SECTION 1.  Chapter 74, of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2006 Official Edition, is hereby amended in Section 2 by inserting at the end, the following:—

Provided further, the “Certificate of occupational proficiency” shall be awarded to students who successfully complete a comprehensive vocational education and training program in a particular trade or professional skill area and provided further, have successfully completed a vocational technical education framework tailored to the particular academic objectives of vocational educational programs.  The occupational component of the certificate of occupational proficiency shall reflect a determination that the recipient has demonstrated mastery of core skills, competencies and knowledge comparable to that possessed by students of equivalent age entering the particular trade or profession from the most educationally advanced education systems in the world.  The academic component of the certificate of occupational proficiency shall be designed to measure the specific academic core competencies to the particular trade or professional skill area in which the student has pursued a course of study, and shall take into account the additional, non-traditional academic accomplishments inherent in a vocational educational program.

Attainment of a certificate of occupational proficiency shall satisfy, as a condition for high school graduation, the requirements of a competency determination pursuant to this section.  However, no student enrolled in a certified program of vocational education shall be required, as a condition of graduation from high school, to achieve a passing score on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System Examination.