WORCESTER – School Committee members on Thursday were encouraged by the district’s latest graduation and dropout rate improvements, in particular by the better results for the system’s English language learners. School officials consequently floated the theory that ELLs’ success stemmed in part from the state’s sidelining of the MCAS graduation requirement for those students last spring because of the pandemic. Committee member Tracy O’Connell Novick moved for the district to formally testify to the state that Worcester’s improved ELL graduation and dropout rates speak to the “artificial barrier” created by the MCAS, and that those students would be better served by a different evaluation to determine their readiness to leave school.