On Board Online • September 1, 2025
By Paul Heiser
Senior Research Analyst
The percentage of students in grades 3 through 8 who scored at the "proficient" level or above on state English language arts (ELA) assessments increased by seven points between the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years, according to a press release issued on Aug. 11 by the State Education Department (SED).
Improvement was seen in every grade except eighth, where proficiency was flat at 52%.
The biggest improvement came in fifth grade; 57% of that group scored at the proficient level or better in 2025, compared with 44% in 2024. The proportion of third graders who scored proficient or better in 2025 also increased by double-digits, from 43% to 54%.
Scores in math and science also jumped.
"This year's results are directly comparable to last year's, and the level of knowledge and skill required for each performance level are the same across years," according to SED Public Information Officer Rachel Connors. She noted that the number of questions that must be answered correctly for a student to be deemed proficient is adjusted with each test.
"The difficulty of each test's questions is taken into consideration," Connors said in an email. "No test is harder or easier to pass from year to year . The same scale score always represents the same level of achievement of the state Learning Standards."
The best explanation is educational progress, according to SED. "The improvement in scores provides evidence of an increasing alignment of instruction to the learning standards, a credit to teachers, school leaders and districts, as all curriculum decisions are made at the local level in New York State," Connors wrote.
The data are considered preliminary until they undergo local district review and verification, which will end on Sept. 3, 2025.
SED also reported good news on the percentages of students scoring proficient or better on the fifth- and eighth-grade state science exams. The percentage of students in both grades combined who scored proficient or better rose from 35% to 44% from 2024 to 2025. In grade five, the percentage scoring proficient or better increased from 35% go 45%, and in grade eight the percentage scoring proficient or better went from 34% to 44%.
Although not as impressive as the gains in ELA and science, there was overall improvement in the grades 3-8 state math assessments. In 2025, 55% of all students in grades 3-8 scored at the proficient or better level, compared with 52% the previous year. Improvements in the percentages of students scoring proficient on those exams were seen in grades three, four, five and eight.
The only dip was seen amongst seventh graders, in which 56% scored proficient or better in 2025 compared with 57% in 2024. There were identical percentages of students scoring proficient or better in grade 6 between 2024 and 2025.
These annual assessments, given each spring, are required under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act and are designed to measure how well students are mastering New York State learning standards.
The scores of students taking the state's assessments fall into one of four categories (Levels 1-4). Students who score at Level 3 ("proficient") demonstrate that they have the "knowledge, skills, and practices embodied by the Learning Standards that are considered sufficient for the expectations at this grade," according to SED. Students who perform at Level 4 "demonstrate knowledge, skills, and practices embodied by the Learning Standards that are considered more than sufficient for the expectations at this grade."