BOSTON – On June 27, Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court agreed with an amicus brief jointly filed by Pioneer Public Interest Law Center, former Boston Public Schools Superintendent Michael Contompasis and former Worcester Superintendent James Caradonio, rejecting the Massachusetts Teachers Association’s (MTA’s) challenge to the language of a November ballot initiative that would eliminate the requirement that students pass English language arts, math and science MCAS tests to graduate from the Commonwealth’s public high schools.
Massachusetts law requires the attorney general and secretary of state to jointly prepare a fair and neutral one-sentence statement describing the effect of a yes or no vote. The “yes” statement slated to appear on the ballot reads: “A YES VOTE would eliminate the requirement that students pass the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) in order to graduate high school but still require students to complete coursework that meets state standards.”
The MTA advocated for changing the statement to “A YES VOTE would require that for a student to graduate high school, the school district must determine that the student satisfactorily completed coursework certified by the district as demonstrating mastery of state curriculum standards instead of passing MCAS.”
Pioneer Law Center, Contompasis and Caradonio argued that the MTA’s suggested language is “overtly deceptive” because it falsely implies that MCAS would be replaced by a new statewide standard.
The brief also took issue with the phrase “coursework certified by the district,” arguing that it creates “an illusory promise of competency.”
“To expect cities and towns to be able to substitute an effective measure of accountability that MCAS provides is farfetched and will not work,” Caradonio said.
The brief was prepared with pro bono assistance from Nicholas M. O’Donnell of Sullivan & Worcester LLP.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) has long been beset by numerous problems, including huge operating deficits and inefficient service. Improving operations, safety, and oversight have been major policy priorities for both current and previous governors. After years of reforms, how is the MBTA doing?
During the winter of 2015, the MBTA’s many problems became glaringly apparent as snow storms caused shutdown after shutdown. That year, MBTA operating expenses for buses, commuter rail, and light rail – such as the Green Line – reached respective highs (at the time) of $408 million, $405 million, and $184 million according to MBTA Analysis. In 2010, those same operating expenses were $338 million, $280 million, and $141 million, respectively. According to the MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board, the large growth in operating expenses contributed to MBTA expenditures (excluding debt service) topping $1.5 billion in 2015, far outpacing revenue and prompting calls for reform.
Since then, there has been improvement in some areas. MBTA revenue growth beat inflation, reaching $777 million in 2019, up from $661 million in 2015 . During this same period total operating expenses remained relatively consistent, growing from $2.06 billion in 2015 to $2.25 billion in 2019, with operating expenses for commuter rail actually dropping from $405 million in 2015 to $384 million in 2019, according to MBTA Analysis. This progress was derailed by the Covid-19 pandemic, as revenue shrunk to $453 million and operating expenses grew to $2.35 billion in 2023.
Figure 1: Graph of total MBTA operating expenses compiled from MBTA financial statements
Unfortunately, MBTA ridership failed to increase even before the pandemic, as total vehicle revenue miles only increased from 99 million to 101 million between 2015 and 2019, according to MBTA analysis. Total passenger miles traveled during that time also decreased, falling from 1.8 billion in 2015 to 1.7 billion in 2019. However, both these changes mirror ridership changes in other metropolitan areas during that time. Alas, the MBTA lost significant ridership during the Covid-19 pandemic with only 483 million passenger miles traveled in 2021.
Figure 2: MBTA analysis 2021
The ridership challenge would be inconsequential if not for other factors that cost the MBTA millions every year, such as failure to collect fares, servicing its significant debt, and an increasing backlog of repairs. This backlog grew from $7.3 billion in 2015 to $10.1 billion in 2019 to $24.5 billion in 2023. Other public transportation systems also have large backlogs, such as New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s repair backlog of $46 billion and Chicago’s $19 billion backlog. However, when you consider the New York City Metropolitan Area’s population of 23.5 million, the Chicago metropolitan area’s population of 9.4 million, and Greater Boston’s population of 4.9 million, the MBTA’s repair backlog is enormous. This large backlog of needed repairs affects 64 percent of the MBTA’s assets and contributes to the MBTA’s numerous problems, including delays and shutdowns.
