A quarter of New Haven third though eighth grade students have been assessed to be proficient in English Language Arts and science, while less than a fifth of students are proficient in math. Those rates, which school administrators described as “steady progress,” show a small improvement f rom years past. Supt. Madeline Negrón and Asst. Supt. Keisha Redd-Hannans presented those 2025-26 school year data points for New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) during Oct. 13’s Board of Education meeting at King Robinson School. English and math scores were measured by the Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA). English Language Arts (ELA) proficiency scoring rates improved from 23.8 percent of students during the 2024-25 school year to 25 percent of students during the 2025-26 school year. Math rates increased from 17.3 percent to 17.8 percent. Science rates, measured by Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), had the largest comparative increase, from 23.5 percent to 26.6 percent. Those achievement scores are from NGSS and the latest state standardized Smarter Balance Assessment, which is taken by all third through eighth graders annually. “I’m always asking the question, are we growing? And so you can see here that we’re growing,” Redd-Hannans said. Since 2021-22, science and math scores have gradually increased, while ELA saw a decline in 2022-23 and a slight increase every year after. (Redd-Hannans reminded the Board of Education that the school district implemented a new reading curriculum in 2023.) In the grade level breakdown, Redd-Hannans reported that 20.4 percent of third graders, 19.7 percent of fourth graders, 24.2 percent of fifth graders, 25.5 percent of sixth graders, 27.3 percent of seventh graders, and 31.5 percent of eighth graders were determined proficient in ELA. For the Smarter Balance math assessment, the district saw some grade-level declines in proficiency when comparing school years 2024-25 and 2025-26. Fourth grade had the biggest decline from 20 percent proficiency to 18.3 percent last year. As a result, Redd-Hannans said one of the major adjustments already made by the district was bringing on a second math supervisor. At a recent September meeting, the school board approved splitting the math department’s supervisor role, so that one person no longer oversees all K-12 mathematics. That one staffer was math supervisor Monica Joyner. Now NHPS has Joyner supervising grades K-6 and Christina Madancy supervising 7-12. The two roles, Redd-Hannans said, will help the math department bring “targeted focus to math instruction and support for our teachers and our students.” Negrón thanked school district staff for their work, which she said resulted in the “steady progress,” and she noted that “despite the underfunding, despite the infrastructure challenges, that our students continue to grow academically.” Redd-Hannans also presented the district’s growth target data, which measures individual students’ ability to reach their personalized end-of-year goals to get closer to meeting grade level standards. In 2025-26, students’ ELA growth target achievement rates increased slightly from 31.6 percent in 2024-25 to 33.1 percent. For math, the number of students meeting their growth targets declined from 34.4 percent to 32.3 percent. Redd-Hannas presented comparative data between New Haven students who met their growth targets and other public school districts throughout the state. At the state level in 2025-26, 39.1 percent of students met their ELA targets and 42.3 percent of students met their math targets. Board members Abie Benitez and Edward Joyner cautioned against using those comparisons too frequently because of the stark differences in funding, infrastructure, and opportunities in other districts relative to NHPS. Board of Education Vice President Matt Wilcox requested comparative data be shared in the future between New Haven and similar public school districts, like that of Hartford and Bridgeport. Board member Andrea Downer requested an in-depth presentation in the near future on high school student performance. Redd-Hannans said she believes the school district is “creating the conditions for growth” by viewing data through an “equity lens,” integrating systems of support that look at students’ behavioral and academic needs jointly, and having administrators walk through buildings with principals and assistant superintendents to collect data and provide learning support. Benitez responded by stating that the school district’s walk-throughs were helpful for her as a former NHPS administrator, as well as for the teachers she worked with. “We’re not sitting in just 54 [Meadow Street],” Redd-Hannans said. “We’re going out into the schools. We’re providing feedback to teachers, we’re providing feedback to principals, departments, supervisors, right there.” View the full presentation and recording of last week’s meeting that includes the Board of Education’s full discussion below. NHPS2026FinalStateAssessmentReportv2.pptxDownload The post 25% Of Middle Schoolers Proficient In ELA, Science; 18% In Math appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less