06/23/2026
Test scores are not everything, but they are not nothing either.
This ranking is based on raw 2024 NAEP scores, which is one of the cleaner ways to compare states because NAEP is a national assessment. It is not using each state’s own test, because those are not always comparable. Different states set different standards, different cut scores, and different definitions of “proficient.”
For this map, the ranking uses a simple composite of four NAEP categories:
4th grade reading
4th grade math
8th grade reading
8th grade math
No demographic adjustment. No poverty adjustment. No cost-of-living adjustment. No “this state is outperforming expectations” formula.
Just raw average scale scores from the Nation’s Report Card.
That matters because there are really two different questions people often mix together.
One question is: Which states have the highest raw academic scores?
Another question is: Which states are doing the most with the students and challenges they have?
Both are fair questions. But they are not the same question.
This map is answering the first one.
And the results are interesting because they do not always line up neatly with the way people talk about education. Some states people expect near the top are there. Some states people argue about constantly land much closer to the middle. And some places that get praised or criticized politically may not fit the simple narrative at all.
That is why data like this is useful.
Not because it settles every debate.
But because it gives the debate a better starting point than slogans, assumptions, and whatever everyone’s favorite politician said last week.
