What will 2025 CMAS results show?

READ Act funding has meant over $300 million to support K-3 classrooms.

But when we realize how many 4^th grade students (& 5^th, & 6^th …) are struggling to read,

we must get past this fixation on just the K-3 years.

We are eager to see the 2025 CMAS literacy results for 4^th graders. Given recent history, we are also interested in how the state presents the new data.

Last January, in presenting the 2024 NAEP scores for Colorado students in 4^th and 8^th grade, the News Release from the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) almost sounded upbeat. “Colorado students continue to outperform the nation….” AV #290 will show what many here overlooked in those NAEP results. The assessment from NCTE Commissioner Peggy Carr: “The news is not good.”[i] (More from Carr later. In February, the Trump Administration fired her.)

But first, in readiness for CDE’s release of 2025 CMAS literacy results, I give you a “scorecard” to fill in. If 2025 CMAS results justify a “good news” story, great. If not, I hope we are clear-eyed about how many 4^th graders in Colorado still struggle to read anywhere close to grade level.

The familiar words from Zig Ziglar apply: “You cannot solve a problem until you acknowledge that you have one …”

-Feb. 2024 - Report on Reading in Colorado – Grades 4-12 - “After the READ Act – Beyond third grade, how well do our students read?” -Sept. 2024 - AV#276 – “A literacy update”

CMAS - Literacy - 2023-2025

For over a year (see box) I have pointed out the large number of elementary students who not only fail to Meet Expectations, but, more troubling, do not even Approach Expectations on the literacy portion of CMAS. (Results for CMAS, as you will see, align with NAEP’s figures on reading: over one-third of our 4^th graders scored Below Basic.)

Some ask, why focus on those scoring at the lowest performance levels? Why be so negative? My response: I am merely doing exactly what the READ Act does for K-3: to identify those students who are struggling to read (SRD). This is how we begin to know who needs extra support. 2023 READ Act data [ii]- SRD: gr. 1–14,761; gr. 2–12,752; gr. 3-13,539. On a READ Plan: gr. 4-12,708 and gr. 5-10,548.

READ Plan figures, as you will see, only scratch the surface of the number struggling to read.

Most news reports focus on the minority of our students who Meet or Exceed Expectations on CMAS. But we should know how the majority perform.

The state presents student scores in five performance levels. Here are results for 4^th graders. I include 5^th grade scores, too, revealing “progress,” of a kind. And yet the numbers also show the enormous challenge for our elementary schools: how to meet the needs of over 30,000 boys and girls who are well behind … It is a much, much bigger challenge than the K-3 focus of the READ Act ever imagined.

The number of 4^th and 5^th graders scoring well below grade level in literacy on CMAS

1. 2023 – CMAS – Literacy (reading & writing) – Grades 4 and 5

“Over 32,000 4^th and 5^th graders, close to 30% in each class, were well behind in their reading and writing skills.” (From my Report on Reading, Feb. 2024)[iii] In 4^th grade, 31%.

Grade	% Did Not Yet Meet Expectations*	% Partially Met Expectations*	% Approached Expectations*	% Met Expectations	% Exceeded Expectations
4	14.5 8,063 students	16.5 9,165 students	25.2	35.1	8.7
5	7.9 4,494 students	18.5 10,485 students	25.8	41.1	6.7
Total	12,557	19,650		42,751	8,611
	32,207 students		28,623 students	51,362 students

2. 2024 – CMAS – Literacy (reading & writing) – Grades 4 and 5

Over 33,000 4^th and 5^th graders were well behind in their reading and writing skills. (Some data from AV #276, “A 2024 literacy update,” Sept. 2024.) In 4^th grade, 33.5%.

Grade	% Did Not Yet Meet Expectations	% Partially Met Expectations	% Approached Expectations	% Met Expectations	% Exceeded Expectations
4	14.5 8,090 students	19.0 10,573 students	24.5	32.0	10.0
5	8.2 4,565 students	17.9 9,988 students	26.7	40.8	6.5
Total	12,655	20,561		40,684	9,164
	33,216 students		28,596 students	49,848 students

3. 2025 - CMAS - Literacy (reading & writing) – Grades 4 and 5

Grade	% Did Not Yet Meet Expectations	% Partially Met Expectations	% Approached Expectations	% Met Expectations	% Exceeded Expectations
4	% x students	% x students	%	%	%
5	% x students	* x students	%	%	%
Total	xx,xxx	xx,xxx
	xx,xxx students		xx,xxx students	xx,xxx students

* Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS) - Performance Levels and Policy Claims

Approached Expectations - Students who demonstrate a moderate command of the concepts, skills, and practices embodied by the Colorado Academic Standards assessed at their grade level. They will likely need additional academic support to engage successfully in further studies in this content area.

