Colorado's 2026 CMAS results show math proficiency rising while reading proficiency dropped in half of tested grades.

Colorado students posted modest gains in math on this year's statewide standardized tests, but reading and writing scores slipped in half of the grades tested, according to results the Colorado Department of Education released this week.

The Colorado Measures of Academic Success, known as CMAS, are given each spring to students in third through eighth grade in language arts and math. Fifth, eighth and 11th graders also take a science exam, and this year the state added social studies tests for the first time, given to fourth and seventh graders.

Statewide, the share of students meeting or exceeding grade-level expectations in language arts increased in fourth and fifth grade, stayed essentially flat in third grade, and fell in the middle school grades. Proficiency rates ranged from a low of 40.8% in third grade to a high of 49.9% in fifth grade. In math, proficiency held steady or rose across every tested grade, with increases in fourth and eighth grade large enough for the department to call them statistically significant, meaning a change of at least 1.5 percentage points. Even so, math proficiency remained lower overall than reading, ranging from 32.7% in sixth grade to 41.5% in third grade.

On the new social studies exams, 25.6% of fourth graders and 36.6% of seventh graders met expectations. Science scores dropped among fifth graders, while declines among eighth and 11th graders were too small to count as significant under the state's threshold.

High schoolers also took versions of the PSAT and SAT. Tenth graders improved slightly in both math and language arts on the PSAT, ninth graders gained in math while holding steady in language arts, and a smaller share of 11th graders met the reading and writing standard on the SAT compared with last year. Christina Wirth-Hawkins, chief assessment officer at the Colorado Department of Education, said high schoolers were more likely than younger students to meet expectations on their exams, largely because the PSAT and SAT rely on multiple-choice questions while CMAS requires students to write out answers.

Wirth-Hawkins pointed to the fourth and fifth grade language arts gains as evidence that state efforts to identify and support struggling readers earlier are having some effect. Today's fifth graders are meeting or exceeding grade-level expectations at a notably higher rate than they did in third grade, she said, which she attributed partly to literacy screening and instruction pushed into kindergarten through second grade before students ever sit for a state test.

Colorado Education Commissioner Susana Córdova said the results point to areas that need work but urged against reading too much doom into the numbers. Fewer than half of students statewide met or exceeded expectations in language arts, but Córdova noted that roughly another quarter of students fell into the "approached expectations" category, meaning they can read at grade level but may struggle with more complex texts or produce less polished written answers. "We have very rigorous state standards," she said.

The pattern echoes last year's results, when students also showed more growth in math than in reading and writing, and what gains did appear in language arts were concentrated in middle school rather than among younger students, according to Chalkbeat's reporting on the state's preliminary 2025 test data.

Wirth-Hawkins said the gaps between ethnic groups and between students from low-income households and their wealthier peers remained similar to prior years statewide, a pattern she said suggests students who start further behind aren't getting the support needed to close the gap.

Not every district followed the statewide trend. Mapleton Public Schools, a district serving parts of north Denver and Adams County, increased proficiency in both language arts and math this year, bucking the broader slide in reading scores. At Welby Community School in the Mapleton district, fifth-grade teacher Sara Thorp has built math instruction around hands-on skill-building this year. Mapleton district officials cited her approach as an example of the classroom-level changes behind the district's results.

The Colorado Department of Education plans to break down results further by district and school in the coming weeks. Parents and administrators in the Denver area will then be able to compare their own schools with the statewide averages released this week. Districts across the metro area are expected to review the full data set as they finalize instructional plans for the school year that starts this month.