Montana: 2025 Assessment Results
New MAST assessment results in 2025
2025 State Test Score Results Data Series
Welcome! This newsletter is published by the Education Data Center and is designed to provide updates on 2025 state assessment data. We’re sharing high-level insights on ELA and math state summative assessment outcomes for students in grades 3-8. You can expect to find the following for each state:
Overall ELA and math achievement trends;
ELA and math results disaggregated by achievement level;
Maps of ELA and math results by district or county in 2025;
Top-performing school districts in ELA and math in 2025; and
ELA and math results by race/ethnicity in 2025.
Update! You can now find all available 2025 assessment data on the EDC’s website here. You can also try using Zelma, EDC’s AI assistant, to ask questions about the data for your state of interest.
This is our last week of state updates in 2025! Stay tuned for our Vermont and Utah updates in early 2026.
Trends Over Time
In November, the Montana Office of Public Instruction (OPI) released results from the state’s new summative assessment launched in 2025, the Montana Aligned to Standards Through-Year Assessment (MAST). The state describes the through-year design as follows:
“Instead of a single end-of-year test, students take shorter assessments called ‘testlets’ throughout the school year. Math testlets are scheduled at the school level to align each assessment to content recently taught in the classroom, making MAST more connected to day-to-day learning.”
Following the 2024-25 administration of the MAST “testlets”, OPI collected feedback from a variety of stakeholders. In results shared with the Montana Board of Education, the majority of students (70%) preferred the smaller tests distributed throughout the year rather than a single summative test at the end, while the majority of teachers (81.1%) thought that the MAST “has resulted in more testing, often in addition to district interim assessments.”
Overall, in 2025:
ELA: Approximately 43.1% of students in grades 3-8 reached proficiency on the new assessment.
Math: Approximately 36.8% of students in grades 3-8 reached proficiency.
Figure 1. ELA and Math Achievement Trends
Figure 2. Montana Results by Achievement Level
A Closer Look at 2025
Figure 3. 2025 ELA Proficiency by County
Figure 4. 2025 Math Proficiency by County
Montana County Spotlight
Figure 5. Top-Performing Counties in 2025 in ELA and Math
Montana Results by Race/Ethnicity in 2025
Figure 6. Proficiency by Race/Ethnicity in 2025 in ELA and Math
Montana State Assessment Background
Please see below for additional information on the state assessment data used for this summary. The data represent ELA and math outcomes for students in Grades 3-8 only.
Assessment Name: MAST (2025); Smarter Balanced (2016-2024)
Years Included in Analysis: 2016 - 2025
Additional Information: More information on the 2025 MAST assessment can be found here: https://opi.mt.gov/Leadership/Assessment-Accountability/MontCAS/Required-Assessments/Montana-Aligned-to-Standards-Through-Year-FAQ.
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.