RPS Math Proficiency Reaches Six-Year High

Richfield Public Schools students continued to make gains in Math on the 2026 Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCA), reaching the district's highest Math proficiency rate in six years at a time when proficiency declined statewide.

The Minnesota Department of Education released results from the 2025-26 statewide assessments on Sept. 30. In Richfield, 32.4% of students demonstrated proficiency in Math, up from 30.6% last year. Statewide, Math proficiency decreased slightly from 45.2% to 44.9%.

The results continue a longer-term trend of Math growth in Richfield. Since 2021, RPS Math proficiency has increased from 26.5% to 32.4%, an increase of nearly six percentage points. During that same period, the difference between RPS and statewide Math proficiency has narrowed from 17.7 percentage points to 12.5 percentage points.

The results come after an extraordinarily challenging 2025-26 school year for the Richfield community. Operation Metro Surge deeply affected many RPS students, families and staff, disrupting daily life and creating uncertainty that extended well beyond the school day. Our schools adapted throughout that time to try to keep all students connected to their teachers, classmates and learning.

Our community knows how difficult that period was, and many families continue to feel its impacts. Against that backdrop, we are especially proud of what students and staff accomplished together throughout the school year.

New Reading Assessment Establishes a Baseline

Prior to the transition to the new Reading MCA-IV, Richfield students had demonstrated three consecutive years of growth in Reading proficiency, increasing from 34.9% in 2022 to 37.5% in 2025.

In spring 2026, Minnesota introduced the Reading MCA-IV, a new assessment aligned with the state's revised English language arts standards. On the new assessment, 39.2% of RPS students demonstrated proficiency, compared with 48.6% statewide.

Because both the standards and assessment changed, the 2026 results cannot be compared with previous Reading MCA results. Instead, this year's results establish a new baseline that RPS can use to measure progress in the years ahead.

Building on Progress Through Richfield Rising

The 2026 results provide reasons to celebrate, particularly the continued gains in Math, while also showing where there is more work ahead to improve academic outcomes for Richfield students.

That work is at the heart of Richfield Rising, the district's 2026-32 strategic plan. Improving academic outcomes for every student is a central focus for the next six years, with an emphasis on using data to understand what is working, identifying where students need additional support and continually evaluating progress.

MCA results provide one measure of student learning. District and school teams will use these results alongside classroom assessments and other evidence of student learning to guide instructional priorities and support continued improvement.

The 2025-26 school year challenged Richfield students, families and staff in extraordinary ways. We are proud of what students accomplished and grateful to the staff and families who supported them. These results are not an endpoint, but they provide a starting point for the work ahead: building on areas of progress, responding to areas of need and continuing to raise academic outcomes for all Richfield students.