An Open Letter From Superintendent Dr. Tommy Welch Regarding Spring 2026 MCAS and Accountability Results

September 22, 2026

Dear Salem Public Schools Community,

Today, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) publicly released the Spring 2026 MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System) and accountability results for schools and districts across the Commonwealth. These results give us an important opportunity to reflect on our students’ progress, celebrate areas of growth and identify where we can continue to strengthen teaching and learning.

Across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, results on MCAS were largely flat or decreased across all subjects and grade levels. This pattern was also evident in Salem’s outcomes. However, we are encouraged by progress in specific areas, particularly in Mathematics. At the same time, the results point to areas requiring urgent attention and a clear instructional response, specifically with declines greater than 5 points in ELA and Science and 10th grade overall (although we suspect that is largely impacted by MCAS no longer being a graduation requirement). We are committed to looking closely at these results alongside other measures of student learning to ensure that we provide the instruction, support and learning experiences our students need to thrive.

Elementary School

For Grades 3–5, results varied across the three tested content areas.  In ELA, 29% of students were proficient compared with 31% last year, and in Math proficiency this year was identical to what it was last year–28%. Science proficiency saw a decrease of seven percentage points, from 36% proficient last year to 29% this year.  It is important to note that significant variation in the data is evident at the school level, and we are working to learn from and build upon areas of strong growth and improved proficiency. Here are some bright spots we want to highlight gains in proficiency:

• ELA: 3rd grade at Bates (+10), Carlton (+16), and Saltonstall (+9); 4th grade at Bentley (+25) and Horace Mann (+18).
• Math: 3rd grade at Bates (+8), Carlton (+10), and Saltonstall (+5); 4th grade at Bentley (+17), Horace Mann (+19); 5th grade at Carlton (+7), Horace Mann (+12), Saltonstall (+5), and Witchcraft (+8).

Middle School

At the middle school level, we saw some meaningful movement in student performance this year. Mathematics was a particular area of progress, with proficiency increasing 3 points, from 20% to 23%. Science proficiency declined from 32% to 30%.

In Math, the increase in proficiency was accompanied by a student growth percentile of 46.6 compared with 50.3 last year. Together, these results provide useful information as our middle school continues to refine instruction and ensure students are making meaningful progress toward grade-level expectations.

ELA results give us an important opportunity to better understand student learning in this area. Proficiency was 33%, compared to 33% last year, while the student growth percentile was 52.4, compared to 57.2. Seventh grade ELA was a bright spot with students increasing proficiency by 4 percentage points and with marked improvement in writing. We will be examining these results closely, along with student work and other classroom-based evidence, to identify the instructional practices and interventions that will have the greatest impact.

High School

At the high school level (New Liberty Innovation School, Salem High School, and Salem Prep), this year’s results show both areas of progress and opportunities for continued growth. In Grade 10 Mathematics, proficiency was 33%, compared with 42% last year. At the same time, the student growth percentile increased from 66.1 to 71.0, indicating that students demonstrated stronger growth relative to their peers statewide. While this might seem contradictory, proficiency speaks to our students compared to learning standards, while growth compares (in this case) 10th graders with similar testing profiles to one another statewide. Flat and declining performance statewide likely explains much of this contradiction. 

In Grade 10 ELA, proficiency was 32%, compared with 44% last year, while the student growth percentile was 58.0, compared with 64.9 last year. These results will help us identify where we can further strengthen students’ literacy development and support their continued progress toward graduation and postsecondary readiness.

Science results were somewhat more varied. Grade 10 Science proficiency was 30%, compared with 33% last year.  We will continue to look at student performance by course, standards and student groups to better understand areas of strength and where additional instructional attention may be beneficial.

It is important to consider high school results within the changing context of the MCAS assessment. Beginning with the 2025 testing cycle, Massachusetts no longer required students to achieve a qualifying MCAS score as a condition of earning a high school diploma. While MCAS remains an important measure of student learning, it is no longer tied to graduation in the way it was previously.  We recognize that this change may have affected how some students approached the assessment this year, particularly given that the stakes associated with the test were different. While we cannot determine from the results alone how much this change influenced student performance, it is an important consideration as we interpret this year’s data. 

