Japan releases national academic assessment results

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology released the results of the 2026 National Assessment of Academic Ability, conducted among 6th-grade elementary and 3rd-grade junior high students. While average correct answer rates and score distributions showed no significant regional disparities across all subjects, certain trends emerged regarding socioeconomic status (SES) and digital literacy.

Tokyo and Ishikawa Prefecture were among the top-performing regions in both elementary and junior high levels. In Fukui Prefecture, students maintained high rankings, placing 3rd nationally in junior high mathematics and 4th in both 6th-grade Japanese and 3rd-grade Japanese. Fukui's junior high English scores also exceeded the national average.

The report highlighted a correlation between socioeconomic background—measured by the number of books in a household—and academic performance, with lower SES students generally scoring lower. However, prefectures such as Akita, Ishikawa, Fukui, Oita, and Tokyo showed a lower proportion of students in the lowest performance tier (the ‘D layer’) even within low-SES groups. These regions also reported higher levels of student confidence in using ICT, prompting the Ministry to emphasize the effective use of tablets and computers in schools.