马萨诸塞州是全美教育水平最高的州 但它的领先地位正面临威胁

【中美创新时报2025年12月30日讯】（记者温友平编译）马萨诸塞州是美国最富裕、教育水平最高的州，也是美国第一所公立学校的诞生地。但其在教育领域的领先地位正面临威胁，因为马萨诸塞州长期以来在全国保持的优势正在急剧缩小。《波士顿环球报》记者克里斯托弗·赫法克对此作了下述详细报道。

如果你是美国普及公立学校教育的州的州长，那么你最不想看到的就是该州失去“全国最聪明孩子所在州”的排名。

马萨诸塞州是美国最富裕、教育水平最高的州， 美国第一所公立学校就诞生于此，也是19世纪教育改革家、被誉为“美国教育之父”的霍勒斯·曼的故乡。过去二十年来，各州州长都可以自豪地宣称，马萨诸塞州的学生在“国家成绩单”的四项主要测试中，始终领先于其他所有州。

但现在，马萨诸塞州在教育领域的领先地位岌岌可危，因为该州长期以来在全国的优势正在急剧缩小：近十年来，考试成绩一直在下滑，而且这里的许多学生还没有像美国其他一些地区的学生那样从疫情中恢复过来。

清算可能很快就会到来：学生们将在今年春天参加全国统考，如果最近令人失望的成绩继续下去，怀俄明州、新泽西州甚至密西西比州等许多州都有可能在一个或多个科目上将联邦的领先地位拉下来。

因此，对于这位在其任期内酝酿此事的州长来说，促使他尽快做出回应的部分原因在于他的自尊心：

“我们不会放弃这个排名，”州长莫拉·希利在最近一次介绍全州新 毕业要求的活动上说道，她在活动中至少三次提到了该州的排名。

“我有点好胜心，”她补充道。

对于政治领导人来说，象征意义很重要：希利选择在 12 月初举办活动，地点选在了戴德姆，那里在英国殖民地成为美国一个多世纪前就建立了第一批由纳税人资助的学校。

为了应对成绩下滑，希利和其他民主党领导人提出了一系列解决方案，其中包括新的毕业要求，例如对部分必修课程和毕业项目进行州级考试，以及一项正在州参议院审议的关于阅读教学方式的州级强制性规定。其他教育领导人和倡导者也以成绩下滑为由，主张禁止在学校使用手机、进一步增加州教育拨款以及其他措施。

希利之所以愿意与该州最大的教师工会对抗，或许正体现了挑战的严峻性。该工会同时也是该州民主党内最有影响力的支持集团之一。

从政治角度来看，这是一个很大的风险，但该州的领先地位意义重大：对家长而言，他们希望自己的孩子能够学会阅读和数学，并拥有成功的人生；对雇主而言，他们希望有信心雇用马萨诸塞州的毕业生；甚至对选民而言，如果他们认为他们的领导人正在让该州最大的优势之一白白流失。

州长和其他州教育领导人越来越关注全国教育进步评估（NAEP）这一黄金标准，但他们对评估结果并不满意。在四门核心科目中，马萨诸塞州仅在八年级阅读这一项上保持着稳定的领先优势。在四年级阅读和八年级数学方面，该州的优势已经缩小了一半以上。马萨诸塞州的排名越来越受到少数几个人口群体的影响：富裕且受过良好教育的孩子，他们通常在任何地方都能取得好成绩，在马萨诸塞州也继续表现出色。

但重要的是，曾经在其他州大幅领先于同龄人的黑人、拉丁裔学生或低收入学生，现在不再如此了。

教育专员佩德罗·马丁内斯在接受采访时表示，最令人担忧的迹象是，虽然许多其他州至少有一些学生群体已经从疫情低谷中恢复过来，但马萨诸塞州却没有一个学生群体做到这一点。

前州教育部长、长期致力于教育改革的著名倡导者保罗·雷维尔表示，该州的声誉已经受损。

“纠正这种情况绝对是州政府的首要任务，”他说。

诚然，也有一些亮点：在2024年最新的NAEP测试中，马萨诸塞州学生的四年级和八年级阅读和数学成绩仍然最高。而且总的来说，该州的下滑幅度远不及邻州佛蒙特州和缅因州。

相关报道：马萨诸塞州教育局长认为学生复苏之路漫长，“疫情击垮了我们”

并非所有人都对该州在全国统考中的表现感到同样担忧。波士顿芬威高中的创始人、教育顾问拉里·迈亚特表示，州领导人需要对学校的学业成就有一个更全面的了解。

“我们放弃了定性信息、案例研究、故事——这些才是真正重要的因素，”迈亚特说。“孩子们能够胜任，但如果我们只想要他们快速取得考试分数，那我们也只能得到考试分数。”

