Charter Up, Franklin and Medway Down in Statewide MCAS Scores

Sam Drysdale |SHNS

Massachusetts students made little progress on this year's statewide MCAS exams, with reading and writing performance declining and raising questions about how schools and policymakers should respond.

The results released Tuesday show 40% of students in grades 3 through 8 met or exceeded expectations in English language arts, down two percentage points from 2025 and 12 points from 2019. In 10th-grade ELA, the decline was substantially greater: 45% met or exceeded expectations, down six points from last year and 16 points from the pre-pandemic level.

*  *  *  *  *  

▸ Notable District Movers, 2025–2026

The results leave state education officials confronting the lingering effects of the pandemic while also grappling with questions about students' motivation to take a test that is no longer required for graduation.

Massachusetts is in a lengthy transition from an era of high-stakes tests to a new graduation framework, the final contours of which haven't been determined yet.

Massachusetts voters approved a 2024 ballot question removing the requirement that students earn a qualifying MCAS score to receive a high school diploma. MCAS tests are still administered, but the high school test is no longer tied to the state's competency determination for graduation.

Decisions about the graduation framework will play out in the next legislative session, and in the meantime the MCAS remains the state's primary statewide measure of student achievement, even as officials consider how the loss of its graduation stakes may affect how students approach the test.

Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Pedro Martinez pointed to two factors behind the 10th-grade ELA decline: student motivation and weaker academic performance among students entering high school.

DESE data chief Rob Curtin cautioned against attributing the entire high school decline to motivation.

"There are multiple reasons, as the commissioner stated, for what's happened with our results in grade 10," Curtin said. "Certainly we would acknowledge the motivation factor, but also want to acknowledge the prior results of those students coming into high school."

Curtin said there was no evidence presented Tuesday that students were simply giving up on the test at a greater rate than last year.

Math results in grades 3 through 8 were flat overall, with 41% meeting or exceeding expectations, though sixth and eighth graders posted gains. High school math was also essentially flat at 44% at or above expectations. Science results were mixed, while eighth-grade civics remained flat at 40%.

For schools, the results mean the academic recovery from the pandemic remains incomplete.

Large numbers of students remain below state expectations, particularly students from low-income families, English learners and students with disabilities. For policymakers, the results add urgency to efforts already underway around literacy instruction, chronic absenteeism and new high school graduation standards.

"We're still not where we want to be in terms of our results," Martinez said. He said the state is seeing "stabilization in math," but not in literacy, particularly among high school students.

Franklin and Medway Results

In grades 3 through 8 ELA, Asian students were at 62% meeting or exceeding expectations, down two points from 2025, while white students were at 48%, also down two points. Black students were flat at 25%, and Hispanic students were flat at 22%.

While every demographic group remained below its 2019 performance, Asian and white students' performance in ELA declined slightly while Black and Hispanic students remained flat — which Curtin said narrows some achievement gaps, but should not be interpreted as progress because it results from the higher-performing groups losing ground rather than lower-performing groups gaining.

Low-income students in grades 3 through 8 had a 22% meeting-or-exceeding rate in ELA, while students with disabilities were at 11%. English learners were at 4%.

Chronic absenteeism remains another significant factor.

The statewide chronic absenteeism rate improved from just under 19% in 2025 to 17.1% in 2026, according to Education Secretary Stephen Zrike, but remains above pre-pandemic levels. Curtin said chronically absent students in grades 3 through 8 scored roughly half an achievement level below their regularly attending peers in ELA and more than half an achievement level lower in math.

The administration is betting on several policy changes to address the results.

Zrike highlighted Literacy Launch, high-dosage tutoring, expanded early college and career technical education, and efforts to address student mental health. The state awarded nearly $24.7 million in August to 71 districts and an educational collaborative for evidence-based literacy instruction.

In June, Gov. Maura Healey signed legislation requiring districts to use research-backed K-3 reading curricula and strengthening literacy screening and teacher preparation requirements.

"We have significant work ahead to ensure that every student is prepared to thrive in college, career, and civic life," Zrike said.

The new high school graduation framework that the state is moving toward would establish broader expectations around coursework, career preparation, financial literacy, civics, artificial intelligence literacy and postsecondary planning, rather than relying on a single high-stakes test.

Martinez said those changes, along with the state's literacy efforts, are intended to address the academic declines reflected in the MCAS results.

"Our goal is to exceed or to actually be ahead of schedule on each of the different deadlines that are in the literacy bill," Martinez said.

The Legislature will ultimately have a role in determining how those proposals are implemented and funded, while schools will be responsible for translating the new literacy and graduation expectations into classroom practice.

Martinez said the state will establish a new "north star" for student achievement, with goals for grades 3 through 8 to reach new proficiency benchmarks by 2031 and reduce the number of students performing at the lowest achievement level. He plans to discuss the goals during Tuesday's Board of Education meeting.

"What makes me optimistic is that Massachusetts is a state that not only invests in education, but we truly collaborate," Martinez said. "I know that we can not only stabilize the data but reverse this trend."

For now, however, the MCAS results leave the state with a clear measure of the work still ahead: Massachusetts has not restored its pre-pandemic performance in any major subject or student demographic group, and the sharp deterioration in 10th-grade ELA has added urgency to the debate over the fundamental reading and writing skills all students need in order to learn.

More MCAS data is available here.

Sam Drysdale is a reporter for State House News Service and State Affairs Pro Massachusetts. Reach her at sdrysdale@statehousenews.com.