MCAS results for 2024 showed more “concerning” results than the optimistically trending 2023 results and remained lagging well behind pre-pandemic scores, state education officials announced Tuesday.

“These results are concerning,” DESE Acting Commissioner Russell Johnston said Tuesday. “They are concerning as we continue to fight pandemic-related learning loss. While we have been operating with a sense of urgency, these results fortify our responsibility, our deep responsibility. Hear me on how we accept that deep responsibility, how we respond to these concerning results and build broad strategies that can be implemented to address and improve outcomes for our children.”

In 2024, the English/language arts (ELA) scores showed lower achievement in all grades from 2023, while math remained relatively unchanged in most grades and science showed mixed results from the prior year.

The mixed results come after Massachusetts officials heralded “recovery is fully underway” in response to 2023 results, which showed the first significant positive increases in scores since 2019. While the 2023 results increased or remained constant in most grades from 2022, they remained well below 2019 scores.

In an embargoed briefing Monday, state Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler said “the road back from the pandemic is not short.”

The results come weeks before a ballot question removing the MCAS graduation requirement is set to come before voters on the November general election ballot. Tutwiler also argued Monday that “assessments are important,” citing measuring persistent inequities and the “historically unique context” coming out of the pandemic.

ELA score were an “extremely concerning” area, said DESE Chief Officer for Data Assessment and Accountability Rob Curtin. 2024 ELA score drops hit younger grades harder, with up to 5% drops in students meeting or exceeding expectations from 2023, and remained more flat for eighth and tenth graders, DESE data show.

In math, third grade was the “highlight” as the only set of results to show a positive increase from 2023, while all others remained relatively flat and tenth grade dropped, Curtin said. In science, grades 5 and 10 saw improvement from 2023 and grade 8 dropped.

This is the first year after score standards were raised for the class of 2026, tenth graders last year. In August 2022, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education raised the necessary scores to meet the Educational Proficiency Plan (EPP) and Competency Determination (CD) standards.

If a student passes the CD they have passed the test, while students who pass the EPP are done the test but must complete a locally administered plan.

For the class of 2026, the ELA standard for both was raised significantly, and the math EPP standard was raised very slightly.

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For the tenth graders, the cumulative effect “is that 78% of students in the class of 2026 reached at least the EPP level in all three subjects on their first attempt, and are no longer required to take any of the MCAS tests,” said Curtin. “This is compared to 82% from 2023, the class of 2025.”

Curtin said BESE expects the number of students who pass the EPP to “increase dramatically as kids have additional retest opportunities and also submit appeals.”