Student math proficiency rises but literacy results are mixed, preliminary Colorado test scores show

“Sign up for Chalkbeat Colorado’s free daily newsletter to get the latest reporting from us, plus curated news from other Colorado outlets, delivered to your inbox. The share of Colorado students who met or exceeded state standards on state math tests rose from last year to this year in nearly every grade. But when it comes to literacy, it’s more of a mixed bag. Those are two major takeaways from the preliminary results on the Colorado Measures of Academic Success, or CMAS, which were released Friday by the Colorado Department of Education. They roughly match nationwide data from last year showing that students’ math performance is ticking up, but that reading scores are stagnant . Explaining those and related trends is not an easy task . The state also released PSAT and SAT results, with encouraging signs for younger high schoolers. “These results show both progress and areas where we must continue to improve,” said Colorado Education Commissioner Susana Córdova in a news release about the data. The preliminary data gives an overall picture of the percentage of students in each grade meeting or exceeding state standards on math, literacy, science, and social studies tests. But it doesn’t show results from specific groups of students, like English learners or students with disabilities. It also doesn’t include district or school level results. The full data will be publicly released in August, according to an education department news release. The data released Friday shows math proficiency in elementary and middle schools continues to steadily improve after dropping dramatically during the pandemic . Nine of the 10 grades tested showed improvements. For example, 39% of fourth graders and 37.8% of eighth graders met or exceeded state standards on the CMAS math exam. That’s a slight improvement over last year. Literacy proficiency increased for fourth and fifth graders, with students in fourth grade making the greatest strides. The data shows 49.9% of fourth graders were proficient in literacy, up five percentage points from 2025, although proficiency rates for third graders fell. “Early literacy has been a major focus in Colorado, and we are encouraged by the progress we are seeing,” Cordova said. Meanwhile, there was a decline in literacy proficiency in every middle school grade by two percentage points. For example, CMAS literacy proficiency dropped 1.7 percentage points to 42.2% of eighth graders. As for high schoolers, PSAT scores for ninth and tenth graders improved from 2025 in both math and literacy. In literacy, 65.6% of ninth graders scored proficient or above in literacy while 65.1% of 10th graders did so. Meanwhile, PSAT ninth grade math proficiency increased to 40.6%, and proficiency in math for 10th graders increased to 37.9%. The news was less rosy for 11th graders. The rate of students meeting or exceeding standards on the SAT math and literacy tests dropped slightly compared to last year. The education department cautioned that low participation in the test continues to skew how to interpret those results. The news release didn’t include the percentage of eligible students taking the test this year. Science proficiency on the CMAS dropped this year in grades five, eight, and 11. And in social studies, which is tested every three years among a representative sample of students, a quarter of fourth graders and third of seventh graders scored proficient. In recent years, Colorado lawmakers have sought to make the CMAS shorter, and get testing information out to parents and teachers faster. For the CMAS, students take what’s known as adaptive tests, which means that based on how students do on the first section of CMAS exams, they get either an easier or harder second section. Next year, fourth graders will also no longer have to take the CMAS social studies test . Lawmakers eliminated the test for that grade to save money after another budget shortfall. Jason Gonzales is a reporter covering higher education and the Colorado legislature. Chalkbeat Colorado partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage. Contact Jason at jgonzales@chalkbeat.org .

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