Partially Met Expectations - Students who demonstrate a limited command of the concepts, skills, and practices embodied by the Colorado Academic Standards assessed at their grade level. They will need additional academic support to engage successfully in further studies in this content area.

Did Not Yet Meet Expectations - Students who do not yet meet academic expectations for the concepts, skills, and practices embodied by the Colorado Academic Standards assessed at their grade level. They will need extensive academic support to engage successfully in further studies in this content area. https://www.cde.state.co.us/assessment/cmas_perflvl_plcclms (Bold mine)

For 4^th grade, one more fill-in-the blank – As of 2024, NAEP told us that OVER ONE-THIRD of Colorado 4^th graders are PERFORMING FAR SHORT OF PROFICIENCY in reading. A percentage that has grown the past few years. In 2025, on the literacy potion of CMAS, what do we see?

CMAS – Literacy – Grade 4 – Students performing well below grade level - 2022-2024

Grade 4	% Did Not Yet Meet Expectations	% Partially Met Expectations	TOTAL
2022	15.1 – 8,424 students	15.6 – 8,689 students	30.7% - 17,113 students
2023	14.5 – 8,063 students	16.5 – 9,165 students	31% - 17,228 students
2024	14.5 - 8,090 students	19.0 - 10,573 students	33.5% - 18,663 students*
2025	xx	xx	xx

[*State data. See six districts where over 50% of 4^th graders scored in the two lowest categories.[iv]]

CMAS 2024 - CDE’s News Release

CDE’s News Release for 2024 CMAS results (“State assessment data shows Colorado students making gradual improvements in achievement”) included this detail: “Fourth-grade students showed the largest decrease in CMAS English language arts with declines of 1.8% from 2023 and 6% from 2019.” (Emphasis mine)

Both Chalkbeat Colorado and The Colorado Sun included this fact in their stories on CMAS results.[v] However, I found no article in Colorado addressing the number of students in any grade scoring in the bottom two categories. The figures are substantial; we cannot ignore them.

When we do, it has consequences. Note the virtual silence, in CDE’s Strategic Plan for 2025-28, on reading/literacy for students in 4^th grade on up.[vi] Instead, it doubles down on our K-3 focus.

NAEP 2024 - Reporting results

CDE’s News Release on NAEP results – “outperform,” “surpassed,” “outscore” – Yeah, Rah!

When NAEP’s 2024 national report card on reading was released, the Colorado Department of Education applauded our overall reading results when compared to other states. We were, indeed, in the top six. (See box.) But should this be the main takeaway from the 2024 scores?

NAEP – READING - 2024

4^th grade – Top scores

1.   Dptmt. of Def. schools - 234

2.   Massachusetts - 225

3.   Wyoming - 222

4.   New Jersey – 222

5.   New Hampshire - 221

6. Colorado - 221

CDE - News Release - Jan. 29, 2025 (Bold mine)

"Colorado students continue to outperform the nation on most NAEP assessments, but performance has not passed pre-pandemic levels"[vii]

“DENVER - According to 2024 NAEP assessment results released today, Colorado eighth graders outperformed their national peers in both reading and math, while fourth graders surpassed the national public average in reading and matched the national public average in math.”

(Paragraphs 6 - 8 of the New Release did speak to “persistent achievement gaps among various student groups in Colorado.” More from CDE’s 2024 Press Release in Endnote.)

That headline echoed the CDE News Release on NAEP scores in both 2022 and 2019.

2022: “Despite drops, Colorado’s students outscore the nation in reading while the steep decline in math scores mirrors the rest of the U.S.”[viii] (CDE, Oct. 24, 2022. More in Endnote.)

2019: “Colorado 4th and 8th graders continue to outperform nation on biennial tests.”[ix] (CDE, Oct. 30, 2019. More in Endnote.)

Reporting 2024 NAEP scores: Colorado media, NAEP’s findings, national stories. See ADDENDUM.
How did the Colorado media, and others, report on the 2024 NAEP scores in reading? It matters, if we are to be honest with ourselves and face some hard facts. The Addendum looks at: 1) reports by Colorado media, 2) NAEP’s own summary, 3) national stories and analysis. The latter two send a less reassuring message than what Colorado heard from our Department of Education. Several national stories featured the grim results for our “lowest-performing students.”

