Press Release

February 11, 2025

Contact: Sam Stockwell
samuel_stockwell@gse.harvard.edu
617.495.0342

Massachusetts Ranked 19th Among States in Math Recovery and 27th in Reading Between 2019 and 2024

Despite gaining over a quarter of a grade level in math, Massachusetts students continued to fall behind in reading and are now almost half a grade level below 2019 levels on average (.48 grade level equivalents).

82 percent of students are in districts whose average math achievement in 2024 remained below their own 2019 levels and 86 percent of students are in districts whose average reading achievement remained below their own 2019 levels.

(February 11, 2025) In its third year of reporting on the pace of academic recovery measures in districts nationwide, the Education Recovery Scorecard (a collaboration between the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University and The Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University) is issuing its annual report on district-level student growth in math and reading.

The latest report also provides the first high resolution picture of where Massachusetts students’ academic recovery stood in Spring 2024, just before federal relief dollars expired in September. While the National Assessment of Educational Progress described changes in average achievement by state, we combine those scores with district scores on state assessments to describe the change in local communities throughout Massachusetts. Here’s what we found:

• Massachusetts ranked 19th among states in terms of recovery in math and 27th in reading between 2019 and 2024, but that doesn’t tell the whole story—between 2022-2024, Massachusetts ranked 9th in math and 16th in reading.
• Students continued to fall behind in reading and are now almost half a grade level below 2019 levels on average (.48 grade level equivalents). Despite gaining over a quarter of a grade level in math (.27 grade equivalents) between 2022-2024, students remain 42% of a grade level behind 2019 levels (.42 grade level equivalents). In other words, the loss in math achievement in Massachusetts is almost 40 percent of the progress students typically make annually between grades 4 through grade 8.
• 82 percent of students are in districts whose average math achievement in 2024 remained below their own 2019 levels and 86 percent of students are in districts whose average reading achievement remained below their own 2019 levels. The average student in some districts, such as Revere, Fall River, Everett, and Framingham remains at least a grade level behind 2019 levels in math; Lynn remains two grade levels behind. The average student in Framingham, Revere, and Lynn also remains at least 1.5 grade equivalents below 2019 levels in reading.
• Reading is more of a concern in Massachusetts than math, as students continue to fall behind. This is true in many other states, with 89 percent of students in districts nationally below 2019 levels in reading, and only 11 percent above.
• Still, there are bright spots: mean achievement for students in Lexington, Brookline, Newton, Plymouth, and Brockton is approaching 2019 levels in math. The average student in Lexington has surpassed 2019 levels in reading, while Newton and Plymouth are approaching 2019 levels.
• Massachusetts received nearly $2.9 billion in federal pandemic relief for K-12 schools—or roughly $3,000 per student—which is less than the national average of $3,700 per student. Nationally, our analysis suggests that the dollars did contribute to the academic recovery, especially when targeted at academic catch-up efforts such as summer learning and tutoring.

The federal pandemic relief dollars may be gone, but the pandemic’s impact lingers in many Massachusetts schools.  Even without federal relief dollars, states could be targeting continuing federal Title I dollars and state dollars to implement interventions which have been shown effective, such as tutoring and summer learning.  State leaders, mayors, employers and other community leaders should join schools to redouble efforts on the shared challenge of reducing student absenteeism.

One of the project leaders, Professor Tom Kane at Harvard, said: “Tackling absenteeism is one of the few things that mayors, employers and other community leaders can do to help students recover.”

For the national press release and findings click here.

About the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University 

The Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, based at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, seeks to transform education through quality research and evidence. CEPR and its partners believe all students will learn and thrive when education leaders make decisions using facts and findings, rather than untested assumptions. Learn more at cepr.harvard.edu.

Contact: Sam Stockwell, samuel_stockwell@gse.harvard.edu, (617) 495-0342