ECCS bucks statewide academic progress trend from pre-pandemic scores

Each year, students take the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) to measure performance on Minnesota’s Academic Standards. These standards are determined via legislation and are not a measure of literacy in reading, math, or science. ECCS tracks student literacy through the FastBridge assessment process. The MCA is administered in grades 3-8 and 10 in reading, 3-8 and 11 in math, and 5, 8, and once in high school for science. The MCA science test scores will be released later this fall for the new test reflecting updated state standards.

Minnesota scores have remained stable over the past four years in both math and reading. In contrast, in ECCS, math scores have continued to climb since 2021 by ten percentage points, now at 62% proficient and have exceeded 2019 scores. In fact, ECCS’s improvement in math is in the top five districts in the state, and the other four districts are considerably smaller. In reading, ECCS has also seen stability with 62% of students across the district scoring in the proficient range in 2025. Focusing on reading at 3rd grade, both statewide and ECCS scores held steady for another year at 46% proficiency in the state of Minnesota and 57% proficiency in ECCS. While there is work to be done, ECCS has been highlighted nationally through the Education Recovery Scorecard as a bright spot for its post-pandemic recovery in student academic growth.

School Board Chair Sean Olsen had this to say: “Over the last few years, ECCS has reworked its mathematics curriculum and teaching strategies, and these changes are paying off with impressive results. In reading, we continue implementing the “science of reading” based curriculum and while MCA results are stable, we are seeing encouraging trends in our FastBridge data for younger learners. None of this would be possible without the hard work of our staff and the support from families to provide environments where our kids can thrive.”

ECCS was one of two districts highlighted by the Minnesota Reformer for the academic progress our students have made coming out of the pandemic. 

Read the entire article: https://minnesotareformer.com/2025/09/26/most-minnesota-school-districts-havent-recovered-test-scores-after-the-pandemic