By Grace Zokovitch

Copyright bostonherald

Massachusetts education officials released the 2025 MCAS score results Monday, showing only 13 districts in the state have caught up to their pre-pandemic Math and English scores as results continue to slip for many more.

“We know that school communities are working hard to support their students, and I’m glad to highlight positive results among several districts while also recognizing the work that we still need to do as a state,” Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler said Monday.

The 2025 results mark the first round of scores released since voters overturned the MCAS standardized testing graduation requirement last November, and high schoolers performance dropped across the board. The 10th grade results in this round represent the first set of scores delivered that are not built in as a graduation requirement.

The announcement follows the “concerning” drops in scores in 2024, after a slight post-pandemic recovery trend in 2023.

For 2025 English scores, 10th graders meeting or exceeding expectations dropped 6% from last year to 51% and is down 10% from before the pandemic in 2019. The high schoolers passing Math also dipped 3% from the previous year and 14% from 2019 reaching 45%.

Grades 3 and 8 showed more mixed results, with students passing English jumping 3% and no change in Math scores. Both scores remain significantly behind 2019 levels.

Science scores were also mixed between grades, with 5th graders passing up 1%, 8th graders down 2% and high schoolers down 3%.

The MCAS results also included a 8th grade Civics test for the first year, and 39% of students earned a meeting or exceeding expectations grade.

DESE officials said said the scores show “post-pandemic learning loss continues to be a major challenge for many students” and point to a need to focus on “chronic absenteeism and improving early literacy.”

“We want to exceed where we were in 2019, but the first step is to get back to that baseline,” said Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Pedro Martinez.

District officials celebrated 13 districts that caught up to their pre-pandemic levels in both English and Math on Monday, including several charter and smaller districts. Arlington, Amherst, Cohasset, Wakefield and others met the benchmark in both subjects.

Fifty more districts met their pre-pandemic scores in either English or Math.

“As much as we have work to do, you give me not only hope, you give me optimism, and more importantly, with the people you heard today, you inspire us,” Martinez said in Arlington on Monday.

The advocacy group MassPotential called the MCAS results evidence of a “harsh reality: our public schools are failing to educate a majority of our children” and pushed for state legislation for literacy education standards.

“We recognize that the COVID-19 pandemic had a devastating impact on our students and families, but our achievement scores had been flatlining prior to the disruption caused by COVID, and recovery has been too slow despite a $2.2B federal infusion of funds to promote improvement,” said MassPotential Executive Director Mary Tamer. “We have long past the point of resting on our laurels for being #1 in the nation in education when we also hold the distinction of having the second largest achievement gaps among student groups.”

The results also showed continuing achievement gaps among demographic groups, particularly within 10th grade results. Just 35% of Black students passed English, marking a 7% decline from 2024, and 31% of Hispanic or Latino students, marking a 5% drop. Similarly in Math, scores for Black students dropped mildly 1%, to 26% passing, and 2% for Hispanic or Latino students to 23%.

English scores in 10th grade also dropped for English learners, students with disabilities and low income students. 10th grade Math results saw similar drops across the board, though English learners scores remained stable from the previous year.

DESE also released accountability data for districts Monday, showing 55% of schools were making substantial progress towards, meeting or exceeding accountability targets, compared to 60% in 2024.

Boston Public Schools was identified as making moderate progress toward the state-determined targets and was not identified as requiring assistance or intervention. Superintendent Mary Skipper noted the district’s progress in literacy, multilingual learners’ success and for students with special education plans.

Boston also reported slipping MCAS scores for 10th grade English, with a 2% drop from last year. For Math and Science, BPS’s 10th grade scores remained steady from the previous year.

“For grade 10, we recognize that ELA and Math remain areas for continued focus,” Skipper said. “Although MCAS is no longer a graduation requirement, we are supporting our families and school communities in helping students understand the value of the exam as one measure of their learning and readiness.”

In grades 3-8, the district reported “encouraging progress in literacy,” with increases across “across nearly all student groups,” Skipper said. For the younger grades, English scores jumped 2% from the previous year, also gaining 1% in Math and half a percent in Science.

“This year’s MCAS and accountability results demonstrate encouraging progress for many of our students,” said Boston School Committee Chair Jeri Robinson. “These results reflect how targeted investments to support students and educators are making a difference in classrooms across the city.”