The Minnesota Department of Education has just released spring 2026 statewide assessment results, emphasizing that test scores “remained stable” across grade levels and subjects during a “challenging year.”
“We see where students are on their journey toward meeting those standards. And we see the potential for growth,” said Commissioner Willie Jett. “The baseline students have set is encouraging, and Minnesota Department of Education is here to continue supporting educators and students.”
The press release left out that “stable” means less than half of Minnesota students are meeting grade-level standards in math or reading. Last year’s release took the same approach, leaving out the proficiency numbers and describing the test results as “stable” and “steady.”
As measured by the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs), 44.7 percent of students statewide met grade-level math standards, a slight decline from spring 2025 results when 45.0 percent demonstrated grade-level proficiency. In reading, 48.2 percent met grade-level proficiency. Statewide, 93.9 percent of students took the math MCA, and 95.4 percent took the reading MCA.
Minnesota Math & Reading Proficiency,
as measured by the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments
Students were tested on new reading standards implemented during the 2025-2026 school year using an updated MCA reading assessment, which, MDE notes, cannot be compared to previous versions. However, MDE’s release describes reading proficiency as “stable” and says it “suggests Minnesota students and educators are rising to the occasion.” Stable compared to what? By MDE’s own admission, there is no comparison.
What’s next?
These 2026 results fit a pattern of achievement challenges Minnesota has faced for years. Every year there is a reason, from the pandemic, to funding changes, to Operation Metro Surge. Those things happened, but proficiency has been stuck below 50 percent for a while now, and at some point the state must reckon with whether its responses are working instead of just pointing to what could be in the way.
MDE first wants to review the testing system itself, saying that the standardized tests “provide limited instructional value.” The department is convening a 28-member task force to recommend changes to the legislature by March 2027.
The MCAs are supposed to assess student proficiency of the grade-level academic standards written by MDE. They are the main way the public can see how students are doing on those standards. And, as noted in this 2023-24 MDE report, there is a “strong positive relationship” between standardized test scores and the ACT, so the state should be careful about weakening them.
MDE’s press release called attention to the class of 2025’s average composite ACT score for being more than a point above the national average. But the department left out that it was also Minnesota’s lowest average since at least 1996. (Participation levels were similar in 1996 as in 2025.)
In 2023, the Minnesota Legislature overhauled the state’s approach to reading literacy, passing the Reading to Ensure Academic Development (READ) Act that requires teacher preparation programs, school districts, and educators to use “evidence-based” reading strategies in instruction with the goal of every child reading at or above grade level every year beginning in kindergarten.
MDE expects that these changes will “begin demonstrating meaningful assessment trend data as early as 2027-2030, as students progress through grades led by fully trained teachers.” Reading shouldn’t be our only focus. Given the state’s math trends and stubborn achievement gaps, which my colleague Josiah Padley covered here, math deserves the same attention and commitment.
In the meantime, MDE can do a better job communicating. Parents are already getting misleading signals when report cards paint a rosier picture than test results do. MDE can at least give them the numbers while there’s still time to act.
