California Students Lagging in Reading and Math, New Test Scores Reveal

A majority of California students continue to struggle with basic reading and math skills, according to the latest standardized test scores released Thursday. The results from the 2025-2026 academic year indicate that only 49.3% of students met or exceeded English language arts standards, while 38.4% achieved proficiency in mathematics. These figures represent modest increases of 0.5 and 1.1 percentage points, respectively, from the previous year.

Despite these slight improvements, the current performance levels remain below pre-pandemic benchmarks. In the 2018-2019 school year, prior to widespread learning disruptions, 50.9% of students met English language arts standards and 39.7% were proficient in math.

Experts noted the slow pace of improvement and emphasized the need for greater urgency in addressing the learning gaps. "The state needs much more urgency to improve outcomes for California kids," said Morgan Polikoff, professor of education at the USC Rossier School of Education. "Recent reforms, like the state’s new science of reading law, should help—but the state has to get serious about implementation and accountability if it wants to drive better student learning statewide."

The data also highlighted persistent achievement gaps for students from low-income households. In the 2025-2026 school year, 61.1% of socioeconomically disadvantaged students did not meet English language arts standards, and 72.6% fell short in math. The disparity between these students and their peers remained approximately 30 percentage points in both subjects.

Challenges were also evident for English language learners. While 133,000 of these students, representing 15.4% of those tested, demonstrated English proficiency and are now eligible for reclassification, their overall test performance reflects ongoing academic hurdles. Notably, former English learners who had been reclassified performed better on standardized tests than native English speakers, with 60.9% meeting English language arts standards compared to 53.5% of native speakers.