GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KJCT) – Colorado students are placing high on math and reading scores, but their performance isn’t as strong as it was before the pandemic.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress is managed by the U.S Department of Education. The NAEP gives tests to fourth and eighth grade students at state and national levels.
The ‘nation’s report card’ showed that Colorado’s fourth and eighth grade reading scores have been stable since 2022. However, the scores are below pre-pandemic levels. According to the Colorado Department of Education, “Colorado continues to outperform the national public average, with a higher percentage of students meeting or exceeding the NAEP Basic and Proficient levels in reading for both grades.”
The report found that fourth grade math performance scores have returned to pre-pandemic levels. The fourth graders matched the national average.
The eighth-grade math scores are below the states average from 2019, but the Colorado students outperformed their peers with higher averages scores compared to the national public average.
“Colorado students and teachers have worked hard, and we’re proud our students are outperforming the national average,” Colorado Education Commissioner Susana Córdova said. “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.”
The Colorado Department of Education also released the state-level results from spring 2024 administrations of the Colorado Measures of Academic Success. Some of the key findings were:
Every grade except eighth had a higher percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations on CMAS math compared to 2023 and growth on CMAS shows sustained improvement in all grade levels compared to pre-pandemic.Students in third through sixth grade performed better in CMAS math or were comparable to the percentages that met or exceeded expectations in the pre-pandemic year of 2019.The overall state median growth percentile (MGP) is close to pre-pandemic levels for both elementary and middle school CMAS English language arts (49th percentile) and higher for math (53rd percentile).Students in third, sixth, seventh and eighth grades had a slightly higher percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations on CMAS English language arts compared to 2023; students in third and sixth grades performed better than 2019.Fourth-grade students showed the largest decrease in CMAS English language arts with declines of 1.8% from 2023 and 6% from 2019.Students in every grade met or exceeded expectations in CMAS science compared to 2023 with students in fifth grade improving by 4 percentage points.
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