NAEP results on READING – Colorado

4^th gr. – at or above proficient	2019	2022	2024
Colorado	40	38	36
Louisiana	26	28	32

I conclude with a different take on NAEP 2024 results in Colorado. The evidence shows why it seems inappropriate to flatter ourselves as “outperforming” most states. Our reading scores have declined. Yes, they reflect a similar decline across the nation, but let’s be clear about these results. We now see only 36% proficient. That is the lowest figure for Colorado 4^th graders since 2007. (If improvement is our goal, kudos to Louisiana. In 2019, it was #50 in the country for 4^th grade reading in 2019; in 2024, #16.[x] And eleven states and the District of Columbia did improve their 4^th grade reading scores from 2022 to 2024.) In a comparison, our scores may be “better.” But when we look in the mirror, what do we see?

READING - Percentage AT OR ABOVE PROFICIENT.

		2013	2015	2017	2019	2022	2024	Change from 2013
Grade 4	Colorado	41	39	40	40	38	36	-5
	Nation	34	35	35	34	32	30	-4

Grade 8	Colorado	40	38	41	38	34	35	-5
	Nation	34	33	35	32	29	29	-5

Most troubling, for us in Colorado, is the rising percentage of students scoring at Below Basic, NAEP's lowest performance level. In 2024, nearly the same percentage of Colorado 4th grade students scored in this category as scored Proficient or better.

2024	Below Basic	Basic	Proficient/Advanced
Grade 4	35	65	36

And that percentage scoring Below Basic has been climbing, in both 4^th grade and 8^th grade.

True, this trend is not unlike the rising figures nationally. But this is not good news.

NAEP: “Scoring Below Basic indicates a performance significantly below grade level, representing a lack of foundational skills and knowledge for a particular grade.” More in Endnote.^{^[xi]}

Let's be clear about this:

In 2024 over 1/3 of Colorado 4^th graders performed Below Basic on NAEP.

READING - Percentage scoring BELOW BASIC. Grade 4.

	2013	2015	2017	2019	2022	2024	Change from 2013
Colorado	26	29	29	29	32	35	+9
National	33	32	33	35	39	41	+8

Let’s also be clear about a similar trend for our 8^th grade students.

In 2024 over 1/4 of Colorado 8th graders performed Below Basic on NAEP.

Grade 8	2013	2015	2017	2019	2022	2024	Change from 2013
Colorado	19	22	21	23	27	26	+7
National	23	25	25	28	32	34	+11

This is a different slant on 2024 NAEP results than what CDE gave us last winter. But it is based on the data in the NAEP report. If any of my numbers are wrong, please let me know.

When our 2024 CMAS results are released, let’s be sure we get a full account of how well our 4^th graders are reading and writing. And while my focus here is on reading in the 4^th grade, my goal is broader. I hope we are willing to take a hard look at the reading skills of all our students today, across the K-12 spectrum. Only then will we realize that we are falling short of one of the most basic expectations we have of public education: to see that our students, our future citizens, can read well.

I began with part of a Zig Ziglar quote: “You can't solve a problem until you admit you have one…” Here is the rest of the sentence: “and you can't solve it until you take responsibility for it."

Addendum – Reporting 2024 NAEP scores

Colorado media. NAEP’s findings. National stories and commentary.

Colorado media

Three articles in the Colorado media provided a careful analysis. They highlighted the declining reading scores for 4^th graders and the significant gaps for students in the state and in Denver Public Schools.

1. Chalkbeat Colorado provided a thorough treatment, “NAEP test results: Colorado’s scores are mostly stable, as gap between low and high performers widens.” By Yesenia Robles, Jan. 29, 2025. (Republished in The Denver Post.)

(Bold mine)

In fourth grade reading scores, Colorado students have fallen further behind, following a national trend. In 2024, 36% of fourth graders tested proficient in reading, down from 38% in 2022.

Robles provided data on the high percentage of students scoring Below Basic.

Among Colorado fourth graders, 35% tested below basic in reading in 2024, a higher percentage than any time in the last two decades. In Denver, 42% tested below basic.

Below Basic

Among Colorado eighth graders, 26% tested below basic in reading, off from 27% in 2022. In Denver, this group accounted for 35%.

