Press Release: 2025-01-30

MTA statement on NAEP scores

 

January 30, 2025

Massachusetts Teachers Association President Max Page and Vice President Deb McCarthy released the following statement on the Massachusetts NAEP results:

Massachusetts’ high scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress are indicative of our state’s best-in-the-country curriculum frameworks and excellent teaching force working in our public schools.

NAEP scores – like any single diagnostic measure – when used properly help guide and fine-tune the excellent work happening in our schools. Without wasting time on test prep and worrying about high stakes – as was the case with MCAS exams – Massachusetts students outperformed their peers across the country on NAEP exams.

Educators are proud to have advocated for the investments that have strengthened public education in our state and will continue to fight for the necessary resources to make sure that every student has access to high-quality education. NAEP scores do tell us that unacceptable inequities along racial and socioeconomic lines remain in our public schools. The students in need of more support – and the educators working with them – deserve those resources. The MTA also fights to improve the quality of life for all residents in Massachusetts, including by advocating for a higher minimum wage, paid family leave and fairer tax policies, because educators know that what happens in our communities affects what happens in our schools.

We are confident that more students will thrive as we achieve the goals set out in our legislative agenda, coupled with the return to more authentic student-centered learning made possible by passage of Question 2, which eliminated the high-stakes use by the state of standardized MCAS exams.

MTA educators are fighting to secure the state funding necessary to remedy flaws in the Chapter 70 school-funding formula, as well as address shortcomings in rural-school aid and special education costs. Our schools also desperately need more mental health support staff and services for students. These investments will allow Massachusetts public schools to direct more resources to all students and better support academic as well as social and emotional needs.

Massachusetts public schools have long been leaders in our country’s public education system, and the members of the MTA will continue to play a vital role in maintaining that distinction.