MCAS Scores in State and in Franklin Slip During Pandemic

The first MCAS tests administered in the COVID-19 era featured drops in scores "across the board," the state's education commissioner said last Tuesday (Sept 21), noting the results show "everyone is going to have to step forward" to address kids' mental health and academic needs.

"I think the headline today is that it appears that racial achievement gaps did not increase, and that is because drops were seen all over the commonwealth of Massachusetts, including our wealthiest suburbs," Commissioner Jeff Riley told the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. "For example, Lexington experienced double-digit drops in [grade] three to eight math proficiency. These are drops that districts have not seen to this degree probably in the last 30 years, and they are spread out uniformly across the commonwealth."

Riley said results from the spring 2021 MCAS tests align with national trends, showing "smaller drops in English language arts and more pronounced drops in mathematics compared to two years ago."

The state did not administer its standardized tests in the spring of 2020, when schools abruptly pivoted to remote learning as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. A year later, they issued the annual exams with several adjustments, including shorter tests for third through eighth graders and a remote option.

Of the more than 1 million tests administered last year, about 85 percent were administered in-person and 15 percent remotely, according to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

On the third through eight grade tests, the percentage of students scoring "meeting expectations" or higher fell from 49 percent in 2019 to 33 percent in 2021. For the English language arts test, it dropped from 52 percent in 2019 to 46 percent in 2021.

In tenth grade, the percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations in math was also down -- to 52 percent from 59 percent -- while it ticked upward in English, rising to 64 percent from 61 percent in 2019.

The 2020-2021 school year was marked by stretches of remote learning, while families continued to cope with the health and economic ramifications of COVID-19. Because of the pandemic's disruptions, education officials agreed not to issue new school or district accountability determinations this year.

Franklin, too, saw drops according to publicly available preliminary data on the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education web site.

At Tuesday evening's School Committee meeting, Superintendent Dr. Sara Ahern said more information would be forthcoming on Franklin and, like most school districts, she said student performance has slipped on the tests, particularly in mathematics.

Note: These numbers come directly from table data and do not include useful contextual information.

                                                    Avg                                        Avg

                                           Scaled Score                    Scaled Score

                                                 2021                                      2019

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FRANKLIN ELA                  504.3                                   508.5

FRANKLIN MATH           489.9                                    508.2

FRANKLIN SCI                  504.7                                   505.4

[State House News Service and Additional  Reporting]