The article also explained the various scoring categories, including Below Basic.

The NAEP standard for proficiency represents “competency over challenging subject matter, a standard that exceeds most states’ standards for proficient,” according to the federal agency that compiles the data.

In fourth grade reading, for instance, the administration states that students who test at the basic level, but below proficiency, may still have some reading ability to “provide some support for ideas related to the plot or characters…”

Officials from the board who oversee the testing say it’s students who score below basic who may be struggling to read and warrant concern.

Nationally, the trends show that in many cases, the percentage of students in below-basic levels grew as students who typically perform at high levels did well, and groups of students who usually struggle are doing worse.

https://www.chalkbeat.org/colorado/2025/01/29/naep-national-test-score-results-denver-and-state-outperform-but-still-not-recovered/

2. The Colorado Sun, in spite of its cheerful headline, “Colorado students are performing better in reading and math than kids in other states,” explored the disturbing learning gaps from the NAEP data. By Erica Breunlin, Jan. 29, 2025.

Colorado fourth- and eighth-graders who qualify for free or reduced lunch — a federal metric of poverty — as well as students with special needs, kids learning English and Black and Hispanic students continue to trail behind their peers across the country. Students in those individual groups who took the NAEP exam in Colorado posted lower average scores in both reading and math, compared to kids from other states.

Some of those gaps are more serious. Gaps between kids with and without disabilities are more significant in Colorado than the national average, according to the state education department. The same is true for the gap between students learning English and kids whose first language is English.

The gap between Hispanic students and their white peers is markedly higher in the state when it comes to reading in both fourth and eighth grades and math in fourth grade. Similarly, the performance gap in Colorado is higher than the national average when it comes to reading and math among fourth graders living in poverty and their more affluent peers.

Those gaps didn’t surprise state education officials, [according to Christina Wirth-Hawkins, chief assessment officer for CDE], since they’ve been “persistent for a long time.”

“… we need to not let up our focus and do everything we can to make sure that these student populations are receiving the support that they need to get to where they need to be and so that we can start closing these achievement gaps,” Wirth-Hawkins said. https://coloradosun.com/2025/01/29/colorado-students-naep-test-scores-reading-math/?emci=e6913ab6-b4e4-ef11-90cb-0022482a94f4&emdi=cbdee008-b8e5-ef11-90cb-0022482a94f4&ceid=558324

3. Boardhawk explored another gap – between what district leaders said and what a closer look revealed – regarding NAEP results for Denver Public Schools. “DPS’ NAEP boasts tell less than half the story,” by Alan Gottlieb, March 7, 2025.

(Bold mine)

“Denver’s economically disadvantaged students perform worse than peer students nationally, in Colorado, and across other large cities.

“Gaps between these low-income students and their more affluent peers are larger in DPS than nationally, across Colorado, and across other large cities. In other words, the students that comprise the majority (64 percent) of the DPS population continue to struggle.

“Step back a moment and ponder those numbers…. Just 15 percent of low-income eighth-graders can read proficiently.

“It’s hard to take solace in the fact that Denver looks good compared to some other cities when the underlying numbers are so bleak.”

“… Denver’s gaps between low-income and non-low-income students remain wider than in most other cities. Low-income DPS students score … 43 percentage points [below their more affluent peers] on fourth-grade reading, and 40 percentage points on eighth-grade reading.

“These gaps are significantly wider in Denver than in Colorado and the nation as a whole.” https://boardhawk.org/2025/03/dps-naep-boasts-tell-less-than-half-the-story/

National stories on NAEP results – A focus on struggling students. “The news is not good.”

Reviews of the NAEP scores nationally often zeroed in on the alarming percentage of “struggling students,” speaking specifically of the “lowest-performing students” and the rising number scoring at “Below Basic.” (The same trend, as we have shown, in Colorado.)

(Bold mine)

1. NAEP’s own News Release: “Fourth Graders’ Mathematics Scores Improve Following Historic Drops, Eighth Graders Show No Change” (subheading: Reading Scores Continue to Decline), Jan. 29, 2025.

The most notable challenges evident in the 2024 data are in reading comprehension. Reading scores dropped in both fourth and eighth grades since 2022, continuing declines first reported in 2019, before the pandemic.

Below Basic

In 2024, the percentage of eighth-graders’ reading below NAEP Basic was the largest in the assessment’s history, and the percentage of fourth-graders who scored below NAEP Basic was the largest in 20 years.

