Holyoke
42 Massachusetts Districts Beat Chronic Absenteeism Back to Pre-COVID. Voc-Tech Schools Led the Way.
In Clinton, a small district west of Worcester, 8.7% of students are chronically absent. Before the pandemic, it was 16.1%. The district didn't just recover from COVID's attendance shock. It halved it...
Massachusetts Attendance Recovery Stalls Below 1 Point
Three years ago, Massachusetts was making real progress on chronic absenteeism. The state cut 5.5 percentage points in a single year, the kind of improvement that made recovery feel inevitable. The ne...
One in Four Massachusetts Districts at All-Time Enrollment Lows
North Adams peaked at 2,368 students in 1997. This fall, it enrolled 1,064. Hull has lost 55.5% of its students from peak. Sandwich has crossed below half its former size. These are not anomalies. In ...
Hispanic Enrollment Dips for Only the Second Time in 33 Years
For 30 of the past 32 years, Hispanic enrollment in Massachusetts grew. It grew through recessions and recoveries, through three governors and two presidents, through the post-9/11 years and the Great...
One in Five Massachusetts Students Now Receives Special Education
For six years, from 2009 to 2015, Massachusetts held its special education rate nearly flat. The share of students receiving services hovered between 17.2% and 17.3%, barely moving from year to year. ...