On average, Massachusetts had worse pandemic ‘learning losses’ than the rest of the country.

Download the Infographic

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented disruptions to education in schools across the U.S.—Massachusetts has been no exception. The shift to remote instruction resulted in significant reductions in instructional time, limited access to essential resources, and fewer opportunities for social and emotional development. These challenges continue to disproportionately affect students of color, students from low-income backgrounds, multilingual learners, and students with disabilities, exacerbating pre-existing achievement gaps.

In response, the federal government allocated a historic $2.86 billion in funding to Massachusetts schools. This substantial support served as a lifeline to address the pandemic’s impact and foster recovery. Additionally, many high-need districts — those most affected by the pandemic — received supplemental support from earlier federal relief packages and state-level funding, such as the Student Opportunity Act (SOA). These funds represent a unique opportunity not only to repair the damage caused by COVID-19 but also to tackle long-standing inequities in our educational system.

The dedication of teachers, districts, and families during the pandemic — ensuring that students continued to learn amid unprecedented challenges — has been remarkable. Nevertheless, academic recovery remains complex and ongoing, with much work still needed to understand and address students’ evolving needs.

Recent data indicates that, despite these efforts and additional resources, Massachusetts has encountered significant hurdles in academic recovery. Findings suggest that students in Massachusetts have been slower to rebound academically compared to their peers in other states.

Our infographic explains five crucial facts highlighting these alarming trends and their profound impact on students across the Commonwealth, with a specific emphasis on the equity implications:

(1) On average, Massachusetts had worse pandemic ‘learning losses’ than the rest of the country.

Recovery from pandemic-induced learning losses in the U.S. remains a complex and ongoing challenge. While schools and districts have made concerted efforts to address these setbacks, the overall effectiveness of these initiatives in restoring pre-pandemic achievement levels has remained unclear.

Recent data reveals that in Massachusetts, pandemic learning losses have been more severe than the national average. From 2019 to 2022, Massachusetts students experienced a decline of 0.66 points in average math scores and 0.44 points in average reading scores, compared to national declines of 0.53 in math and 0.31 in reading.

(2) Massachusetts’ recovery from COVID-related learning losses lags behind that of other states in the country.

On average, Massachusetts is recovering more slowly from COVID-19 learning loss compared to the national trend. Between 2022 and 2023, the state saw an increase of just 0.07 points in average math scores and 0.02 points in average reading scores, while the national averages were 0.17 in math and 0.08 in reading.

(3) Third-grade English Language Arts (ELA) scores continue to lag significantly behind pre-pandemic levels, especially for Latino students and multilingual learners.

The scores for third-grade English Language Arts (ELA) on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) have decreased significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, 58% of third-grade students are struggling with reading, which is a notable increase from the pre-pandemic rate of 44%. While reading scores have dropped for all student groups, the impact has been more pronounced for some underserved populations. For instance, Latino students experienced a 16-percentage point decline, compared to a 12-percentage point decrease among their white peers.

(4) Eighth-grade math MCAS scores in Massachusetts indicate substantial learning losses attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The eighth-grade math MCAS scores in Massachusetts show that there have been significant learning losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2019, scores have declined, with only slightly more than one in three eighth graders demonstrating proficiency in math. Although the statewide average math MCAS scores for eighth graders have stayed the same since last year, proficiency outcomes for all student groups continue to be lower than they were before the pandemic.

(5) In Massachusetts, wealthier districts have made significant progress in academic recovery, while higher-poverty districts have increasingly fallen behind.

In Massachusetts, wealthier school districts have shown notable progress in academic recovery, while districts with higher levels of poverty have continued to fall behind. In fact, a recent study found that Massachusetts has seen the largest widening of achievement gaps of any of the states examined. These disparities underscore the ongoing challenges that lower-income schools face as they work to bring academic performance back to pre-pandemic levels.