Along with a student's academic progress, the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) English Language Arts, MCAS Mathematics, and MCAS Science exams dictate whether a student in the Massachusetts public school system earns a diploma or a certificate of attainment. The difference is that students who do not receive a diploma are not recognized as having graduated high school and therefore cannot list themselves as high school graduates on job applications or go on to high education. Students who do not graduate from high school also cannot enlist in the armed forces. It is because of these reasons that all students should receive an equal and fair opportunity to pass and even excel on the MCAS exams. Students who receive Exceeding on all three exams have an opportunity to attend a state-run four-year college for no tuition costs. I began my mixed methods research by reviewing the descriptive statistics for 10th grade students from Springfield, Holyoke, Worcester, Boston, Lawrence, Weston, Wellesley, Longmeadow, and Shrewsbury who took the MCAS English Language Arts exam in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. The districts were chosen because they are extremes in racial and economic make up, and represent eastern, central, and western Massachusetts. I reviewed the item by item analysis and found common areas within each exam and over the period of five years where the districts with a mostly wealthy Caucasian student base largely outperformed their mostly poor and made up largely of minority counterparts. The results of these exams have major impacts on student lives and therefore, must be appropriate and fair to everyone. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]