About the Author: Raif Boit is a Roger Perry Transparency Intern at Pioneer Institute for the summer of 2024. He is a rising freshman at Harvard College.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on how often students attend school. Following the shutdowns in 2020, there was a steep increase over multiple years in the number of Massachusetts students who were consistently absent. But Pioneer Institute’s Mass Report Cards data also reveals that absence rates in school districts across the state, as well as across several demographic groups, are heading in the right direction.
Absences Rising
The percentage of Massachusetts public school students who were absent 10 days or more was relatively low in 2020. In district schools, 16 percent of students were absent 10 days or more, while 21.4 percent of charter school students were absent 10 days or more. These numbers, however, rose quickly. In 2021, 29 percent of district school students were absent 10 days or more, while 35.5 percent of charter school students were absent 10 days or more. Percentages then jumped even more in 2022, to 56 percent and nearly 62 percent in district and charter schools, respectively.
This trend is also evident across demographic groups. Every group experienced low numbers in 2020, and then dramatic increases in 2021 and 2022. About 23 percent of economically disadvantaged students were absent 10 days or more in 2020, but that number jumped to over 42 percent in 2021. The percentage of students with disabilities who were absent 10 days or more increased nearly three fold, as the 2020 percentage of 21.8 rose to 63 percent in 2022. The percentage of English learners who were absent 10 days or more increased from 20 percent in 2020 to nearly 60 percent in 2022. Students with high needs and African-American students each saw increases of more than 35 percentage points in their percentage of students absent 10 or more days.
Room for Optimism
These graphs, while illustrating an alarming trend between 2020 and 2022, also indicate a positive trend in the last year. The data for each of the demographics mentioned, as well as data for all school districts and students, indicate that absence rates are now on the decline. The percentage of students absent 10 days or more in both district and charter schools fell by six percentage points or more between 2022 and 2023. Furthermore, every demographic except Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students saw decreases in their percentage of students absent 10 days or more in 2023.
Undercount?
It is also important to note counter-intuitive data between 2019 and 2020. One might expect, considering the school lockdowns began in 2020, that absences would have been higher that year than in 2019. But as the graphs illustrate, absence rates decreased. While this may not be consistent with the numbers between 2020 and 2022, or conceptions about what the data should be, there are some possible explanations as to why this is the case. It may be because many schools stopped taking regular attendance during online school during 2020, as well as because of a lack of a unified standard for what qualifies as attendance across school districts.
This undercount may make the increase in absences between 2020 and 2022 seem larger than it actually was. Nonetheless, across the state and various demographics, the graphs still show sizable increases in percentages of students absent 10 or more days from 2019 to 2022. Also, a lack of attendance taking in schools in 2020 does not take into account the climbs in absences between 2021 and 2022. It is clear that regardless of whether there was an undercount in 2020, student absences in Massachusetts increased substantially between 2020 and 2022.
The fact that there may have been an undercount paints the 2023 numbers even more positively. The 2023 data for absences appears to be close to the 2019 numbers. This shows that Massachusetts student attendance is approaching what it was before the lockdowns, which points to some of the effects of the pandemic on K-12 education being mitigated.
Conclusion
Hopefully, these data are a sign of things to come for Massachusetts. The COVID-19 pandemic impacted many aspects of life in the Commonwealth, but the impact that remote learning had on students cannot be overstated. Getting more students attending school consistently is a key factor for educational recovery from the pandemic. These numbers show that we are heading in the right direction, but there is still more work to be done to get them back to pre-pandemic lows.
About the Author
Matt Mulvey is a Roger Perry Transparency Intern at the Pioneer Institute. He is a rising senior at Swarthmore College where he is a political science major and history minor.
“She’s a good girl. She helps me a lot. She has big, big dreams. I don’t have the money, but she has big dreams. I hope she’s going to get everything, but she works so hard. She works so hard in school.”
“Our family is needing to make some really big sacrifices because we believe this is important, and so, we’re basically going to do whatever it takes… Sometimes we look at each other and go ‘I don’t know if I can do it again another month…’”
“A lot of the families have to sacrifice and work multiple jobs… And just scraping together enough money to just make tuition, just the basics.”
“It is discriminatory, that parents who want to choose an alternative to public school for their children, would not in any way receive any compensation for that, whether it be tax credit, whether it be a voucher…”
In the 1840s, nativist movement leaders formed official political parties and local chapters of the national Native American Party (later the American Party), although they continued to be commonly known as the Know-Nothing Party. Politicians sought to insert provisions into state constitutions against Catholics who refused to renounce the pope. The Know-Nothing movement brought bigotry and hatred to a new level of violence and organization.