In reading, lower-performing students struggled the most. At both fourth and eighth grades, the scores of students at the 10th and 25th percentiles in 2024 were lower than the first NAEP reading assessment in 1992.

“NAEP has reported declines in reading achievement consistently since 2019, and the continued declines since the pandemic suggest we’re facing complex challenges that cannot be fully explained by the impact of COVID-19,” said NCES Associate Commissioner Daniel McGrath. https://www.nationsreportcard.gov

2. “Reading Scores Fall to New Low on NAEP, Fueled by Declines for Struggling Students,” by Sarah Schwartz, Education Week, Jan. 29, 2025.

The poor results overall obscure trends below the surface, including deepening divides between the highest- and lowest-performing students—a gap that has been growing since before the pandemic.

UPDATE: In February Dr. Carr was fired by the Trump Administration. https://hechingerreport.org/proof-points-peggy-carr-interview-nces/

In reading, lower-scoring students saw bigger declines than their higher-scoring peers at both grade levels.

“The news is not good,” Peggy Carr, the commissioner

of the National Center for Education Statistics, which

administers NAEP, said in a call with reporters on Tuesday. “We are not seeing the progress we need to regain the ground our students lost during the pandemic …. Low performing students are struggling, especially in reading.” https://www.edweek.org/leadership/reading-scores-fall-to-new-low-on-naep-fueled-by-declines-for-struggling-students/2025/01

3. “American Children’s Reading Skills Reach New Lows,” by Dana Goldstein, The New York Times, Jan. 29, 2025.

Below Basic

The percentage of eighth graders who have “below basic” reading skills according to NAEP was the largest it has been in the exam’s three-decade history —

33 percent. The percentage of fourth graders at “below basic” was the

largest in 20 years, at 40 percent.

Recent reading declines have cut across lines of race and class. And while students at the top end of the academic distribution are performing similarly to students prepandemic, the drops remain pronounced for struggling students, despite a robust, bipartisan movement in recent years to improve foundational literacy skills.

“Our lowest performing students are reading at historically low levels,” said Peggy Carr. “We need to stay focused in order to right this ship.” https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/29/us/reading-skills-naep.html

4. “NAEP scores show disheartening trends for the lowest-performing students,” by Kalyn Belsha and Erica Meltzer, Chalkbeat (national office), Jan. 28, 2025.

Most American students are still performing below their pre-pandemic counterparts in reading and math, while the yawning gap between high-achieving and low-performing students got even wider, data from “the nation’s report card” shows.

Results released Wednesday … paint a sobering picture of academic haves and have-nots. Scores are increasing for many students who already do well, while struggling students stagnated or fell even further behind their peers. That’s making a trend that began about a decade ago even more pronounced.

In some cases that divide was historic: Lower-performing fourth and eighth graders posted the worst reading scores in over 30 years.

Scores saw a dramatic decline in 2022 after students endured two disrupted pandemic school years marked by closures, quarantines, and remote learning. But in 2024, reading scores declined even more for both fourth and eighth graders.

“This is a major concern — a concern that can’t be blamed solely on the pandemic,” Peggy Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, told reporters. “Our nation is facing complex challenges in reading.”

Below Basic

“We have a larger-than-in-recent-memory share of American students who are failing to demonstrate even partial mastery of the types of skills educators have defined as important,” said Martin West, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the vice chair of the NAEP Governing Board, which decides the test’s content and approves questions. “That doesn’t bode well for their futures or for our collective futures.”

https://www.chalkbeat.org/2025/01/29/naep-reading-scores-decline-and-struggling-students-fall-behind/?utm_source=Chalkbeat&utm_campaign=29f0fa008d-Colorado+Colorado8217s+scores+on+8216nation8217s+r&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_9091015053-29f0fa008d-1296398182&mc_cid=29f0fa008d

5. “NAEP’s dead birds,” by Checker Finn, The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Jan. 30, 2025.

Others, perhaps especially state leaders, feel the need to put a cheerier spin on their NAEP results. In Maryland, where I live, the State Board of Education took satisfaction from how the Old Line State has improved its rankings vis-à-vis other states. In eighth grade reading, for example, it rose from twenty-fifth to twenty-first, while admitting that “results have not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels.” (To me, what’s more consequential is that one full third of Maryland eighth graders remain “below basic” in reading and only one third are “proficient”. What does that portend for a state’s future?)