与此同时，如何阻止学龄儿童识字率下滑已成为州议会的一大争议焦点。众议院多数党助理领袖艾丽斯·佩施曾任教育委员会主席，也曾在负责监督全国教育进步评估（NAEP）的委员会任职。她认为，各学区阅读教学方式的差异是导致该州识字率下降的关键原因。

“扫盲立法旨在解决问题的根源，”她说。“我认为我们有证据表明，之前盛行的课程体系并没有起到作用。”

佩什 支持一项目前已在众议院获得通过的法案，该法案将改变许多小学目前的阅读教学方式，要求各学区使用州政府批准的课程。该法案基于所谓的“阅读科学”，其内容包括明确的语音教学和词汇积累，而非目前流行的“平衡”教学法。批评人士指出，“平衡”教学法鼓励学生猜测。

近年来，类似的扫盲改革席卷全国，部分原因是受到了“南方浪潮”的启发，即密西西比州和路易斯安那州阅读成绩的快速增长。

教师工会和其他批评扫盲法案的人士表示，州政府不应该强制规定具体的教学方法，这样的要求会阻止教师为学生提供个性化的教学。

马萨诸塞州教师协会主席马克斯·佩奇表示，制约学校学习的最大因素并非各学区自行决定课程，而是疫情期间通货膨胀飙升后学校预算普遍短缺。佩奇指出，该州拥有全美最好的学校，部分原因在于自上世纪90年代以来教育支出持续增长。

“这正是我们真正担心财政危机的原因，”佩奇说。“我们应该集中精力保护这些投资。”

相关报道：迷失在文字的世界：过时的教学方法导致成千上万的学生难以掌握这项关键技能

希利议程的其他部分也面临阻碍。

新的毕业要求源于一项由大都会运输署（MTA）支持的投票提案，该提案推翻了高中生必须通过马萨诸塞州综合评估与应用科学学院（MCAS）考试的长期要求。希利反对 废除这项提案，她最近提出的方案包括新的课程结束标准化考试，而工会对此表示反对。

工会等反对者表示，该提案将推翻选民关于强制考试的意愿，并继续过度依赖考试。

但对于像马丁内斯这样的州领导人来说，坚持高期望值是为了确保每个毕业生都有公平的人生机会。马丁内斯去年夏天成为马萨诸塞州教育专员，并计划扭转学术水平下滑的局面。

他说：“我们必须时刻维护我们的排名和声誉，因为我们一直为国家树立榜样。我看到了挑战，但也看到了巨大的机遇。”

题图：马萨诸塞州的学生在全国标准化考试中名列前茅，但他们的领先优势正在缩小。图为新贝德福德阿尔弗雷德·J·戈麦斯小学三年级学生在教室里学习。（艾琳·克拉克/《波士顿环球报》工作人员摄）

附英文报道：

Massachusetts is the most highly educated state. But its perch atop the education hierarchy is in jeopardy.

By Christopher Huffaker Globe Staff,Updated December 30, 2025, 6:00 a.m.

Massachusetts students rank first in the country on standardized tests, but their lead is slipping. Here, third grade students work in a classroom at Alfred J. Gomes Elementary School in New Bedford.Erin Clark/Globe Staff

If you’re governor of the state that effectively introduced universal public school education in the United States, the one thing you want to avoid is losing the state’s ranking as having the smartest kids in the country.

Massachusetts is the richest, most highly educated state, where the nation’s first public school was founded and home to Horace Mann, the 19th century reformer known as the Father of American Education. And, for the past two decades, governors could brag how students from Massachusetts have consistently beaten every other state on all four main tests on the Nation’s Report Card.

But now that perch atop the education hierarchy is in jeopardy, as the edge Massachusetts has long held over the nation is shrinking dramatically: Test scores have been sliding for nearly a decade and many students here have not recovered from the pandemic as much as in some other parts of the country.

The reckoning may come soon: students next sit for the national test this spring and a continuation of recent underwhelming performances risks any number of states, including Wyoming, New Jersey, or even Mississippi, toppling the Commonwealth from its lead in one or more subjects.

So for the governor on whose watch this is brewing, the urgency to respond is in part helped along by a matter of pride:

“We’re not going to give that ranking up,” Governor Maura Healey said at an event recently to introduce new statewide graduation requirements, at which she referred to the state’s ranking no less than three times.

“I’m a little competitive,” she added.

For political leaders, symbolism matters: for the setting of her event in early December, Healey chose Dedham, where the first taxpayer-funded schools were established more than a century before the British colonies became the United States.

