2026 State Test Score Results Data Series
The 2026 State Test Score Results Data Series is published by the Education Data Center and is designed to provide updates on 2026 state assessment data.
What to expect: Our goal is to provide high-level insights on ELA and math state summative assessment outcomes for students in grades 3-8. We will publish overviews as State Education Agencies (SEAs) publicly release assessment results and/or as we receive aggregate results via public records requests.
For additional information about each state assessment, please see the end of this post. All available 2026 assessment data used for this data series will be published by the EDC in December.
Questions, comments, or suggestions? Let us know at info@eddatacenter.org!
Trends Over Time
In mid-August, the Idaho State Department of Education (SDE) released the 2026 results from the Idaho Standards Achievement Test (ISAT). This is the state’s version of the Smarter Balanced assessment, given to Grades 3-8 and 11; we report on only Grades 3-8 here. Our figures here are based on results from a public records request to SDE, as well as district-level results from the Idaho Report Card.
Compared to 2025, Idaho students had small but measurable gains in 2026 in both ELA (+0.6 percentage points) and math (+0.7pp). In the state press release, SDE’s Superintendent Debbie Critchfield noted: “We’ve seen the hard work our educators and students are putting in — from strong classroom instruction and programs like Math Badging and Science Coaches, to tutoring, collaboration and professional development.”
ELA: Approximately 52.8% of students in grades 3-8 reached proficiency on the ISAT, up slightly from 52.2% in 2025. Most grades held steady or gained about a point - Grade 5 (+1.3pp) and Grade 7 (+1.1pp) saw the most growth. The majority of regular public school districts saw ELA gains this year (64%, or 46 of 72 districts). The state’s largest district, West Ada, dropped slightly, from 68.2% to 67.7%. Firth School District gained about 11.7pp this year in ELA, while Troy leads the state in ELA performance.
Math: Approximately 44.7% of students in grades 3-8 reached proficiency in 2026, up from 44.0% in 2025. Similar to ELA, most grades held about even: Grade 4 had a small dip (-0.4pp), with Grade 6 leading in growth (+1.8pp), from 40.7% to 42.5%. The majority of regular public school districts also saw gains in math this year (60%, or 41 of 68 districts). We see a widening gender gap in math: in 2016, boys outperformed girls by about 1.7pp; after the pandemic, the gap has begun to grow, and now stands at a gap of 5.2pp in 2026 (47.2% to 42%). West Ada saw little change in math in 2026, while Cottonwood Joint District led the state in math performance. Aberdeen gained 7.9pp in math in 2026.
Only 2 school districts improved in every grade level in ELA between 2025 and 2026 (among districts with fully reported results in both years):
Bonneville Joint School District #93 (>6,100 students tested) - led by gains in Grades 5 and 7
Firth School District (>340 students tested) - led by gains in Grades 8, 3, and 4
Only 2 school districts improved in every grade level in math between 2025 and 2026 (among districts with fully reported results in both years):
Nampa School District (>5,700 students tested) - led by gains in Grades 6 and 8
Sugar-Salem School District (>900 students tested) - led by gains in Grades 3 and 5
A quick note about 2023. Idaho has used the same version of the state assessment over the course of the past decade, with one note: in 2023, the state administered the full-length version of the test, while 2021, 2022, and 2024 onward used a shortened “adjusted” version. The test length did not affect the cut scores, and the state considers this year to be comparable to other years of the assessment. Scores did drop in 2023, and so we offer this as a consideration even though the definition of proficiency (the “cut scores”) did not change that year (see the Idaho SDE 2023-24 Technical Report).
Results by Achievement Level
A Closer Look at 2026
State Assessment Background
Assessment Name: Idaho Standards Achievement Test (ISAT), Idaho’s version of the Smarter Balanced assessment, 2015-2026
Additional Information:
General ISAT assessment resources can be found here: https://www.sde.idaho.gov/about-us/departments/assessment-accountability/idaho-standards-achievement-test-isat/
ISAT results are available here from the State Report Card: https://www.idahoreportcard.org/datafiles. The EDC used these results in conjunction with results received via a public records request.
The state’s 2026 press release can be found here: https://www.sde.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/08-19-2026-Idaho-Students-Show-Strong-Progress-in-Early-Literacy.pdf.
Data presented here are specific to this state’s assessment and are not comparable to assessments administered by other states. For questions, please reach out to info@eddatacenter.org.
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