U.S. Children Fall Further Behind in Reading, Make Little Improvement in Math on National Exam
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Loading... - Eva Reilly
- 29 Jan 2025
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Recent results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), often referred to as the nation’s report card, reveal that American children have continued to struggle with reading skills in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, while showing minimal improvement in math. The findings underscore the ongoing challenges faced by U.S. schools, including pandemic-related disruptions, a youth mental health crisis, and high rates of chronic absenteeism.
The latest exam, administered in early 2024 to fourth- and eighth-grade students across the country, indicates a troubling trend: while the highest-performing students have begun to recover some of the ground lost during the pandemic, lower-performing students are falling further behind. “The news is not good,” stated Peggy Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, which oversees the assessment. “We are not seeing the progress we need to regain the ground our students lost during the pandemic.”
Among the few positive developments was a slight increase in fourth-grade math scores, which rose by 2 points on a scale of 500. However, this score remains 3 points lower than the pre-pandemic average from 2019. Notably, some states, including Washington, D.C., saw significant improvements, with a 10-point increase in average scores.
In contrast, the average math score for eighth-grade students remained unchanged from 2022, and reading scores fell by 2 points at both grade levels. Alarmingly, one-third of eighth-grade students scored below the “basic” level in reading, marking a historic low for the assessment. Students categorized as below basic often lack fundamental skills, such as making simple inferences about a character's motivation in a story.
The divide between higher- and lower-performing students has widened, with the top 10% of students seeing a 3-point increase in scores, while the lowest 10% experienced a 6-point decrease in eighth-grade math. Lesley Muldoon, executive director of the National Assessment Governing Board, expressed deep concern for low-performing students, emphasizing the need for urgent attention and effective interventions.
These latest results follow a significant decline in student achievement observed in 2022, where scores dropped across both subjects and grade levels. The current cohort of students has been particularly affected by the pandemic, with fourth graders having been in kindergarten when COVID-19 hit in 2020, and eighth graders in fourth grade.
While the pandemic's impact on education has been profound, Carr noted that the poor results can no longer be attributed solely to COVID-19. She highlighted the complex challenges facing the education system, including a decline in students reading for enjoyment, which correlates with lower reading scores, and the persistent issue of chronic absenteeism.
“The data are clear,” Carr stated. “Students who don't come to school are not improving.” This finding adds to the ongoing debate about the effects of pandemic school closures, with some studies suggesting that longer closures resulted in greater academic setbacks. However, Carr indicated that the new results do not show a direct link between closure duration and performance.
Interestingly, states like Florida and Arizona, which were among the first to return to in-person learning, saw declines in reading scores. Conversely, larger urban school systems that experienced longer closures, such as Los Angeles and New York City, made notable gains in fourth-grade math, attributed to federal pandemic relief funding that supported academic recovery efforts.
Republican lawmakers quickly pointed fingers at Democrats and the Biden administration for the declines in student performance. Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., criticized the education bureaucracy for focusing on “woke policies” rather than prioritizing student learning.
Despite the challenges, there are glimmers of hope. Carr noted improvements in states like Louisiana, where fourth-grade reading scores have returned to pre-pandemic levels, and Alabama, which achieved similar success in fourth-grade math. “I would not say that hope is lost, and I would not say that we cannot turn this around,” Carr concluded, emphasizing that effective strategies have already demonstrated the potential for recovery in student achievement.
