Alabama students show significant gains in science proficiency; reading, math results mixed

Alabama students made significant improvements in science proficiency on this year’s Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program (ACAP) standardized test, while the picture was somewhat more mixed on reading and math scores.

According to data released by the Alabama State Department of Education on Tuesday, science proficiency went up for fourth, sixth and eighth graders tested this year. The percentage of fourth graders deemed proficient increased from 43% in 2025 to 51% this spring. For sixth graders, the percentages increased from 35% to 41%. Eighth graders saw proficiency go from 41% to 54%.

In order to be considered proficient, students must be in level 3 or level 4 by reaching a specific cut score on the ACAP. According to the State Department of Education, last year’s science cut score for fourth grade ranged from 519 to 574 for level 3 and 575 to 850 for level 4; the cut in sixth grade score ranged from 536 to 590 for level 3 and 591 to 910 for level 4 and the cut score in eighth grade ranged from 513 to 587 for level 3 and 588 to 800 for level 4.

Alabama State School Superintendent Eric Mackey said after a meeting of the Alabama State Board of Education on Tuesday that the increase in scores can be attributed to the new science standards passed by the board in 2023 and new textbooks adopted in 2024.

“I think that what it shows is our investment in science (and) STEM courses, we keep talking about these things, but what we’re seeing is our students are doing better and better in science,” he said. “When you look at the science test, it’s not just science facts, it’s about science reasoning and our students seem to be doing better and better at science reasoning.”

This year marks the first year that all schools were required to use the new science course of study. Prior to 2024, the state’s science textbooks were last updated in 2016.

On English Language Arts (ELA) and math testing, which covered students in grades 2 through 8, the picture was more mixed.

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Grades 2 and 8 saw the biggest increase in ELA proficiency. Among second-graders, the percentage of students considered proficient increased from 60% to nearly 64%. The number of eighth grade students showing proficiency also increased, from about 55% to 59%.

Proficiency was effectively unchanged for third graders, while fourth and seventh graders saw slight declines in proficiency.

In fourth grade, proficient students went from 61% last year to 60% this year while seventh grade dropped from 57% of students being proficient to 56%.

Math results were also mixed. In second grade, the percentage of proficient students increased from 46% in 2025 to 49% this spring. Sixth-grade proficiency went up by about a point (from 34 to 35%) while eighth-grade proficiency went up about two percentage points (25% to 27%). Other grades were effectively unchanged from 2025.

Mackey said during the meeting the increases made by the proficient students can be attributed to the RAISE Act, a program that aims to get more money to particular education populations, including children in poverty, rural students, English language learners and special education students.

In April, the Legislature approved a $10.5 billion Education Trust Fund budget that increased funding for gifted students from $1.67 million to $2.45 million.

“I think that just the focus of saying we’re going to really focus on our accelerated students to make sure they, you know, that they are being pushed is probably a good thing for those students and for schools overall,” he said.