The party’s legacy endured in the post-Civil War era, with laws and constitutional amendments it supported, still today severely limiting parents’ educational choices. A federal constitutional amendment was proposed by Speaker of the House James Blaine prohibiting money raised by taxation in any State to be under the control of any religious sect; nor shall any money so raised or lands so devoted be divided between religious sects or denominations. These were then named the Blaine Amendments of 1875.
in recent decades, often in response to challenges to school choice programs, the U.S. Supreme Court has demonstrated great interest in examining the issues of educational alternatives and attempts limit parental options. Massachusetts plays a key role in this debate. The Bay State was a key center of the Know-Nothing movement and has the oldest version of Anti-Aid Amendments in the nation, as well as a second such amendment approved in 1917. Two-fifths of Massachusetts residents are Catholic, and its Catholic schools outperform the state’s public schools, which are the best in the nation.
BOSTON – On June 27, Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court agreed with an amicus brief jointly filed by Pioneer Public Interest Law Center, former Boston Public Schools Superintendent Michael Contompasis and former Worcester Superintendent James Caradonio, rejecting the Massachusetts Teachers Association’s (MTA’s) challenge to the language of a November ballot initiative that would eliminate the requirement that students pass English language arts, math and science MCAS tests to graduate from the Commonwealth’s public high schools.
Massachusetts law requires the attorney general and secretary of state to jointly prepare a fair and neutral one-sentence statement describing the effect of a yes or no vote. The “yes” statement slated to appear on the ballot reads: “A YES VOTE would eliminate the requirement that students pass the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) in order to graduate high school but still require students to complete coursework that meets state standards.”
The MTA advocated for changing the statement to “A YES VOTE would require that for a student to graduate high school, the school district must determine that the student satisfactorily completed coursework certified by the district as demonstrating mastery of state curriculum standards instead of passing MCAS.”
Pioneer Law Center, Contompasis and Caradonio argued that the MTA’s suggested language is “overtly deceptive” because it falsely implies that MCAS would be replaced by a new statewide standard.
The brief also took issue with the phrase “coursework certified by the district,” arguing that it creates “an illusory promise of competency.”
“To expect cities and towns to be able to substitute an effective measure of accountability that MCAS provides is farfetched and will not work,” Caradonio said.
The brief was prepared with pro bono assistance from Nicholas M. O’Donnell of Sullivan & Worcester LLP.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) has long been beset by numerous problems, including huge operating deficits and inefficient service. Improving operations, safety, and oversight have been major policy priorities for both current and previous governors. After years of reforms, how is the MBTA doing?
During the winter of 2015, the MBTA’s many problems became glaringly apparent as snow storms caused shutdown after shutdown. That year, MBTA operating expenses for buses, commuter rail, and light rail – such as the Green Line – reached respective highs (at the time) of $408 million, $405 million, and $184 million according to MBTA Analysis. In 2010, those same operating expenses were $338 million, $280 million, and $141 million, respectively. According to the MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board, the large growth in operating expenses contributed to MBTA expenditures (excluding debt service) topping $1.5 billion in 2015, far outpacing revenue and prompting calls for reform.
Since then, there has been improvement in some areas. MBTA revenue growth beat inflation, reaching $777 million in 2019, up from $661 million in 2015 . During this same period total operating expenses remained relatively consistent, growing from $2.06 billion in 2015 to $2.25 billion in 2019, with operating expenses for commuter rail actually dropping from $405 million in 2015 to $384 million in 2019, according to MBTA Analysis. This progress was derailed by the Covid-19 pandemic, as revenue shrunk to $453 million and operating expenses grew to $2.35 billion in 2023.
Figure 1: Graph of total MBTA operating expenses compiled from MBTA financial statements
Unfortunately, MBTA ridership failed to increase even before the pandemic, as total vehicle revenue miles only increased from 99 million to 101 million between 2015 and 2019, according to MBTA analysis. Total passenger miles traveled during that time also decreased, falling from 1.8 billion in 2015 to 1.7 billion in 2019. However, both these changes mirror ridership changes in other metropolitan areas during that time. Alas, the MBTA lost significant ridership during the Covid-19 pandemic with only 483 million passenger miles traveled in 2021.
