Tennessee: 2026 Assessment Results
Continued gains in ELA & math
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.
You asked, we listened! To help shape our 2026 series, we reviewed the feedback you shared with us via the EDC 2026 Feedback Form - you said even more disaggregation by subgroup and grade level would be useful, and some more information about school districts demonstrating growth compared to last year. In this 2026 series, we hope that the additional detail will be useful - and please continue to send input via the Feedback Form or our email below.
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, Tennessee released the Spring 2026 TCAP results for students in grades 3-8, the second state to publish 2026 assessment results. However, we expect to see more TN results released in the coming months, as only state- and district-level are available at this time (no school-level data yet), and not all subgroup data are available yet (in particular, results by gender, disability status, and EL status are not yet posted).
In Tennessee, overall 2026 proficiency rates for students in grades 3–8 demonstrate gains in both ELA and math compared to 2025. Proficiency rates in both subjects continue to surpass pre-pandemic levels.
ELA: Approximately 40.6% of students reached proficiency in 2026, rising above 38.9% in 2025. This included gains in overall proficiency in all grade levels except for Grade 4, which had a slight change from 47.7% to 47.4%. Grade 3 demonstrated the greatest growth, rising from 41.7% to 44.9% proficient from 2025, a change of 3.2 percentage points.
Math: Approximately 43% of students reached proficiency in 2026, above 42.2% in 2025. Unlike ELA, Grade 4 experienced the greatest gains in math compared to 2025, with overall achievement rising from 45.8% to 49.4% (a change of 3.6 percentage points); this was followed by gains of 2.3 percentage points by Grade 8.
The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) reports that investments “in strong student supports, such as early literacy training, summer learning camps, and high-dosage tutoring, along with ongoing professional learning opportunities for educators” have contributed to gains in student learning, alongside the 2021 Tennessee Literacy Success Act and the Tennessee Learning Loss Remediation and Student Acceleration Act.
Results by Achievement Level
A Closer Look at 2026
State Assessment Background
Assessment Name: TNReady assessment, as part of the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP)
Additional Information:
More information about the TCAP assessment can be found here: https://www.tn.gov/education/districts/lea-operations/assessment/tnready.html
TCAP data are available to download via TDOE’s Data Downloads page here (in the State Assessments section under the Assessment Files tab): https://www.tn.gov/education/districts/federal-programs-and-oversight/data/data-downloads.html
The TDOE press release for 2026 results can be found here: https://www.tn.gov/education/news/2026/6/24/state-assessment-results-show-sustained-momentum-in-achievement-for-students-statewide-.html
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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