Tri-town outperforms MCAS state standards, still remains below pre-pandemic scores

2025 MCAS scores in the tri-town are above state standards but results were lower than scores in 2024 and 2019, before the pandemic. 

The Old Rochester School District met or exceeded state standards in all subjects. 

The Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, also known as MCAS, is a state-wide exam taken by public school students in grades three through eight and tenth grade. 

Results for the MCAS were released Monday, Sept. 29. Old Rochester School District’s Superintendent Michael Nelson said, “We have outperformed the state in all subject areas, at all levels.”

He continued, “This is a testament to the hard work our faculty and staff members perform each and every day in the classrooms.”  

MCAS tests all students in English language arts and math, while grades, five, eight and ten are also tested in science. New this year is a two-part civics test for eighth graders. 

The MCAS scores are collected by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education who put the results into four categories based on performance: exceeding expectations, meets expectations, partially meets expectations and not meeting expectations.

Old Rochester Regional High School students outperformed the state across all three subjects, but the percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations dipped from last year.

"It is critically important that our parents and guardians recognize that the MCAS results do not define the learners we have in our schools,” said Nelson. 

In 2025, 59% of tenth grade students met or exceeded English language expectations while 62% of tenth graders did so in 2024. Eighty-one percent of students met this criteria in 2019. 

In math, results were similar. 49% of tenth graders met or exceeded expectations in 2025 compared to the 60% who met this criteria in 2024 and 73% met it in 2019. 

Science results also dropped. Elementary and Middle schoolers scored similarly, beating state averages, but not consistently exceeding 2024 or 2019 levels. 

This year, 46% of Sippican Elementary sixth graders met or exceeded English language expectations, which is ten percentage points lower than 2024 and sixteen percentage points lower than 2019. 

Sippican sixth graders who met or exceeded math expectations decreased from 67% in 2019 to 49% this year, a slight increase of three percentage points from 2024. 

New this year was a two-part civics test for eighth graders that included the state level performance task, an 11 question exam focusing on a variety of civics topics as well as an end of year exam. 

Old Rochester students outperformed the state with 45% tenth grade students meeting or exceeding expectations compared to 39% at the state level. 

Nelson said, “Beyond paper and pencil testing, our schools will continue to value project based learning approaches, collaboration and critical thinking opportunities, and our students' communication skills." 

Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School did well in science with a score with five percentage points above the state level. 

45% of Old Colony tenth graders met or exceeded expectations in math which was the state average.

Old Colony tenth graders fell below the state average of 51% of students meeting or exceeding expectations in English. Only 45% of Old Colony tenth graders met or exceeded expectations in 2025. 

Aaron Polansky, the superintendent of Old Colony was not available for comment at the time of publication. 

Old Rochester is not yet meeting what scores were before the pandemic. In a press meeting, Massachusetts Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler said, “Recovery from the pandemic will be a process, not an event.”

Nelson said, “Our students should be applauded for their efforts and testing results."