New Hampshire students posted another year of improvement in mathematics, with 44% meeting or exceeding the state standard in 2026, up from 42% a year earlier, according to the Department of Education’s statewide release. The result extends a gradual recovery from pandemic-era losses, but statewide reading and science results—and large differences among districts—show that the improvement remains incomplete.
The department reported 55% proficiency in reading and writing and 38% in science across the tested grades. It also highlighted gains within student cohorts: pupils moving from third to fourth grade improved from 49% to 52% in reading and writing, while those advancing from fourth to fifth grade rose from 53% to 58%. Families and educators can examine school- and district-level results through the state’s assessment data portal, which publishes the official results and supporting files.
A separate analysis by the Education Data Center, limited to the New Hampshire Statewide Assessment System in grades three through eight, found 46.0% of students proficient in math, compared with 44.1% in 2025. The difference from the state’s 44% headline figure reflects the analysis’s narrower grade range; the statewide figure also incorporates grade 11 SAT results. The group found that math performance held steady or improved in every elementary and middle-school grade and that fifth- and seventh-grade proficiency each increased by roughly three points. Even so, its review concluded that achievement has not fully returned to pre-pandemic levels.
District gaps remain the central challenge
Manchester’s results illustrate why statewide averages do not tell the full story. The district recorded proficiency rates of 31% in reading and writing, 20% in math and 17% in science, compared with statewide rates of 55%, 44% and 38%, respectively, according to Manchester Ink Link’s review of the released data. There were gains inside the district: third-grade reading and writing rose from 25% to 32%, and fifth-grade performance in the subject increased from 24% to 32%.
Other communities reported stronger multi-year momentum. In an official local summary, the Wakefield School District said its reading and writing and math proficiency rates each improved by nearly 14 points from 2024 through 2026. That kind of local change matters because the statewide tests are intended not only to compare performance but also to help districts identify where instruction and student support need to be adjusted.
Education Commissioner Caitlin Davis said the state should recognize the progress while continuing to press for further gains. The practical question for state and local leaders is whether the improvement in math can be sustained and extended to districts that remain far below the statewide average. The 2026 results provide evidence of movement, but they also leave New Hampshire with a persistent task: converting incremental statewide gains into broader, more consistent achievement across communities and subjects.
