Testing Scores Improve At Nantucket Public Schools, But Many Still Below State Averages

Standardized MCAS test results improved at Nantucket Public Schools (NPS) this year, but they are still largely below state averages.

Across the district, only 28 percent of students from grades three to eight met or exceeded expectations in English Language Arts, 25 percent did so in math, and 39 percent did so in science. All of those numbers are considerably lower than the state figures of 42 percent, 41 percent, and 42 percent, respectively.

Superintendent Elizabeth Hallett drew attention to the school’s improvement from last year.

“We are actually quite pleased with our strong progress,” she said.

Improvement was seen at all three tested NPS schools. Last year, only 24 percent of students in grades three to eight met or exceeded expectations in English Language Arts, 23 percent did so in math, and 31 percent did so in science. The year before, those numbers were 32 percent, 25 percent, and 36 percent, much closer to this year’s numbers. Some year-to-year variation is expected as a result of chance alone.

In its accountability report, the state classified NPS as making “substantial progress toward targets” in the 2024-25 school year.

NPS has had below-average MCAS scores for years, even as results from the standardized Measures of Academic Progress test show the district mostly above the median in math and only slightly below it in reading.

It’s hard to know how much to read into the district’s weak MCAS scores, especially since the state has reduced the importance of the test by no longer requiring a passing grade for graduation.

For its part, the NPS administration wants to turn the focus to the district’s recent growth.

“These gains show that our teachers and students are working hard and making progress,” Hallett said in a statement. “Growth is the foundation for future achievement, and it is encouraging to see positive growth reflected in the data from this past year.”

There were also some bright spots in the achievement data: 47 percent of Nantucket’s 8th-grade students met or exceeded expectations in science, as compared to 37 percent of the state, and 63 percent of 10th-grade students met or exceeded expectations in English Language Arts, which is better than the statewide rate of 51 percent.

At Nantucket High School (NHS), the results of Advanced Placement (AP) tests show the school making substantial progress. In the 2024-25 school year, 74 percent of AP students scored at least a three out of five, the cutoff used to determine “success” on the test. The year before, 69 percent scored at least a three. That number has risen consistently and significantly for the last four years in a row. In the 2020-21 school year, only 45 percent of students scored at least a three. This improvement occurred despite enrollment in AP courses jumping dramatically, up almost 25 percent to 142 students last year.

NHS students broadly scored lower on average than Massachusetts students, but that data may be misleading. NHS has an open enrollment policy for AP classes, meaning that any student can take an AP class, even if it isn’t recommended by their advisor. Some schools have closed enrollment policies, which often makes their average scores higher by forcibly excluding students who might struggle.

“I think it's a good idea that we have open enrollment, because students need to push themselves a little bit, but when you have open enrollment, you sometimes get students who aren't necessarily quite ready for the rigor of the academics, but we don't want to discourage them from that...we want them to see, this is post-secondary education,” NHS principal Mandy Hilemn said, emphasizing that AP classes can help students decide if they want to pursue a college degree. “I think it's really important that they take the classes. We have to focus less on the actual exam.”

Results differed across AP classes. The lowest scores were in math and science classes, while the highest scores were in AP English Language and AP English Literature, the two classes where the average NHS student scored higher than the average Massachusetts student. In AP English Literature, taught last year by Anne Phaneuf, every single student who took the exam scored at least a three, and the average score was 3.94, considerably higher than the 3.54 state average and the 3.23 national average.

NHS also saw more non-white students taking AP classes than in previous years, Hilemn said.