Colorado students will face a lighter standardized testing burden in coming years after state education officials announced a significant restructuring of annual assessments. The Colorado Department of Education is scaling back how long students spend on state assessments across multiple subjects, with changes set to begin in spring 2027.
The cuts span a wide range of grade levels. Younger students in grades three through eight will sit for fewer CMAS sessions overall, while those in grades five through eight face the steepest reductions — math and science exams for that group will drop from three sessions down to two. Per-subject testing time will shrink by roughly 23 percent relative to 2026, yet officials say no questions will be eliminated, no academic content will be dropped from coverage, and the information sent home to families will remain unchanged.
A recent state law set the process in motion. The redesign grew out of a study that Colorado lawmakers required through House Bill 25-1278, which directed officials to examine condensed assessment formats, computer-adaptive approaches, and ways to streamline how tests are administered. Education stakeholders who took part in that work told the department that fewer sessions would ease scheduling demands on schools and help ensure that achievement and growth results remain dependable.
Department leadership described the changes as grounded in real classroom experience. The agency's chief assessment officer, Christina Wirth-Hawkins, said in a news release, "By listening to educators and examining how students actually use their testing time, we've identified meaningful improvements that simplify test administration, prioritize classroom instruction and maintain the quality and usefulness of assessment results."
Placed in historical context, the latest round of cuts represents a dramatic long-term pullback. When the 2027 reductions are fully applied, total CMAS testing time will equal only about two-thirds of the time students spent on those exams back in 2015.
The announcement arrived alongside a broader picture of uneven academic results across Colorado. Earlier this year, the department revealed that just over 37 percent of CMAS test-takers reached the meets-or-exceeds threshold in math, while fewer than 45 percent did so in English. Denver Public Schools posted year-over-year gains in both subjects yet remained below statewide averages, with 42.5 percent of its students hitting the mark in English and only 32.9 percent doing so in math. Among larger districts, Boulder Valley, Jeffco Public Schools, Cherry Creek, Littleton, and Douglas County all performed above the statewide average. Meanwhile, two other urban systems — Adams 12 Five Star Schools and Aurora Public Schools — posted results below state averages in both English and math, as did Denver.
Whether the slimmed-down assessment format improves those outcomes, and how legislators respond once the first results arrive, will not be known until after the redesigned tests are administered in spring 2027.