Figure 2: MBTA analysis 2021
The ridership challenge would be inconsequential if not for other factors that cost the MBTA millions every year, such as failure to collect fares, servicing its significant debt, and an increasing backlog of repairs. This backlog grew from $7.3 billion in 2015 to $10.1 billion in 2019 to $24.5 billion in 2023. Other public transportation systems also have large backlogs, such as New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s repair backlog of $46 billion and Chicago’s $19 billion backlog. However, when you consider the New York City Metropolitan Area’s population of 23.5 million, the Chicago metropolitan area’s population of 9.4 million, and Greater Boston’s population of 4.9 million, the MBTA’s repair backlog is enormous. This large backlog of needed repairs affects 64 percent of the MBTA’s assets and contributes to the MBTA’s numerous problems, including delays and shutdowns.
About the Author: Raif Boit is a Roger Perry Transparency Intern at Pioneer Institute for the summer of 2024. He is a rising freshman at Harvard College.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on how often students attend school. Following the shutdowns in 2020, there was a steep increase over multiple years in the number of Massachusetts students who were consistently absent. But Pioneer Institute’s Mass Report Cards data also reveals that absence rates in school districts across the state, as well as across several demographic groups, are heading in the right direction.
Absences Rising
The percentage of Massachusetts public school students who were absent 10 days or more was relatively low in 2020. In district schools, 16 percent of students were absent 10 days or more, while 21.4 percent of charter school students were absent 10 days or more. These numbers, however, rose quickly. In 2021, 29 percent of district school students were absent 10 days or more, while 35.5 percent of charter school students were absent 10 days or more. Percentages then jumped even more in 2022, to 56 percent and nearly 62 percent in district and charter schools, respectively.
This trend is also evident across demographic groups. Every group experienced low numbers in 2020, and then dramatic increases in 2021 and 2022. About 23 percent of economically disadvantaged students were absent 10 days or more in 2020, but that number jumped to over 42 percent in 2021. The percentage of students with disabilities who were absent 10 days or more increased nearly three fold, as the 2020 percentage of 21.8 rose to 63 percent in 2022. The percentage of English learners who were absent 10 days or more increased from 20 percent in 2020 to nearly 60 percent in 2022. Students with high needs and African-American students each saw increases of more than 35 percentage points in their percentage of students absent 10 or more days.
Room for Optimism
These graphs, while illustrating an alarming trend between 2020 and 2022, also indicate a positive trend in the last year. The data for each of the demographics mentioned, as well as data for all school districts and students, indicate that absence rates are now on the decline. The percentage of students absent 10 days or more in both district and charter schools fell by six percentage points or more between 2022 and 2023. Furthermore, every demographic except Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students saw decreases in their percentage of students absent 10 days or more in 2023.
Undercount?
It is also important to note counter-intuitive data between 2019 and 2020. One might expect, considering the school lockdowns began in 2020, that absences would have been higher that year than in 2019. But as the graphs illustrate, absence rates decreased. While this may not be consistent with the numbers between 2020 and 2022, or conceptions about what the data should be, there are some possible explanations as to why this is the case. It may be because many schools stopped taking regular attendance during online school during 2020, as well as because of a lack of a unified standard for what qualifies as attendance across school districts.
This undercount may make the increase in absences between 2020 and 2022 seem larger than it actually was. Nonetheless, across the state and various demographics, the graphs still show sizable increases in percentages of students absent 10 or more days from 2019 to 2022. Also, a lack of attendance taking in schools in 2020 does not take into account the climbs in absences between 2021 and 2022. It is clear that regardless of whether there was an undercount in 2020, student absences in Massachusetts increased substantially between 2020 and 2022.
The fact that there may have been an undercount paints the 2023 numbers even more positively. The 2023 data for absences appears to be close to the 2019 numbers. This shows that Massachusetts student attendance is approaching what it was before the lockdowns, which points to some of the effects of the pandemic on K-12 education being mitigated.
Conclusion
Hopefully, these data are a sign of things to come for Massachusetts. The COVID-19 pandemic impacted many aspects of life in the Commonwealth, but the impact that remote learning had on students cannot be overstated. Getting more students attending school consistently is a key factor for educational recovery from the pandemic. These numbers show that we are heading in the right direction, but there is still more work to be done to get them back to pre-pandemic lows.
