Preliminary results from Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) tests taken during the 2025-26 school year show students made gains in English language arts, math, science and government, according to information presented Tuesday to the State Board of Education.
The MAP tests measure how well students are meeting Missouri Learning Standards. Students in grades 3-8 take English language arts and math assessments annually, while science is tested at the elementary, middle and high school levels. Government is assessed in high school.
Speaking to the board in Jefferson City, DESE Director of Assessment Sean Bates said students continued to make progress statewide.
“We saw overall increases in all four content areas,” Bates said. “Another great year for our students in math. We are showing improvement. It was our first assessment or our first content area when we came out of COVID that was actually showing improvement.”
Among the areas showing growth, sixth-grade math proficiency increased nearly three percentage points to 48.9%.
Bates also highlighted gains in several high school end-of-course assessments.
“For ELA specifically, all the grades really showed improvement except for five and six,” Bates said. “Biology and American government showed improvement. That’s been our two kind of EOC, our end-of-course assessments in high school that have struggled.”
According to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, English II proficiency increased more than five percentage points to 58.4%, while biology proficiency rose more than three percentage points to 40.6%. Eighth-grade science proficiency increased more than four percentage points to 43.9%.
“We’re seeing steady progress, thanks to the hard work of students, educators and families,” Interim Commissioner of Education Stacey Preis said in a statement. “There’s more to do, but these results show upward momentum in classrooms across the state.”
The results presented Tuesday are preliminary. DESE said final results will be made available through district and statewide assessment reports after verification and publication later this fall.
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