English Scores Jump with Full Implementation of Literacy Act; Math and Science Mixed Results

Alabama student performance in English Language Arts improved significantly in 2024, with the largest spike coming in third grade as the Alabama Literacy Act came into full effect. That’s according to a PARCA analysis of results of the Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program (ACAP), the state’s suite of standardized tests for students in grades 3-8. ELA performance improved at every grade level.

The percentage of third graders who scored proficient on the ELA test climbed from 53% in 2023 to 62% in 2024, an increase in the ELA proficiency rate for third graders of 9 percentage points. It’s unusual for performance to jump that much from one year to the next. Multiple factors likely contributed: the new requirement that students pass the third-grade reading test to be promoted to fourth, the compounding effect of the statewide, multi-year effort to improve early grades reading instruction, and the greater distance in time since Covid-19 disruptions to schooling.

Figure 2. ACAP Proficiency by year, by grade by subject

Math and Science

The percentage of students scoring proficient in math was up in every grade but third, but the gains were more incremental. In third grade, 42.2% of students scored proficient in 2024 compared to 43.6% in 2023. Meanwhile, fourth and fifth graders both posted three percentage point increases in proficiency compared to the fourth and fifth graders of 2023. The state’s roll out of its math improvement plan is at an earlier stage than the literacy plan. The Alabama Numeracy Act, which passed the Legislature in 2022, mimicked many of the approaches employed by the Alabama Literacy Act, including deploying coaches to elementary schools to help classroom teachers improve early-grades math instruction. Those interventions, backed by increased investments, are ramping up.

In science, the percentage of fourth graders scoring proficient climbed from 41% to nearly 44.5%, but the percentage of eighth graders scoring proficient in science declined from 41.1% of eighth graders in 2023 to 38.7% proficient in 2024.

Subgroup Performance

Proficiency was up across all student subpopulations, with economically disadvantaged students posting the highest percentage point increases. Across all subjects and grades, economically disadvantaged students’ proficiency increased by six percentage points. Black student proficiency climbed by 3.4 percentage points, a bigger percentage gain than White students. White student proficiency increased by 2.1 percentage points. Hispanic proficiency increased by one percentage point.

Still, the gaps between Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics remain wide, with White grade-level proficiency rates in the range of 20 percentage points higher in ELA and Math. Meanwhile, Asian students achieve proficiency rates that are 15 percentage points or more higher than Whites.

Figure 3. ACAP Proficiency by subgroup, by year. Use menus to focus on subject or grade.

Why would ELA scores have jumped?

According to State Department officials, no changes were made to the grading or contents of the third-grade ELA tests that would have influenced the proficiency gains. The State Department of Education did approve a change to the score threshold for reading “sufficiency,” which serves as the bar a third-grade student has to clear to demonstrate readiness to move to the fourth grade. However, that change did not affect the definition of proficiency in English Language Arts.

One obvious explanation for the rise is that this year’s third-grade ACAP ELA test really mattered. A subset of questions on the third-grade test constituted a test of grade-level reading sufficiency. If third graders didn’t score above the sufficiency line, they were in danger of being required to repeat the third grade.

Even though the Alabama Literacy Act was passed in 2019, that retention provision was suspended in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. But as of this spring, teachers, parents, and students knew that the students had to clear the bar. Even though that sufficiency threshold was lower than the proficiency bar, the higher stakes likely increased attention and effort on the third-grade ELA test as a whole.

Another factor could be that this year’s third graders had less disruption to learning from the Covid-19 pandemic. Students taking the test in 2024 missed the end of Pre-K and had a disrupted kindergarten year due to Covid. However, grades 1-3, which are focused on learning to read, were normal.

Finally, and fundamentally, the rise in third-grade ELA scores and ELA scores across the board indicates that the state’s investment in reading instruction is paying off. The passage of the Literacy Act brought with it a renewed investment in early grades reading instruction. Funding for the Alabama Reading Initiative has more than doubled to over $100 million annually. That spending supported:

  • Thousands of teachers trained or retrained in reading instruction grounded in the “science of reading.
  • Every school with grades K-3 having a dedicated reading coach, focused exclusively on grades K-3, working with teachers to improve reading instruction.
  • A corps of state-trained reading specialists deployed to support teachers and coaches, particularly in struggling schools.
  • Schools identifying struggling readers as early as Kindergarten, informing parents, and developing reading intervention plans to bring the child to reading sufficiency.
  • Struggling students screened for learning challenges and receiving the support of specialists.

A Growing Percentage of Students Reaching The Top Performance Level

Some observers worried that the shift in emphasis to the science of reading approach, which includes an emphasis on phonics, might help students who were having problems learning to read, but it might slow progress for students who picked up reading skills more readily. However, ACAP results show strong growth in the percentage of third-grade students who are exceeding grade level proficiency, scoring at Level 4 (the portion of the bar chart below that is shaded dark green.) Up to 20% of third-grade students are now in that highest performance level compared to 12% that fell into that group in 2021.

The portion of the bar in light green, Level 2, indicates the percentage of students meeting grade-level expectations, which has grown from 39% to 42%.

The group that has shrunk the most is those approaching grade level but scoring below the threshold: 40% of 3rd graders fell into that category in 2021, but only 27% did in 2024.

However, the percentage of students well below grade level has remained stubbornly low at around 10 percent. 2024’s scores represent progress from 2023, when 14% of students fell into Level 1. However, looking back to 2021 and 2022 scores, the percentage of students in that lowest level has remained consistent.

Figure 4. Percentage of Students at Each Level of Performance on ACAP. Students scoring at Level 3 or 4 are considered on or above grade level.

Scores Considered in Context

Performance comparisons between school systems and schools can provide significant insight. Learning from high-performing districts can help spur the spread of best practices. However, when making comparisons, it is important to consider performance in the context of the demographics of the schools and systems.

Economically disadvantaged students tend, on average, to score lower than students from more affluent homes. The greater the share of economically disadvantaged students at a school or in a system, the greater the resources and efforts needed to help all students reach high percentage levels of proficiency.

Figure 5 places school systems on a scatterplot graph based on two characteristics: systems with the highest percentage of poverty are positioned to the left with diminishing levels of economic disadvantage as you move right. The vertical axis represents the percentage of students scoring proficient or above—the higher the percentage of proficient students, the higher the position of the system on the chart.

The line in the middle is the line of prediction: the level of proficiency a system would be expected to achieve based on its level of economic disadvantage. Systems that land above the line are exceeding expectations. The chart allows comparisons of performance among systems that are similar in terms of economic makeup. The size of the circle representing the system corresponds to the overall enrollment of the system. The graph is selected to display a mashup of proficiency levels for all students, all grades, and all subjects. Using the menus on the right, a user can refine selections to look at selected systems, characteristics, grade levels and subjects.

Figure 5. Proficiency in the Context of Poverty, 2024

Using the tabs at the top of the visualization and the various menus available, users can explore the latest ACAP data from a variety of perspectives, from school level to grade level, by subject and grade. On the bottom right of the visualization is an option that allows the user to display the visualization in full-screen format. The visualization below is a school-level scatterplot graph depicting performance in the context of poverty. Like the results at the system level, the chart indicates that proficiency levels increase as the level of economic disadvantage decreases. However, the correlation is not as strong among schools, demonstrating that individual schools and teachers make a difference in outcomes, regardless of the economic background of the children in the classroom.