About the Author
Matt Mulvey is a Roger Perry Transparency Intern at the Pioneer Institute. He is a rising senior at Swarthmore College where he is a political science major and history minor.
SJC Agrees with Joint Amicus Brief Filed by Pioneer Public Interest Law Center, Contompasis and Caradonio
/in Featured, News, Press Releases /by Editorial StaffBOSTON – On June 27, Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court agreed with an amicus brief jointly filed by Pioneer Public Interest Law Center, former Boston Public Schools Superintendent Michael Contompasis and former Worcester Superintendent James Caradonio, rejecting the Massachusetts Teachers Association’s (MTA’s) challenge to the language of a November ballot initiative that would eliminate the requirement that students pass English language arts, math and science MCAS tests to graduate from the Commonwealth’s public high schools.
Massachusetts law requires the attorney general and secretary of state to jointly prepare a fair and neutral one-sentence statement describing the effect of a yes or no vote. The “yes” statement slated to appear on the ballot reads: “A YES VOTE would eliminate the requirement that students pass the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) in order to graduate high school but still require students to complete coursework that meets state standards.”
The MTA advocated for changing the statement to “A YES VOTE would require that for a student to graduate high school, the school district must determine that the student satisfactorily completed coursework certified by the district as demonstrating mastery of state curriculum standards instead of passing MCAS.”
Pioneer Law Center, Contompasis and Caradonio argued that the MTA’s suggested language is “overtly deceptive” because it falsely implies that MCAS would be replaced by a new statewide standard.
The brief also took issue with the phrase “coursework certified by the district,” arguing that it creates “an illusory promise of competency.”
“To expect cities and towns to be able to substitute an effective measure of accountability that MCAS provides is farfetched and will not work,” Caradonio said.
The brief was prepared with pro bono assistance from Nicholas M. O’Donnell of Sullivan & Worcester LLP.
The MBTA’s Aging Infrastructure: Improvements have Failed to Materialize for the T
/in Blog, Blog: MBTA, Blog: Transportation /by Raif BoitThe Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) has long been beset by numerous problems, including huge operating deficits and inefficient service. Improving operations, safety, and oversight have been major policy priorities for both current and previous governors. After years of reforms, how is the MBTA doing?
During the winter of 2015, the MBTA’s many problems became glaringly apparent as snow storms caused shutdown after shutdown. That year, MBTA operating expenses for buses, commuter rail, and light rail – such as the Green Line – reached respective highs (at the time) of $408 million, $405 million, and $184 million according to MBTA Analysis. In 2010, those same operating expenses were $338 million, $280 million, and $141 million, respectively. According to the MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board, the large growth in operating expenses contributed to MBTA expenditures (excluding debt service) topping $1.5 billion in 2015, far outpacing revenue and prompting calls for reform.
Since then, there has been improvement in some areas. MBTA revenue growth beat inflation, reaching $777 million in 2019, up from $661 million in 2015 . During this same period total operating expenses remained relatively consistent, growing from $2.06 billion in 2015 to $2.25 billion in 2019, with operating expenses for commuter rail actually dropping from $405 million in 2015 to $384 million in 2019, according to MBTA Analysis. This progress was derailed by the Covid-19 pandemic, as revenue shrunk to $453 million and operating expenses grew to $2.35 billion in 2023.
Figure 1: Graph of total MBTA operating expenses compiled from MBTA financial statements
Unfortunately, MBTA ridership failed to increase even before the pandemic, as total vehicle revenue miles only increased from 99 million to 101 million between 2015 and 2019, according to MBTA analysis. Total passenger miles traveled during that time also decreased, falling from 1.8 billion in 2015 to 1.7 billion in 2019. However, both these changes mirror ridership changes in other metropolitan areas during that time. Alas, the MBTA lost significant ridership during the Covid-19 pandemic with only 483 million passenger miles traveled in 2021.
