Advocates have gathered 25,000 signatures, twice the number needed, to advance a ballot question overturning the MCAS graduation requirement to the November ballot, the Massachusetts Teachers Association announced Thursday.

The MCAS ballot question proponents were tasked with collecting 12,429 new signatures from registered voters and submit them to local election officials by June 18 after the question was passed over for legislative approval in early May. If the signatures are authorized, the question will appear on the Nov. 5 general election ballot.

The ballot question, backed by the MTA along with other education advocates, would get rid of the requirement for students to pass the MCAS standardized test in order to graduate. Student would instead be judged on school performance and the completion of coursework.

The MCAS test would still be administered, the question would just eliminate use of the exam as a graduation requirement.

“People couldn’t sign the petition fast enough,” Susan Greco, an instructional assistant at Doherty Middle School, said in the MTA release. Greco cited many signatories’ “emotional” reaction to their memories of the MCAS and student’s stress over the test.

“I knew there were many parents who, like me, believed that the MCAS graduation requirement is not a valid measure of our students and presents an unfair hurdle to hardworking students, like my son, who do not perform well on standardized tests,” said Shelley Scruggs, a Lexington founding organizer of initiative.

Advocates also far surpassed the initial number of signatures needed to advance the ballot initiative last November with 135,000 signatures, the highest of any ballot question put forward this election cycle. Proponents have expressed confidence in the “robust support” for the initiative throughout the process.

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Opponents have critiqued the lack of a uniform standard to replace the test included in the proposal.

“Massachusetts is one of the few states left using a standardized test as a graduation requirement,” MTA President Max Page argued in the release. … “Keeping our high standards and eliminating the high stakes attached to one test will be a tremendous benefit to every student as our schools will be able to focus on all of the creative ways our educators can use to teach students.”

The ballot question is one of ten seeking signatures to advance to the November ballot.