BRAINTREE -- As schools across the U.S. see lagging test scores since the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in low-income districts, Catholic schools across the Archdiocese of Boston are seeing spectacular gains, some as high as 20 percent, in math and language proficiency.

A report by the Archdiocese of Boston Catholic Schools Office analyzed 11 of the 14 schools that received educational resources purchased by COVID-era Emergency Assistance to Non-Public Schools (EANS II) funds allocated by Congress in 2021. The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education allocated $13,819,692 worth of resources to 14 Catholic schools in the archdiocese. Ninety-nine percent of that money was used, with each school selecting the resources it needed.

"We were very grateful that the federal government recognized that all children, regardless of where they attended schools, needed that help," said CSO Associate Superintendent for Government Programs Mary Goslin.

Due to income restrictions for EANS eligibility, the 11 schools analyzed in the CSO report are all located in diverse, working-class urban areas with large immigrant populations. The vast majority of the schools are predominantly non-white, with four being over 90 percent students of color.

In several schools, the majority of students speak English as a second language (ESL). Districts with low-income ESL students have struggled the most since the pandemic, but the schools that received EANS funding have bucked the trend. The 11 schools -- Cheverus in Malden, Immaculate Conception in Revere, Lawrence Catholic Academy in Lawrence, Mission Grammar in Roxbury, St. Anthony in Everett, the three campuses of St. John Paul II Catholic Academy in Dorchester, St. Pius V in Lynn, St. Theresa of the Child Jesus in Somerville, and Trinity Catholic Academy in Brockton -- saw an overall increase in standardized math test scores.

Many of the individual schools saw significant increases in language test scores. In summer 2025, leaders and staff from EANS schools attended a CSO symposium. There, Goslin recalled, staff said the resources provided by EANS reminded them "of the reason that Catholic schools are there."

"The reason why they stayed open was to help the students and help the families feel like somebody cared about them, and that they were one big community for another," she said. "That was what empowered them to make a difference."

That, she said, is why the schools are avoiding a decline in test scores. While public schools in Massachusetts moved online, the 11 schools were meeting in person with the help of resources provided by EANS. As private schools, they could make their own decisions on how and when they would safely reopen. Coming to school in masks and sitting six feet apart, students went out for recess and interacted face-to-face with their friends and teachers.

"They were able to forget about the fact that COVID was out there because they were with their friends," Goslin said. "They were eating with their friends, they were playing with their friends, they were learning with their friends, and families were greatly relieved knowing they were well cared for."

EANS funds were divided into five sectors -- curriculum and resources, instruction support, mental health, teacher training, and furniture and technology.

The CSO found that the 11 schools that received those resources saw a 10 percent overall increase in enrollment between 2021 and 2026. Four schools saw their enrollment jump by 20 percent. Ten of the schools have students on waitlists to attend. More students are now receiving financial aid. The schools received Chromebooks, iPads, educational coaches, mental health counselors for students, outdoor play equipment, robotics programs for STEM learning, new textbooks, teacher training, learning software, and social-emotional learning programs. Teachers were taught new strategies for analyzing student data and tailoring learning to children's individual needs, including for students learning English.

Additional staff members kept class sizes small, and technology allowed students to keep up with school if they were at home sick. Thanks to their tutoring and counseling program, Mission Grammar's language scores are higher than the national average. Both of Trinity Catholic Academy's campuses now have their own special education teacher. Cheverus received tricycles and volleyball nets for recess.

The strategies implemented in the 11 EANS schools will be studied for potential use at other schools in the archdiocese.

"They select the highest quality of resources, but they don't have funding to be trying out new programs all the time," Goslin said of the schools. "And this gave them the chance then to test new programs out, programs that they normally wouldn't have had access to."

With the report, CSO wants to show how EANS resources protected students from learning loss. In the future, additional resources could further improve Boston's Catholic schools. In 2025, President Trump signed the Educational Choice for Children Act, which offers tax credits to support scholarships at private schools. Taxpayers would be able to set aside up to $1,700 each year for a tax-deductible donation to a scholarship fund. Those scholarship funds could provide resources to Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Boston -- if Gov. Maura Healey decides to opt into the federal program in January.

"In our Catholic schools, we have proved that we are able to support our students using those EANS resources, and we would be able to support our students all the more through this federal tax scholarship," Goslin said.

She said many students are attending Boston Catholic schools from scholarships, and "flourish" thanks to them.

"To be able to continue to support them and give them more support would be a real gift," she said. "So we're hoping that the governor will opt into this to benefit all families, not just those in Catholic schools."