Below Basic

Much of this week’s NAEP talk is about widening gaps between high and low achievers … of course it’s worrisome. So, too, is the overall failure—so far … to arrest the decline in fourth grade reading scores. (The Maryland average is up from 2022 but far below all prior years—as 41 percent of the state’s fourth graders remain “below

basic,” which is to say basically illiterate.)

https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/naeps-dead-birds

Endnotes

[i] “Dr. Peggy Carr served as Commissioner of the National Center for Statistics (NCES) in the , U.S. Department of Education. Dr. Carr formerly served as Associate Commissioner of the Assessment Division for NCES, a role she held for nearly 20 years.” https://nces.ed.gov/about/directory/peggy-g-carr#:~:text

[ii] As this newsletter shows, the number of students on a READ Plan in grades 4 on up does not reflect the number of students who are not performing close to grade level in reading and writing. Here is my attempt to show what numbers we might wish to “identify and serve” to help Colorado students improve their literacy / reading skills.

How many students need extra support in order to help them become proficient readers?

K-3 – # identified as Significantly Reading Deficient (SRD) in 2022-23 - from READ Act report

4-5 – # identified to stay on a READ Plan after READ Act years (“students not reading at grade level”)

3-5 - # scoring in bottom categories (Did Not Yet Meet & Partially Met Expectations) CMAS - 2024

Grade	1	2	3	4	5
K-3 - SRD - 2023	14,761	12,752	13,539*
4-5 - On a READ Plan - 2023				12,708	10,548
3-5 - CMAS - literacy - 2024			20,501*	18,663	14,553

*The Independent Evaluation of the READ Act confirms this overlap between students on SRD in 3rd grade and those who score in the bottom two categories on CMAS. From the Year 4 evaluation:

“Cut Scores Used to Identify Students with an SRD Linked to the Lower End of the CMAS Scale”

“Using an equipercentile linking procedure (Kolen & Brennan, 2004), we found that the cut scores used to identify students with an SRD were linked to the lower end of the CMAS ELA scale (they generally clustered from the end of the “Did Not Yet Meet Expectations” range to the beginning of the “Partially Met Expectations” range). This signifies that most students identified with SRDs in 3rd grade would be in the lowest category on CMAS. As shown in Exhibit ES-3, 78% of students who were identified with an SRD in 3rd grade scored in the lowest performance level on the CMAS assessment (“Did Not Yet Meet Expectations”) ... https://www.cde.state.co.us/coloradoliteracy/readactperpupilsummaryreportyear4

[iii] Additional note in the Reading Report on these figures: “The percentage of 4^th and 5^th graders who Did Not Yet Meet or Partially Met in 2023 is similar what we have seen over the past six years, 2016-2022: 26% to 30%.”

[iv] Six districts where the MAJORITY of their 4^th grade students scored in the bottom two categories

2023-24 - ELA – Grade 4
	Did Not Yet Meet Expectations	Partially Met Expectations	Over 50% scored in bottom two categories
6 school districts	Percent	Percent	Over 50% scored in bottom two categories
Adams 14	32.9	28.1	61%
Aurora Public Schools	32.4	25.9	58.3%
Westminster	30.9	26.7	57.6%
Greeley 6	26.1	27.7	53.8%
Mapleton	25.4	27.5	52.9%
Pueblo 60	22.8	27.9	50.7%

State of Colorado	14.5%	19.0%	33.5%

CDE - https://www.cde.state.co.us/assessment/cmas-dataandresults-2024

[v] Colorado media accounts of CMAS results. (Bold mine)

The Colorado Sun: “Still, 2024 results from the Colorado Measures of Academic Success, PSAT and SAT exams show there is more progress to be made…. fourth grade students experienced the biggest decline of any grade on the CMAS English language arts test.” (paragraph 3) https://coloradosun.com/2024/08/20/colorado-state-standardized-test-results-cmas-sat/

Chalkbeat Colorado: “ … the rate of fourth grade students meeting expectations on the CMAS language arts test dropped by 1.8 percentage points, the largest drop by grade level compared to last year.” (paragraph 12) The article also included details for fifth graders: “Similar to previous years, the largest test score gap was between fifth grade students who are learning English as a new language and those who are not.” (https://www.chalkbeat.org/colorado/2024/08/20/cmas-state-test-results-show-more-academic-recovery/)

[vi] From the Colorado Department of Education’s 2025-28 Strategic Plan:

“Accelerating Student Outcomes”

“Colorado students start strong with effective literacy instruction and support.”

