The California Department of Education has released assessment results that show continued progress made by K–12 students in California, including further movement to close equity gaps for socioeconomically disadvantaged students, Black/African American students, and Hispanic/Latino students.

Overall, the percentages of California students meeting or exceeding standard in English language arts, mathematics, and science showed modest increases at a higher rate than the year prior, suggesting growing momentum.

For example:

ELA: A 1.8 percentage point increase for students scoring Proficient or Advanced (about four times larger than last year’s gains).

Math: A 1.8 percentage point increase for students at Proficient or Advanced (twice as large as last year’s gains).

Science: A 2.0 percentage point increase for students Proficient or Advanced (four times larger than last year’s gains).

In total, the proportions of students clearly meeting grade-level expectations (scoring at levels 2, 3, or 4) also grew to 70.6 percent in ELA, 61 percent in mathematics, and 86 percent in science, meaning the proportion of students scoring at the “minimal” level on the test­ — not yet demonstrating a consistent mastery of grade-level knowledge and skills — decreased on each of the tests to 29.4 percent in ELA, 39 percent in math, and 14.1 percent in science.

The assessment results include data for the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress and the English Language Proficiency Assessments for California.

Other data points of interest in the 2025 California assessment results include that Black or African American students and Hispanic or Latino students made higher-than-average improvements in ELA, math, and science.

While the results are encouraging, state leaders emphasize that there is greater work to be done, particularly to accelerate growth for socioeconomically disadvantaged students. A significant percentage of California families continue to face socioeconomic challenges. Socioeconomically disadvantaged students showed modest gains in all three subjects.

“California’s significant education investments like Universal Transitional Kindergarten, reading coaches, professional development, and community schools have boosted student proficiency in many areas,” said State Superintendent Tony Thurmond, in a news release. “Some growth is modest and some is profound, but in all cases the data reflects the impact of these investments and the hard work of educators to help students succeed. We aspire to achieve even greater student outcomes.”