MCAS scores still not back to pre-pandemic levels

Massachusetts students continue to lag behind pre-pandemic performance in standardized testing, according to the latest MCAS results released on Monday.

Overall, about 42% of the state's students met testing expectations — compared to about half of all students before the pandemic.

The data show little progress from last year's scores, with notable declines among high school students.

Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Pedro Martinez pointed out on a call with reporters that there is not one single statewide student group that has bounced back to its pre-pandemic level of achievement.

"Look, these results are sobering, but they're not insurmountable," he said. "I am confident that we can improve and that Massachusetts can continue to be a national leader in education."

Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler added, "I have long suggested that recovery from the pandemic will be a process, not an event."

In English language arts, 42% of students in grades 3 through 8 met or exceeded the state's expectations, an increase of 3 percentage points compared to last year, but still 10 percentage points below statewide results from 2019. Most 10th graders, 51%, met or exceeded the English expectations, but DESE said that represents a drop of 6 percentage points from last year and 10 percentage points from 2019.

In math, 41% of students in grades 3 through 8 met or exceeded expectations, unchanged from last year, but lagging 2019 results by 8 percentage points. Among 10th graders, 45% met or exceeded expectations. DESE said that is 3 percentage points below 2024 levels and 14 percentage points below pre-pandemic 2019 levels.

Forty-six percent of fifth graders met or exceeded expectations on the MCAS science exam, up one percentage point from last year but still down 3 points from 2019. For eighth graders, 37% met or surpassed expectations (down 2 percentage points from 2024 and 9 percentage points behind 2019 levels). Forty-six percent of tenth graders met or exceeded the science expectations, a drop of 3 percentage points compared to 2024. DESE officials say comparisons to 2019 are not meaningful for 10th graders because the exam has changed since then.

Results for 10th graders, the first class to take the standardized test knowing that voters had already scrapped it as a high school graduation requirement, were down across the board. Officials at the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education said they think last fall's vote might have something to do with the slide.

DESE's Chief Officer for Data, Assessment and Accountability Rob Curtin said the "evidence" includes increases in the number of students who either left answers blank or "answered a question in an off-topic manner, in other words, they didn't answer the question" compared to 2024.

"So these are things that we're going to continue to look at and examine, but there is some evidence to suggest that there was an impact of motivation as it relates to the results from Question 2 back in November," Curtin told reporters.

Across the state, 55% of schools either made substantial progress toward, met or exceeded their own accountability targets. And while DESE officials pointed out that a majority of schools at least made serious progress in 2025, it represents a decrease from 60% of schools that at least made significant progress in 2024.

Lawmakers created the MCAS system in a 1993 education reform law that was aimed at improving accountability and school performance. The first tests were given in 1998, and students starting with the high school class of 2003 were required to achieve sufficient scores to graduate until voters approved a measure last November to decouple the two.

A panel assembled by Gov. Maura Healey has to make at least initial recommendations for a new statewide high school graduation standard by the end of the year and last week unveiled its first rough sketch of its thinking. Tutwiler, who co-chairs the group, said last week the recommendations "will include rigorous learning experiences and a mechanism to give us confidence that all students are meeting these high expectations."

The Massachusetts Teachers Association that pushed for the elimination of MCAS passage as a graduation requirement responded by warning against the continued use of a standardized test to assess students.

"We will only nurture students to be 'critical problem solvers, intentional collaborators, effective communicators, self-aware navigators, and responsible decision-makers' if we design educator-led systems of assessment and provide the necessary resources that educators, students and schools need to fulfill these goals," Max Page and Deb McCarthy, president and vice president of MTA, said.

MCAS results are sometimes accompanied by DESE's corresponding school and district accountability determinations. But Monday's announcement did not include any details on schools exiting or entering "underperforming" or "chronically underperforming" status. DESE officials said Martinez will evaluate each school’s status in the coming weeks.

With reporting from State House News Service's Colin A. Young and WBUR.