This fall's reading scores, explained for K–2 families

October 22, 2026Last checked October 22, 2026By The DecodiVerse Team
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This year's state reading scores rose in some places and fell in others. Most cover third grade and up; US federal law requires state reading tests starting in third grade.

For a younger child, the result that applies is more often the school's own reading screener, a short check many schools give more than once a year. Ask what it showed.

What came out this summer and fall

Between June and September, several states released results from their 2026 state tests. Each of these states uses its own test and sets its own cut scores (the minimum score a child needs to reach a level such as proficient). So a percentage from one state can't be set beside another state's.

  • Indiana, third grade (IREAD). 88.7% of third graders passed in 2026. Chalkbeat Indiana and WFYI both report that this is above the state's pre-pandemic level.
  • Tennessee, third grade (TCAP English language arts). The third-grade proficiency rate rose 3.2 percentage points from 2025, the state's highest third-grade result since at least 2017, the Tennessee Department of Education said on June 24.
  • Massachusetts, grades 3 to 8 combined (MCAS English language arts). 40% of students met or exceeded expectations in 2026, down 2 percentage points from 2025, the state said on September 22.
  • New York, grades 3 to 8 (state English language arts tests). Preliminary results released in August showed reading scores falling after a large rise the year before, according to Chalkbeat New York and the Post-Journal.
  • New Jersey, grades 3 to 9. These were the first results from a new adaptive test, one that adjusts the difficulty of its questions to a child's answers. The State Board of Education approved new cut scores before the results went out, NJ Spotlight News reported.

Two national data sets come from companies' own analyses of their own tests: NWEA, a testing company, and Amplify, an assessment and curriculum provider.

  • NWEA (MAP Growth, kindergarten to grade 8). According to NWEA's own data, reading scores rose between spring 2025 and spring 2026, but remain below pre-pandemic levels in most grades. Education Week described the rise as slight. K-12 Dive reported that NWEA called the gains sizable.
  • Amplify (its mCLASS DIBELS tests, kindergarten to grade 2). According to Amplify's own data, from about 350,000 K–2 students in 1,800 schools in 43 states, 66% were on track to learn to read at the end of 2025–26, compared with 68% a year earlier. Amplify says it is the first year without improvement since 2020–21.

Where these numbers apply, and why K–2 children rarely have one

US federal law (20 U.S.C. 6311) requires state tests in reading or language arts in each of grades 3 through 8 and at least once in grades 9 through 12. States may test earlier. Indiana now gives IREAD to second graders, and WFYI reports that the state's third-grade figure includes children who passed as second graders.

Every number above is for one test, one grade band and one school year. A label like proficient means whatever that state's cut score says it means, so the same word can describe different scores in different states.

Why a score can move for reasons other than learning

  • A new test, or new cut scores. An official at New Jersey's education department called its 2026 results “a new starting point, rather than a direct continuation of previous years’ data” (Lisa Haberl, via NJ Spotlight News, September 14).
  • Large swings, and a call for an audit. After New York's scores rose and then fell, EdTrust-New York, an advocacy group, called for an independent audit of the last three years of state testing data. A state education department spokesperson said the state's two independent audits each year had not flagged any problems, Chalkbeat New York reported.
  • Who is counted, and when. New York's August figures were preliminary; districts check them, and final data is expected in early November, the Post-Journal reported. Indiana's third-grade rate counts second graders who already passed.

As Chalkbeat New York noted, test scores alone can't prove whether a policy is working, because many factors affect them.

Who's affected, and when families see results

Families of children in third grade and up get individual reports, sometimes months after testing. Tennessee said individual results would be in its TCAP Family Portal from July. Massachusetts families could see preliminary MCAS results in a new MCAS Family Portal before the statewide release. New Jersey children tested in April and May; results were due to reach districts on September 18, and parents may wait a few more weeks for copies, NJ Spotlight News reported.

Families of K–2 children usually won't see a state score at all. What they may see this fall is a screener result.

What's next:

  • Early November: New York's final state test data, the Post-Journal reported.
  • The middle of the school year: the next screener, in schools that screen more than once a year. Colorado's state guidance, for example, describes screening at least three times a year through third grade.
  • Early 2027: the next main NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) reading and math results, which include state data, the National Assessment Governing Board said in June.

What a fall screener tells you, and what to ask

A universal screener is a brief check given to every child, not only those a teacher is worried about. Colorado's guidance describes it as a way to judge a child's risk for reading difficulties and whether extra help is needed. A screener flags risk. It doesn't diagnose anything; Colorado's guidance treats a diagnostic evaluation as a separate, more comprehensive step.

State results can take months: New Jersey's April and May tests reached districts on September 18. A fall screener comes near the start of the year and looks at specific early skills. For kindergarten, Colorado's guidance lists skills such as phonological awareness (hearing and working with the sound parts of spoken words, from syllables and rhymes down to single sounds, such as hearing /s/ /ă/ /t/ and saying sat, all by ear, with no letters), letter-naming fluency (how quickly and accurately a child names letters) and letter-sound knowledge.

Questions to ask the teacher:

  1. Which skills did the screener check, and what did my child's result show?
  2. If the result suggests extra help, what will it be, how often, and when will you check again?
  3. Which phonics patterns (letters and letter groups, such as sh or ee, and the sounds they stand for) has the class been taught so far?

A screener result on its own isn't a diagnosis. If you're worried about a possible learning disability, ask about an evaluation: ask the school in writing; rules vary, so check your state.

For more, see what reading screeners measure and what the labels mean and what the reading level on a report card means.

What changes for teachers

  • New baselines. New Jersey schools start from first-year results on a new test and cut scores.
  • Earlier testing. Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner credited the state's IREAD gains partly to giving IREAD in second grade, which she said helps teachers catch struggling readers sooner (WFYI).
  • New curriculum rules. In the state's results release, Massachusetts Education Secretary Steve Zrike highlighted recent legislation that requires districts to use evidence-based early literacy curricula, as part of the state's focus on early literacy.

Beyond the US, and where to find your own system's results

England. Children aged 5 to 6 (Year 1) take the phonics screening check, reading real and made-up words aloud to a teacher. The threshold mark to meet the expected standard was 31 in 2026, down from 32; the Department for Education says this is the first change to the expected standard since the check was introduced in 2012. The Standards and Testing Agency says that because the words must change each year, the check's difficulty, and so the mark needed to meet the expected standard, may vary slightly. A child who doesn't meet it retakes the check in Year 2 (ages 6 to 7). Headteachers must give parents their child's score by the end of the summer term. The Department for Education doesn't publish school-level results.

The Department for Education's 2026 national figures, published 8 October, show 82% of pupils met the expected standard in Year 1, up from 80% in 2025, and 89% by the end of Year 2, unchanged from 2025. They include children absent for the check.

Australia. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) released the 2026 NAPLAN national results on 5 August. It said results were broadly stable, with no reportable change in national average scores from 2025 or from 2023. It also said average reading scores in Years 5, 7 and 9 were lower than in 2025, and that slightly more students have needed additional support in reading and writing since 2023.

Find your own:

If it helps to see what a story built from early phonics patterns looks like, you can read a sample story.

Disclosure: DecodiVerse makes decodable storybooks with the help of AI.

How we report: our news standards.

Sources

Last checked: 2026-10-08

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