Today Marks the Last Week of 2026 MAP testing in Districts Across the State
By : Abigail Medler
Today marks the last week of 2026 MAP testing in districts across the state. You can read more about MAP testing here and view the full results from 2025 here.
Average scale scores in Mathematics took a more significant hit than ELA scores over the course of the pandemic (2020–2021), although in 2021, both subjects hit a low across all grades. From 2018 to 2025, less than half of students in grades three through eight were proficient in Math. While there is certainly more work that must be done to improve proficiency rates, notable gains were revealed by the latest test scores. From 2021 to 2025, math test scores increased in every single grade that took the test (grades 3 to 8). This is significant because every single grade experienced a decline in math test scores from 2019 to 2021. Also encouraging,all middle school grades (6th, 7th and 8th) have seen overall increases relative to pre-pandemic levels.
The second figure shows the percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced on the MAP math test by grade. The elementary grades’—3rd, 4th, and 5th—scores are down from 2018, but have remained steady since 2024. All middle school grades, however, are up two percentage points from last year. In fact, all grades had math proficiency rates that increased or remained steady from 2024 to 2025.
Average Math MAP Performance in 2025 Mostly Surpassed or Sustained 2024 Scores
Math MAP Scale Scores by Grade (3–8), 2018–2025
Math Proficiency Increased in Middle School and Remained Steady in Elementary Grades
Percentage of Students Scoring Proficient or Advanced on Math MAP by Grade (3–8), 2018–2025
Note: Although 8th Grade proficiency rates appear significantly lower than grades three through seven, this difference is due to some 8th graders’ participation in Algebra I. Many of these eighth graders take the Algebra I End of Course (EOC) examination rather than the math MAP test, and their scores are thus not included in this data. Since students who take Algebra I in middle school are expected to have better mastery over math concepts, the proficiency rates reflect the exclusion of those students’ data. DESE only provides the proficiency rate for all 8th-graders (whether or not they take the Algebra I EOC) in their preliminary results, not in the actual data releases.
Published May 2026
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Average scale scores in Mathematics took a more significant hit than ELA scores over the course of the pandemic (2020–2021), although in 2021, both subjects hit a low across all grades.