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Massachusetts leads the nation in NAEP testing results, which are broadly bleak

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey (center, at podium), alongside Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll (left), Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler (center-right) and acting Elementary and Secondary Education (far right) marked the Commonwealth leading the nation in the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress results.
Office of Governor Maura Healey
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Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey (center, at podium), alongside Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll (left), Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler (center-right) and acting Elementary and Secondary Education (far right) marked the Commonwealth leading the nation in the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress results.

Students in Massachusetts are outperforming their peers across the country according to the latest national report card — which shows some troubling trends overall.

Largely maintaining 2022 numbers, Commonwealth students last year topped the rest of the country in the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

That's according to new data from the NAEP, showing Massachusetts leading in all four categories - fourth grade math and reading and eighth grade math and reading.

The results are based on assessment tests conducted early last year, involving samples of 2,300 to 2,700 students.

Governor Maura Healey, joined by Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll and state education leaders Wednesday, says it's a special achievement for the state, especially given how students and teachers are still trying to make up lost ground due to the pandemic.

“These results, we think, are important to share with the public, because people are working very hard - our students are working hard, parents are working hard, educators and school districts are working hard,” Healey said during a press conference. “And remember, they're working hard to help dig out from a devastating pandemic that has been covered extensively, reported on extensively, but today, I am really proud and grateful to all who have worked so hard to get us to this point where Massachusetts has the #1 rating in the entire country for scores across all categories tested.”

According to Healey's office, this is the first time the state's ranked first in the nation in all four categories since 2017.

Scored on a scale from 0 to 500, Massachusetts had average scores of 246 and 283 for math in fourth and eighth grade, respectively. The national averages were 237 and 272

For fourth grade reading, Massachusetts scored 225 (compared to a national average of 214) while eighth-graders came in at 268 (compared to a national average of 257).

In some cases, the numbers weren't all that different from scores in 1998 or 2000, either.

There’s also the matter of continuing racial gaps. In nearly every category, Black and Hispanic students had average scores that were at least 30 points lower than white students (37 and 33 respectively when it came to Grade 8 reading scores).

The gap shrank slightly to 24 and 26 points respectively when it came to eight grade reading.

All scores also continue to show significant declines compared to about a decade prior, before the start of the pandemic in 2019. For example, 2017 featured a Grade 4 reading score of 236, compared to 2024’s 225. Grade 8 math’s dip was slightly larger, dropping 14 points, from 297 to 283. 

Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler says the latest numbers aren't exactly where leaders want them to be, but the state holding steady and not slipping further compared to '22 is no easy feat and worthy of recognition - especially when, as the Associated Press reports, the national picture shows little improvement or worse in parts of the country.

“It takes time to heal, and I ask that you recall that the fourth grade students represented in the results that we have access to today were in kindergarten during the height of the pandemic, and missed key foundational learning,” he said.

Tutwiler and others also discussed a number of investments the Healey administration has already made in education, on top of plans to expand efforts in Healey's latest budget proposal.

Previous achievements include expanding free breakfast and lunch to students across the state, boosts in funding to early education as well as efforts to reduce chronic absenteeism.

Further investments, including a literal boost in dollars per student for school districts, are on the table this legislative session. 

“I just want to say a few words about the FY26 budget that we proposed – in that, there’s some important investments,” Driscoll said. “Fully-funding the Student Opportunity Act again, bringing $7.3 billion in state funding to school districts; that's an increase of $420 million this year, it's a pretty significant increase in this FY26 budget. We're also proposing the per student minimum would increase from $30 per student to $75 per student. I think that's the biggest increase we've seen in an administration's budget filing out of the gate. That's going to give another boost to 77 percent of the districts, statewide. We're also proposing to increase funding for things like special ed, school busses, transportation needs.”