The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released statewide MCAS test results from the spring 2021 exam on Tuesday, September 21, showing fewer students meeting or exceeding grade level expectation than before the pandemic.
Massachusetts did not administer MCAS tests in 2020, leaving 2019 the most recent comparable results.
In grades three through eight, 46 percent of students scored at levels meeting expectations or high in English language arts in 2021, compared to 52 percent in 2019. At the same grade levels, 33 percent scored meeting expectations levels or higher, down from 49 percent in 2019.
For grade ten students, 64 percent were in the meeting expectations range or higher in English language arts, up three percentage points from 61 percent in 2019. In math, 52 percent scored within the meeting expectations range, down from 59 percent in 2019.
Federal coronavirus relief funds provide around $2.8 billion to schools in Massachusetts between the 2021-2022 school year and the fall of 2024. Districts can spend it on a wide-range of priorities in order to meet students’ academic, social, emotional, and mental health needs resulting from the pandemic. Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley said MCAS data will help inform the approach of districts in makin spending decisions.
Families will receive their child’s MCAS scores after September 30. Families of students who were in grades 3-8 in the spring should keep in mind that those students were given shorter than usual tests, which can cause individual student performance to vary more than usual as compared to previous years, accodind to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