In response to the slippage, Healey and other Democratic leaders have proposed a kitchen sink of solutions that include new graduation requirements such as state tests in some required courses and senior year projects, and a state mandate on how reading is taught that is pending before the state Senate. Declining scores have also been cited by other education leaders and advocates as an argument for banning cellphones in school, further raising state school aid, and other measures.

In what is perhaps a measure of the seriousness of the challenge, Healey is willing to buck the state’s leading teachers’ union, which is also one of the most influential blocs of support within the state Democratic Party.

Related: Massachusetts students still lag behind prepandemic levels on MCAS scores

Politically, that’s a big risk, but the state’s perch at the top matters greatly: to parents, who expect their children to learn to read and do math and lead successful lives; to employers who want to be confident in hiring Massachusetts school graduates; and even to voters if they perceive their leaders are letting one of the state’s biggest advantages slip away.

The governor and other state education leaders are increasingly looking at the gold standard National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, and not liking what they’re seeing. Across the four core subjects, only in one, Grade 8 reading, has Massachusetts held a stable lead. In Grade 4 reading and Grade 8 math, the state’s edge has shrunk by more than half. Increasingly, Massachusetts’s ranking is driven by a few demographic groups: children of the wealthy and educated, who tend to score well everywhere, continue to do particularly well in Massachusetts.

But importantly, Black and Latino students or low-income students who once outperformed their peers in other states by substantial margins now no longer do.

In an interview, education Commissioner Pedro Martinez said the most concerning sign was that while many other states have seen at least some demographic groups of students recover from pandemic lows, not a single one has in Massachusetts.

Paul Reville, former state education secretary and a prominent long-time advocate of education improvements, said the state’s reputation has already been damaged.

”It ought to be absolutely a top priority for the state to rectify that situation,” he said.

To be sure, there are enduring bright spots: Massachusetts students continue to have the highest scores on Grade 4 and 8 reading and math on the most recent NAEP tests in 2024. And in general, the Commonwealth hasn’t slid nearly as far as its neighbors Vermont and Maine.

Not everyone is equally alarmed by the state’s performance on the national tests. Larry Myatt, an education consultant who founded Boston’s Fenway High School, said state leaders need to have wider understanding of school achievement.

“We’ve abandoned qualitative [information], case studies, stories — the things that make a difference,” Myatt said. “Kids rise to the occasion, but if all we want from them is a quick test score, that’s all we’re going to get.”

Meanwhile, there is already a big flashpoint on Beacon Hill over how to halt the slide in literacy among schoolchildren. Assistant House Majority Leader Alice Peisch, a former chair of the education committee who also served on the board that oversees the NAEP, argued the varying ways school districts teach reading is a key reason for the state’s declining standing.

“The literacy legislation is an attempt to address the root cause of the problem,” she said. “I think we have evidence that the curriculum that was very prevalent was not working.”

Peisch supports a bill that, so far, has passed the House, that would change how reading is taught in many elementary schools by requiring districts to use state-approved curriculums. It is based on the so-called “Science of Reading,” with components including explicit phonics instruction and building vocabulary, rather than a popular “balanced” approach in use that critics say encourages students to guess.

Similar literacy reforms have swept the nation in recent years, in part inspired by the “Southern Surge,” the rapid growth of reading scores in Mississippi and Louisiana.

The teachers’ union and other critics of the literacy bill say the state should not mandate particular methods, and such a requirement would prevent teachers from personalizing instruction to students.

What most limits learning in schools, MTA President Max Page said, is not districts deciding curriculums on their own, but widespread shortfalls in school budgets after the pandemic-era spike in inflation. The state has the country’s best schools, Page said, in part due to a sustained increase in spending since the 1990s.

“That’s what we’re really fearful of with the fiscal crisis,” Page said. “We should be focused on protecting those investments.”

Related: Lost in a world of words: Outmoded teaching methods leave thousands of students struggling to gain this critical skill

Other parts of Healey’s agenda also face obstacles.

The need for new graduation requirements follows a ballot measure, backed by the MTA, that overturned the longstanding requirement for high school students to pass their MCAS tests. Healey opposed that repeal, and her recent proposal included new end-of-course standardized tests that the union opposes.

Opponents such as the union say the proposal would overturn the will of the voters on mandatory exams and continue an over-reliance on testing.

But for state leaders such as Martinez, who became Massachusetts education commissioner last summer with plans to reverse the academic decline, insisting on high expectations is about making sure every graduate has a fair shot at life.

“We always have to be protective of our ranking, our reputation, because we’ve always set a tone for the country,” he said. “I see the challenges, but also amazing opportunities.”