Minnesota school test scores are out. Here’s what the newest data show.

Minnesota test scores remained stagnant in 2024, with only about half of students meeting or beating grade-level standards in math and reading, new data show.

The state’s achievement gaps, among the widest in the country, persist as well, with only slight changes by race and ethnicity, according to the state Department of Education.

“We need all students to succeed and thrive in school,” state Education Commissioner Willie Jett said in a statement accompanying Thursday’s release of 2024 data for the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs), which he said will help guide his department’s efforts to support school communities.

A potential bright spot in the results: A drop in the percentage of students marked chronically absent from school in 2022-23, the latest year for which data is available.

Scores in reading and math dropped sharply after the COVID-19 pandemic, but the lack of progress in efforts to significantly boost proficiency or ease achievement gaps between white students and students of color was established well before the pandemic disrupted learning.

“We’re now seeing the new normal in Minnesota,” said Josh Crosson, executive director of the education advocacy group EdAllies, which works closely with underserved communities. He is confident, however, that the urgency to improve literacy rates will pay off.

But, he added: “I cannot say the same for math, unfortunately.”

Minnesota first saw a dramatic plunge in pandemic-era test scores in 2021, when 53% of students met state standards in reading, down about 6 percentage points from 2019, and 44% were considered proficient in math, an 11 percentage-point decline from the previous test.

This year, about half of students tested proficient in reading statewide and about 45% met or exceeded their grade-level standards in math — outcomes nearly identical to 2023. MDE notes, however, that about 7% of state students did not participate in the math tests, and 5% did not take the reading tests, including by opting out, and that the agency counts those students as being not proficient for accountability purposes.

“Having all students take the tests gives schools and districts the best picture of how their students are performing on the Minnesota academic standards,” MDE said.

Denise Specht, president of Education Minnesota, the statewide teachers union, said in a statement Thursday: “I’m encouraged by the fact that the department is being more transparent about the limitations of this data, especially as more parents are seeing that these tests are often not worth the time and anxiety of their children.”

Jett expressed hope Thursday — as he did a year ago — that student performance could be improved through the help of a statewide network designed to support struggling schools and by last year’s call by legislators for schools to adopt a back-to-basics approach to reading instruction.

This year, lawmakers allocated $31.4 million to pay teachers to dig into the reading programs, which place a greater emphasis on phonics. But they also extended a pair of training deadlines by a year.

“It’s going to be a long-term systemic change,” Jett told reporters about the potential payoff from reading investments. “It’s one of the things that we’re going to have to pay real attention to — give it some time to take root.”

In a statement Thursday, state Sen. Julia Coleman, R-Waconia, the lead Republican on the Senate Education Policy Committee, bemoaned the lack of progress in exam scores.

“These test results are a warning to every parent that our kids are not getting what they need in the classroom,” she said. “Despite record increases in funding and better attendance, testing scores are stuck.”

A student’s ability to read by third grade has long been seen as pivotal to long-term academic success, and statewide this year, the percentage of third-graders deemed proficient in reading dipped slightly to 46.5%.

In St. Paul, 29% of third-graders met or exceeded the state’s reading standards, down from 31% a year ago — despite the district’s use of federal pandemic funds to support struggling students through interventions grounded in the phonics-based “science of reading.”

But Jett and other state and local education officials say the statewide exam results are but one measure of student performance.

St. Paul also relies on a yearlong assessment system that determines growth through the year, and it has found that students who participate in the special reading program known as WINN show better progress through the year than those who do not, said Erica Wacker, a district spokeswoman.

“We are happy with the growth that WINN students have shown,” she said. “That’s the main reason we’ve chosen to continue with that program even though the [pandemic] funding has gone away.”

The district also reported Thursday that its math and reading scores held steady, with 34% of students proficient in reading and 26% proficient in math.

Black, Latino and American Indian students continue to lag their peers, with fewer than 1 in 3 meeting state reading benchmarks and fewer than 1 in 4 achieving the same goal in math.

The state has a system of identifying schools that require intense support for specific student groups, and the higher the engagement rate between school leaders and the support systems offered, the more progress is seen, Michael Diedrich, policy specialist for MDE, said Thursday.

Tony Taschner, spokesman for the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan school district, said the state’s focus on improving literacy and offering multiple levels of support to students makes him hopeful that scores will start to move in the coming year.

”It’s going to be a heavy lift, but there’s a lot of hope and optimism about where we’re headed,” he said.

The percentage of students consistently attending school was nearly 75% in 2022-23, an increase of roughly 5 percentage points from the year before, according to the data.

“We are proud of the work our educators have done to strengthen relationships to boost attendance and make sure students feel welcomed and supported,” Jett said.

The Legislature also created a work group to find ways to tackle absenteeism and truancy, with a final report due by Dec. 31. In addition, 12 districts have been asked to come up with “promising practices” to ensure students get to class. Minneapolis Public Schools is taking the lead in that effort.

Elsewhere, Fridley Public Schools has hired a new social worker to focus on chronic absenteeism, and Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan is launching a new campaign called “Every Day Matters.”

Anoka-Hennepin schools Superintendent Cory McIntyre said he appreciates the state’s interest in combating chronic absenteeism. The issue’s eased a bit in the state’s largest district, he said, but is still a challenge, and efforts are under way to identify which students are missing class and why.

McIntyre added that as consistent attendance rates rise across the district, the number of discipline referrals often drops, as do the rates of students failing classes.

”When those things are all lining up, it’s just a whole lot more positive situation,” he said.