Massachusetts MCAS Scores Expose Ongoing Learning Gaps Five Years After Pandemic

Five years after the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered schools and sent students and teachers scrambling to adapt to virtual learning, Massachusetts students continue to lag far below prepandemic levels on state tests. MCAS scores released on Monday, Sept. 29, offered this concerning news to state educators.

According to a Boston Globe report, the test results demonstrate little progress from 2024 to 2025, with significant declines among high school students. The scores are enough for parents and educators to question what the state is doing to help students catch up to their prepandemic peers. 

Additionally, the report raises questions about the long-term effects of declining student performance on college and career readiness, as well as implications for the state's economy.

“The distinction we've earned over the last several decades of leading the nation is a characteristic that's becoming unraveled,” said Edward Lambert, executive director of the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education, in a statement shared with the Globe. “Other states are recovering from the pandemic, and we don't seem to be at all.” 

The Boston Globe noted that recent standardized test results reveal that only 42% of students met or exceeded expectations for student achievement on the tests last spring. Before the pandemic, 50% did. Approximately 18% of students failed the tests in 2025, compared to about 11% before the pandemic.

Officials recognized 13 districts that caught up to their pre-pandemic levels in English and math, including several charter and smaller districts. Arlington, Amherst, Cohasset, Wakefield, and others met the mark in both subjects.

Monday's results also showed continuing achievement gaps among demographic groups, particularly in 10th-grade results. According to the Boston Herald, only 35% of Black students passed English, a 7% decline from 2024, compared to 31% of Hispanic or Latino students, a 5% drop. Similarly, in math, scores for Black students dropped by one percentage point, to 26% passing, and two percentage points for Hispanic or Latino students, to 23%.

According to the Boston Herald, the 2025 results mark the first round of scores released since voters overturned the MCAS standardized testing graduation requirement in the November 2024 election. Last spring's 10th-grade students were the first in two decades to take the MCAS without the high-stakes implications traditionally associated with the tests.