LAKEVILLE — Freetown-Lakeville School District’s Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System test scores are “a delicious dessert after a good meal,” according to Superintendent Alan Strauss.

The district mostly met and exceeded expectations on the exams, according to state-issued data.

The 2022 MCAS edition was the first full exam since 2019, according to the state’s website. No MCAS tests were given in 2020 due to COVID-19, and half-tests were given in grades 3-8 in 2021.

“We are very pleased with our MCAS scores,” Strauss said. “Certainly, there’s room for growth but we’re way above average in almost every category.”

“The remarkable piece is that ‘needs improvement’ numbers are low,” said Freetown-Lakeville Director of Curriculum Teri Fleming.

While Apponequet Regional High School students beat the state averages in terms of students who met or exceeded expectations on the tests, the school has not returned to its pre-pandemic performance level.

This year, 70% of Apponequet 10th graders who took the test met or exceeded expectations in English and Language Arts, 59% met or exceeded expectations in Science, and 56% met or exceeded expectations in Math. Only 10th-grade students take MCAS in High School.

In 2019, 78% of Apponequet 10th-graders met or exceeded expectations in English and Language Arts, while 77% of Apponequet students met or exceeded expectations on the Math exam. There is no data available for the 2019 science exam.

Strauss attributes the decrease to how “everything that education was, was flipped upside down” since the pandemic started.

District-wide in grades three through eight, the percentage of students to meet or exceed expectations on Math and English and Language Arts tests fell since before the pandemic.

Fifty-three percent of Freetown-Lakeville third- through eighth-graders met and exceeded expectations on the English and Language Arts test in 2019, compared to 45% this year.

In Math, 51% of Freetown-Lakeville third-through-eighth-graders met or exceeded expectations in 2019, compared to 49% in 2022.

At Lakeville’s Assawompset Elementary School, Strauss and Fleming said there are 57 students “on the cusp” of meeting expectations. They said the district plans to help those students by teaching them to apply their knowledge to the real world.

Strauss said that teaching students to apply their knowledge helps prepare students for the future.

“MCAS showed what we know, but we’re always looking to improve and provide an even more rigorous and relevant curriculum for all of our students, regardless of the pathway they eventually choose,” Strauss said.

Strauss said that while MCAS scores are one measurement taken on one day of a school year, the scores are like a “report card,” and that parents considering moving to the area should see the scores as a positive sign.

“It feels good that what our teachers and paraprofessionals are doing every day shows up in a positive light on MCAS scores,” Strauss said.