State Accountability

In addition, the state released accountability information for individual schools and the district. This system evaluates school and district improvement not only on MCAS achievement and growth—for all students and various subgroups—but also on a broader set of indicators, including chronic absenteeism, progress of multilingual learners toward English proficiency, completion of advanced coursework, graduation rates, dropout rates, and extended high school enrollment. Below, we have highlighted a few key points from the accountability data.

• The district was ranked as “Making substantial progress toward targets” (51%) toward meeting its targets. It is important to note that the 51% is a weighted average of the last two years–62% (2025) and 43% (2026).
• Four out of eight schools (Bates, HMLS WHES and Collins) received a designation of “Making substantial progress toward making targets”, two schools were identified as “Making moderate progress toward targets” (Bentley and Salem High School) and one school received the designation of “Making little to no progress towards meeting targets” (Saltonstall). Carlton did not receive a designation as the state did not provide one due to the merger, nor did New Liberty or Salem Prep because their sample size was too small.
• All schools have a designation of “Not requiring assistance or intervention”. For context, 20% of all schools statewide did require some form of assistance or intervention.
• 5 out of 8 schools improved their percentile rank over last year (Carlton, HMLS, Saltonstall, Collins and SHS).
• Three schools improved their percentile rank two years in a row (Saltonstall, Collins and SHS).
• Chronic absenteeism continues to improve. In 2026 the district chronic absenteeism rate plummeted to 16.8 whereas it was 19.2 in 2025 and 20.3 in 2024.  Salem is now below the State’s rate and has the second lowest chronic absenteeism rate of all gateway cities behind only Quincy. This is a huge win overall and a marked improvement from 2022 when Salem had a chronic absenteeism rate was 34.0
• The Salem Public Schools performed above the state average on ACCESS. Specifically, 46% of students across the state met proficiency targets while 48% of Salem Public Schools students met their proficiency targets.  The Salem Public Schools also outperformed several gateway city districts, including Boston (42%), Chelsea (39%), Everett (47%), Fall River (46%), Framingham (39%), Holyoke (28%), Lawrence (34%), New Bedford (45%), and Peabody (43%).
• Subgroup trends across the district were largely flat or declining, however there are spots where subgroup performance is encouraging:
  • Students with Disabilities–ELA: 3rd grade at Saltonstall (+19), 4th grade Horace Mann (+14)
  • Students with Disabilities–Math: 3rd grade Saltonstall (+10), 4th grade Horace Mann (+6), 5th grade Carlton (+20), 5th grade Bates (+9)
  • Students with Disabilities–Science: 5th grade at WHES (+5)
  • Multilingual Learners– ELA: 3rd grade at Carlton (+20), 3rd grade at Saltonstall (+11), 3rd grade at Witchcraft (+16), 4th grade at Bentley (+9)
  • Multilingual Learners–Math: 3rd grade at Carlton (+20), 4th grade at Carlton (+13), 5th grade at Saltonstall (+9), 10th grade at Salem High (+9)
• In 2026, 81.5% of 11th and 12th grade students completed at least one advanced course, a marked improvement from 73.3% in 2025.

Although there are many positive narratives to share from this year’s results, these results present a mixed and, in several areas, concerning picture. They also provide a clear starting point for the focused work ahead.  We will continue to use student performance data, classroom evidence and the experiences of our students and teachers to identify what is working and where we need to adjust. Our focus this year is on ensuring that students experience strong, consistent daily instruction and that they are regularly asked to read deeply, write skillfully, think critically and apply their learning in meaningful ways.

Families will receive individual student reports in October and can find more detailed information about Salem’s results on the DESE website. We will also share additional insights about our MCAS and accountability results at our next School Committee meeting on Monday, October 5th, at 7 p.m.

Thank you for your continued partnership as we learn from these results, build on what is working and keep our attention where it belongs: on ensuring that every Salem student is learning, growing and prepared for what’s next.

Sincerely,

Tommy Welch, Ed.D., Superintendent