MCAS scores have not returned to pre-pandemic levels, as this year’s statewide scores were nearly the same as those in 2024.
The same is happening among Worcester Public School students but the numbers are worse.
Overall, 42% of statewide students 3rd through 8th grade scored as meeting or exceeding expectations in English Language Arts (ELA), 41% in math, and 42% in science, according to data released Monday by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). For 10th graders, 51% of statewide students met or exceeded expectations in ELA, 45% in math and 46% in science.
Those scores are significantly lower than those in 2019, when 52% of students in grades 3 through 8 scored as meeting or exceeding expectations in ELA, 49% in math, and 48% in science. In 2019, 61% of students in 10th grade met or exceeded expectations in ELA and 59% did so in math. There was no statewide percentage for the science MCAS for 10th graders in 2019.
In Worcester, most MCAS scores have remained stagnant since last year.
In 2024, 23% of total students in 3rd through 8th grade met or exceeded expectations in ELA and math, while 21% did the same in science. For 10th graders, 40% of students exceeded or met expectations in ELA, while 27% did so in math and 28% in science.
The percentage of students who met or exceeded expectations in ELA was 26% in 2025, while 24% did the same in math and 23% in science.
Among 10th graders, 33% met or exceeded expectations in ELA, 24% in math and 27% in science.
These scores are still far from the scores students achieved in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
In that year, 37% of students from third to eighth grade at Worcester Public Schools met or exceeded expectations in ELA, 31% in math and 27% in science, according to previous data.
As for 10th graders, 42% met or exceeded expectations in ELA while 36% did the same in math.
“The data reflect the stability and modest gains we have experienced in student achievement and engagement over the past few years, but there is certainly more work to do,” Superintendent Brian Allen said in a press release on Monday. “While it’s important that we stay the course, we must continue to focus intently on our students the most in need of making academic gains. Our primary goal is to ensure all students succeed.”
When broken down by grade, the scores from the 2025 MCAS are very similar to last year’s results.
Among third graders, for example, 25% met or exceeded expectations in ELA, compared to 24% in 2024.
Among fifth graders, 25% exceeded or met expectations in ELA. The same percentage of students met or exceeded expectations in the 2022, 2023 and 2024 MCAS, according to DESE data.
There was an increase in seventh graders who met or exceeded expectations in the 2025 MCAS, with 27% doing so in ELA (up from 18% in 2024) and 21% in math (up from 19% in 2024).
Starting with the class of 2026, students will no longer be required to pass three MCAS tests in language arts, mathematics and science to graduate after voters in 2024 passed a ballot measure to discard the graduation requirement. Students are still required to take the test.
Despite the discarding of the requirement, Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Pedro Martinez told reporters that the MCAS is still important, saying it helps measure the standards for students and their districts.
“MCAS is always the gold standard in the nation,” Martinez said. “They are more important than ever today.”