Figure 2: MBTA analysis 2021
The ridership challenge would be inconsequential if not for other factors that cost the MBTA millions every year, such as failure to collect fares, servicing its significant debt, and an increasing backlog of repairs. This backlog grew from $7.3 billion in 2015 to $10.1 billion in 2019 to $24.5 billion in 2023. Other public transportation systems also have large backlogs, such as New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s repair backlog of $46 billion and Chicago’s $19 billion backlog. However, when you consider the New York City Metropolitan Area’s population of 23.5 million, the Chicago metropolitan area’s population of 9.4 million, and Greater Boston’s population of 4.9 million, the MBTA’s repair backlog is enormous. This large backlog of needed repairs affects 64 percent of the MBTA’s assets and contributes to the MBTA’s numerous problems, including delays and shutdowns.
About the Author: Raif Boit is a Roger Perry Transparency Intern at Pioneer Institute for the summer of 2024. He is a rising freshman at Harvard College.
Making Sense of Post-COVID Student Attendance Data in Massachusetts
/in News /by Matt MulveyThe COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on how often students attend school. Following the shutdowns in 2020, there was a steep increase over multiple years in the number of Massachusetts students who were consistently absent. But Pioneer Institute’s Mass Report Cards data also reveals that absence rates in school districts across the state, as well as across several demographic groups, are heading in the right direction.
Absences Rising
The percentage of Massachusetts public school students who were absent 10 days or more was relatively low in 2020. In district schools, 16 percent of students were absent 10 days or more, while 21.4 percent of charter school students were absent 10 days or more. These numbers, however, rose quickly. In 2021, 29 percent of district school students were absent 10 days or more, while 35.5 percent of charter school students were absent 10 days or more. Percentages then jumped even more in 2022, to 56 percent and nearly 62 percent in district and charter schools, respectively.
Figure 1.
This trend is also evident across demographic groups. Every group experienced low numbers in 2020, and then dramatic increases in 2021 and 2022. About 23 percent of economically disadvantaged students were absent 10 days or more in 2020, but that number jumped to over 42 percent in 2021. The percentage of students with disabilities who were absent 10 days or more increased nearly three fold, as the 2020 percentage of 21.8 rose to 63 percent in 2022. The percentage of English learners who were absent 10 days or more increased from 20 percent in 2020 to nearly 60 percent in 2022. Students with high needs and African-American students each saw increases of more than 35 percentage points in their percentage of students absent 10 or more days.
Figure 2.
Room for Optimism
These graphs, while illustrating an alarming trend between 2020 and 2022, also indicate a positive trend in the last year. The data for each of the demographics mentioned, as well as data for all school districts and students, indicate that absence rates are now on the decline. The percentage of students absent 10 days or more in both district and charter schools fell by six percentage points or more between 2022 and 2023. Furthermore, every demographic except Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students saw decreases in their percentage of students absent 10 days or more in 2023.
Figure 3.
Undercount?
It is also important to note counter-intuitive data between 2019 and 2020. One might expect, considering the school lockdowns began in 2020, that absences would have been higher that year than in 2019. But as the graphs illustrate, absence rates decreased. While this may not be consistent with the numbers between 2020 and 2022, or conceptions about what the data should be, there are some possible explanations as to why this is the case. It may be because many schools stopped taking regular attendance during online school during 2020, as well as because of a lack of a unified standard for what qualifies as attendance across school districts.
This undercount may make the increase in absences between 2020 and 2022 seem larger than it actually was. Nonetheless, across the state and various demographics, the graphs still show sizable increases in percentages of students absent 10 or more days from 2019 to 2022. Also, a lack of attendance taking in schools in 2020 does not take into account the climbs in absences between 2021 and 2022. It is clear that regardless of whether there was an undercount in 2020, student absences in Massachusetts increased substantially between 2020 and 2022.
The fact that there may have been an undercount paints the 2023 numbers even more positively. The 2023 data for absences appears to be close to the 2019 numbers. This shows that Massachusetts student attendance is approaching what it was before the lockdowns, which points to some of the effects of the pandemic on K-12 education being mitigated.
Conclusion
Hopefully, these data are a sign of things to come for Massachusetts. The COVID-19 pandemic impacted many aspects of life in the Commonwealth, but the impact that remote learning had on students cannot be overstated. Getting more students attending school consistently is a key factor for educational recovery from the pandemic. These numbers show that we are heading in the right direction, but there is still more work to be done to get them back to pre-pandemic lows.
About the Author
Matt Mulvey is a Roger Perry Transparency Intern at the Pioneer Institute. He is a rising senior at Swarthmore College where he is a political science major and history minor.