Marblehead students continued to outperform their counterparts statewide on most measures of the 2026 MCAS, but the results show a mixed picture — with significant gains in science and eighth-grade math offset by declines in Grade 10 English and science.
The 2026 results, released publicly by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Tuesday, show that 58% of Marblehead students in grades 3-8 met or exceeded expectations in English language arts, while 60% did so in math and 63% in science.
Those figures compare with statewide rates of 40% in ELA, 41% in math and 41% in science.
But the district-wide numbers mask substantial differences among grades.
The most notable improvement came in science. Among Marblehead students in grades 5 and 8, 63% met or exceeded expectations in 2026, up from 53% in 2025.
Eighth-grade science performance rose from 48% meeting or exceeding expectations in 2025 to 59% this year. Fifth-grade science increased from 61% to 68%.
Eighth-grade math also showed a significant increase, with 70% of students meeting or exceeding expectations in 2026, compared with 57% the previous year.
Overall, grades 3-8 math edged up from 59% to 60%, while ELA slipped slightly, from 59% to 58%.
The individual grade results were more varied.
In ELA, the percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations increased by 9 percentage points in Grade 6, from 50% to 59%. Grade 7 increased by 3 points, from 55% to 58%.
At the same time, Grade 5 ELA declined from 59% to 49%, while Grade 3 fell from 67% to 60%.
Grade 10 results show declines in ELA and science
The high school results present a different picture.
In Grade 10 ELA, 48% of Marblehead students met or exceeded expectations in 2026, down from 54% in 2025. The percentage of students who did not meet expectations increased from 4% to 12%.
Grade 10 math was comparatively stable, with 57% meeting or exceeding expectations in 2026, compared with 56% in 2025.
Largest drop
The largest year-to-year decline came in Grade 10 science.
The percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations fell from 71% in 2025 to 51% in 2026 — a 20-percentage-point drop. The percentage of students partially meeting expectations increased from 27% to 39%, while the percentage not meeting expectations rose from 2% to 10%.
Even with those declines, Marblehead’s Grade 10 results remained above statewide rates. In 2026, 48% of Marblehead 10th graders met or exceeded expectations in ELA, compared with 45% statewide. In math, the figures were 57% and 44%, respectively. In science, Marblehead’s 51% compared with 41% statewide.
The results come as Marblehead Public Schools continues to grapple with budget and staffing challenges. Voters approved a $15 million multiyear town and schools operating override in May after a difficult budget process that included $4.7 million in cuts and the elimination of 22 full-time-equivalent positions.
The override was designed to provide greater financial stability and predictability in future school budgets, rather than restore all of the cuts made in the current budget year.
The MCAS results provide one measure of student achievement, but they do not by themselves establish why scores changed from one year to the next.
For Marblehead, the 2026 results present a particularly notable contrast: strong gains in science among younger students and a sharp improvement in eighth-grade math, alongside declines in Grade 10 ELA and science.
Superintendent John Robidoux declined to comment about the MCAS scores, emailing the Current: “Our team needs to review the data and will begin sharing results, and our feedback, thoughts, concerns, areas or growth and areas of strength in public during upcoming School Committee meetings.”
You can read more about Marblehead’s MCAS results HERE.