· “increase the percentage of third graders meeting or exceeding expectations on ELA CMAS.”

· “We will see … increased English language arts and math achievement, with a specific focus on 3rd grade reading.” https://go.boarddocs.com/co/cde/Board.nsf/files/DBMU857AC207/$file/11.13.24%20Strategic%20Plan%203.pdf

[vii] CDE – From News Release, paragraphs 6-8. (Bold mine)

NAEP assessment results also highlight persistent achievement gaps among various student groups in Colorado. Students eligible for free or reduced lunch, students with disabilities, Black students, Hispanic students, and multilingual learners continue to have lower average scores than their peers across both grades and subjects assessed by NAEP.

While some of these gaps are consistent with those observed in the national public comparison group, others are more pronounced in Colorado. Notably, gaps between students with and without disabilities, as well as between multilingual learners and non-multilingual learners, are larger in Colorado compared to the national public average. Additionally, the gap between Hispanic and white students is significantly higher in Colorado for both grades of reading and fourth-grade math, as well as across both subjects for fourth-grade students eligible for free or reduced lunch. However, the gap between white and Black students in grade eight reading is significantly smaller in Colorado than in the national public gap.

"Colorado students and teachers have worked hard, and we’re proud our students are outperforming the national average," said Colorado Education Commissioner Susana Córdova. "Today’s fourth and eighth graders have overcome pandemic challenges, but learning gaps remain for some groups, like students with disabilities, multilingual learners, and those from underserved communities. We must keep working to close these gaps so all students can succeed." https://www.cde.state.co.us/communications/news-release-naep-12925

[viii] CDE – News Release on 2022 NAEP results. Included this: (Bold mine)

DENVER -- Results from a national math and reading test for fourth and eighth graders showed Colorado students’ scores dropped in most areas when compared to pre-pandemic results, along with the rest of the country, but the state’s students had better reading scores than the national average.

Of the sampling in Colorado, scores were higher than the national average in reading but mirrored the steep drop in math seen throughout the rest of the nation. https://www.cde.state.co.us/communications/oct242022newsreleasenaep

[ix] CDE – News Release on 2019 NAEP results. Included this: (Bold mine)

DENVER - Colorado fourth and eighth-graders continue to perform better than their peers across the country on the biennial national reading and math assessment known as NAEP, according to the 2019 results that were released today.

READING
In 2019, Colorado’s average reading scores in both fourth and eighth grades were higher than the national average, and only two states/jurisdictions had higher scores in grade four. Colorado had a higher percentage of students achieving at the NAEP Basic level than the nation in both grades four and eight reading. Colorado also had a higher percentage of students at the Advanced level in grade four.

[x] “Five years since COVID, Louisiana's readers are thriving. This is their secret,” by Jonacki Mehta, National Public Radio, March 13, 2025. https://www.npr.org/2025/03/13/nx-s1-5304415/louisiana-reading

[xi] AI Mode – “On NAEP, how far below grade level is Below Basic?” (Bold mine)

“Below Basic on NAEP indicates a performance significantly below grade level, representing a lack of foundational skills and knowledge for a particular grade.

“Here's a breakdown:

NAEP Basic: Represents partial mastery of foundational skills, roughly equivalent to proficient on many state tests.
Below Basic: Students scoring below the Basic level demonstrate less than partial mastery and struggle with fundamental skills for their grade level.

“Example for clarity - For instance, a fourth-grader performing below NAEP Basic might struggle with identifying the main idea or purpose of a simple text, or sequencing events in a story.

In essence, Below Basic signifies a significant struggle with grade-level content and points to a need for targeted intervention to build foundational skills.”

Another View

Sunday, August 17, 2025

AV #290 - Reading/literacy: over 1/3 of Colorado 4th graders well below grade level in 2024

1. Chalkbeat Colorado provided a thorough treatment, “NAEP test results: Colorado’s scores are mostly stable, as gap between low and high performers widens.” By Yesenia Robles, Jan. 29, 2025. (Republished in The Denver Post.)

2. “Reading Scores Fall to New Low on NAEP, Fueled by Declines for Struggling Students,” by Sarah Schwartz, Education Week, Jan. 29, 2025.

[x] “Five years since COVID, Louisiana's readers are thriving. This is their secret,” by Jonacki Mehta, National Public Radio, March 13, 2025. https://www.npr.org/2025/03/13/nx-s1-5304415/louisiana-reading

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