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
Last week, the South Carolina Department of Education released the 2026 ELA and math results for students in grades 3-8 as part of the SC READY assessments.
We want to start with two caveats to the results below:
SC implemented new ELA cut scores last year (2025), and
SC implemented new math cut scores this year (2026).
This means that while we can look at general trends using prior years, we cannot directly compare 2026 math results to prior years. In the SC READY Score Report User’s Guide, the state writes that
“The new mathematics standards were implemented and assessed for the first time in 2026. Scale scores from the previous version of the assessment are not directly comparable.” (SC READY Score Report User’s Guide, p. 19)
And yet, the press release from the SC Department of Education does not acknowledge the new math baseline, instead writing only that:
“2025-26 marks South Carolina’s strongest year on record in mathematics.”
While it is important to celebrate student success, SEAs must also offer more transparency about changes in such assessments - and the fact that the definition of “proficiency” has changed. It is our hope that future communication from SC DOE about SC READY results will acknowledge the new baselines in both ELA (2025) and math (2026) when providing the full picture of student progress over time.
Our figures below include prior years of results, with these caveats in mind.
And now, onto the results!
ELA: About 61.3% of students reached proficiency in 2026, up from 59.6% in 2025. Notably, proficiency rose across each of Grades 3-8, with the largest gain in Grade 8 (from about 56% to 59%). About 18% of students scored at the lowest level in ELA.
Math: Approximately 47.9% of students reached proficiency in 2026, under the new mathematics cut scores. Grades 3-5 demonstrated the highest levels of proficiency. Overall, about 27% of students scored at the lowest level in math.
Results by Achievement Level
A Closer Look at 2026
State Assessment Background
Assessment Name: South Carolina College- and Career-Ready Assessments (SC READY)
Additional Information:
General information about the SC READY assessments can be found here: https://ed.sc.gov/tests/middle/sc-ready/
SC READY results are available from the South Carolina Department of Education here: https://ed.sc.gov/data/test-scores/state-assessments/sc-ready/
The state 2026 press release can be found here: https://ed.sc.gov/newsroom/news-releases/south-carolina-students-reach-new-heights-in-academic-achievement/
We updated the top districts for growth in Maryland, which you can find here —>
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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