Missouri MAP Results: 2024 Edition
By Courtney Vahle, Ed.D.
Last week, we published an update of the Missouri MAP scores brief to reflect the most recent release of data for the 2023—24 school year. Scores on the Missouri MAP test were effectively flat from 2023 to 2024. Math scores have mostly returned to pre-pandemic levels. ELA scores have yet to recover, especially at the early grades, which remain at 2021 levels. This reflects a larger trend of declining early literacy rates, which have been on the decline since 2012.
In 2024, the MAP scores for mathematics in 4th–8th grades either surpassed or maintained the levels seen in 2023. Notably, average 4th grade and middle school math scores have fully recovered from the pandemic-era lows, though 3rd and 5th grade scores remain, on average, five scale score points lower than in 2018. Across all grades, math proficiency rates increased or held steady from 2023 to 2024, although they still remain below 50% in every grade, a trend that has persisted since 2018.
In contrast, English Language Arts (ELA) scale scores have largely remained unchanged from 2023 to 2024, continuing to be three to eight points lower than pre-pandemic levels. This mirrors a broader national trend indicating a decline in early literacy that started around 2012. While grades 4 and 7 saw slight improvements in ELA proficiency rates from 2023 to 2024, fewer than 50% of students in any grade achieved proficiency or advanced scores, with 38% of 5th and 6th graders scoring proficient or advanced.
In addition, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has begun reporting Direct Certification (DC) data alongside information on the percentage of students receiving Free or Reduced-Price Lunch (FRL), providing more accurate insights into the influence of socioeconomic status on student performance. The data reveals that students eligible for Direct Certification are proficient at about half the rate of their non-eligible peers across all grades and content areas. While the socioeconomic proficiency gap has remained stable, showing neither significant widening nor narrowing, studies consistently show that socioeconomic status is a major predictor of school performance. The disparity in performance between FRL-ineligible and DC-ineligible students further highlights that this issue is not solely individual, but also reflects broader school-wide resource disparities.