The Changing Landscape of Standardized Testing in Massachusetts
In recent years, the decline in standardized test results has underscored the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on student learning. National SAT scores have dropped to their lowest levels in years, and Massachusetts has also faced a moderate decline in scores. With fewer students in Massachusetts opting to take standardized tests, data from US DataLabs illustrates a complicated picture of academic performance and recovery in the state.
Figure 1: United States Average SAT Scores, 2012-2023
US SAT Trends
US average SAT scores have experienced a sharp decline in recent years, and as of 2023 are the lowest they have been since the scoring system was changed in 2017. Over that six-year period, the average reading and writing score decreased 13 points to 555, and the average math score decreased 18 points to 538. A particularly sharp decline between 2021 and 2023 is largely attributed to learning loss due to Covid-19, which also shows up in similar school achievement measurements such as NAEP. It will be interesting to see whether the national decline continues at this pace, or whether new policies and funding aimed at combatting this learning loss will cause test scores to rebound.
Figure 2: Massachusetts Average SAT Scores, 2012-2023
Massachusetts SAT Trends
Massachusetts’ average SAT scores peaked in 2021, an outlier score due to how the data was shaped by Covid accessibility, but recent scores have since fallen slightly below where they were prior to the pandemic. This signifies that Massachusetts is following the national trend of declining scores, likely due to learning loss. However, one bright spot for the Commonwealth is that its drop is not as significant as the national one. The average scores for Massachusetts from 2017-2020 were 559 for reading and 558.5 math, and the most recent 2023 scores were 560 for reading and 551 for math. Based on this data, it seems that Massachusetts is facing a sharper decrease in math than in reading and writing, signaling a potential area for improvement across the state. Still, Massachusetts’ SAT math scores have decreased less than those of the nation.
Figure 3: Percentage of Massachusetts students taking the ACT or SAT, 2012-2023
One factor that makes this data hard to draw strong conclusions from is the number of students currently taking the SAT, which was only 55 and 57 percent of Massachusetts students in 2022 and 2023. This is a sharp decrease from 2017 to 2020, where on average 79 percent of Massachusetts students took the test. This is in part due to the test-optional policies put into place after Covid-19, resulting in about 80 percent of schools going test-optional, including most state schools. When fewer students take the test, the data becomes harder to generalize across the state, and unfortunately it seems that this will not change without reforms to test-optional or local policies. Although the national SAT numbers show a large increase in test takers, Massachusetts only saw a very slight increase, indicating that test optional policies have had a stronger lasting impact in Massachusetts than nationally.
Overall, Massachusetts has mirrored the national decrease in SAT scores since 2021, especially in math. However, this decrease was significantly lower in magnitude than the national decrease, and only in math was it meaningfully different than the test results prior to Covid-19. This suggests that Massachusetts may not be experiencing as harsh a learning loss as other states, although it could also be an indication that the decrease in test takers in Massachusetts has skewed the data, hiding the true learning loss for the many students no longer taking any form of standardized tests.
Andrew Harding is a Roger Perry Government Transparency Intern with the Pioneer Institute. He is a rising senior at Connecticut College, with a double major in Government and Educational Studies. Feel free to contact via email, LinkedIn, or writing a letter to Pioneer’s office.
