18) years of age.

Educational Proficiency Plan shall mean a plan developed for a student by his/her high school principal or designee designed to help the student move toward meeting grade level expectations in English language arts and/or mathematics and shall include those elements described in 603 CMR 30.03 (7). Such plans and any updates to such plans must be shared with a student's parents or guardians in a timely fashion.

Graduating Class For purposes of 603 CMR 30.00, students are assigned to the graduating class of the cohort of students they join when they first enter grades 9–12 in a Massachusetts public school system. For example, a student first entering 9th grade in fall 2022 belongs to the class of 2026, a student entering as a 10th grader in fall of 2022 belongs to the class of 2025, and so forth. Once a student is assigned a particular cohort, the student's graduating class for purposes of 603 CMR 30.00 never changes.

Individualized education program (IEP) and IEP team shall have the same meaning as described in 603 CMR 28.02: Definitions.

Local graduation requirements shall mean graduation criteria established by the student's school district including attendance, course completion and satisfactory grades.

MCAS shall mean the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, the statewide assessment of individual students' academic performance, as required by M.G.L. c. 69, § 1I.

Student with a disability shall mean a student who has been determined to be eligible for special education services in accordance with the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or M.G.L. c.71B and 603 CMR 28.00 (special education), or who has been determined to be an individual with disabilities under Section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 or the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Regulatory Authority:
603 CMR 30.00: M.G.L. c. 69, §§ 1B and 1D; St. 2003, c.140, §119.


Disclaimer:
For an official copy of these regulations, please contact the State House Bookstore, at 617-727-2834 or visit Massachusetts State Bookstore.

Last Updated: November 2, 2022

 
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
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