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Learning disruptions during the pandemic have undone decades of academic progress for the nation’s 9-year-olds — with new federal data showing dizzying drops in their math and reading scores this year.
Results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress — dubbed “the nation’s report card” — show reading scores recorded their largest dip in 30 years, while those for math plummeted for the first time since the test began half a century ago.
“These results are sobering,” said Commissioner Peggy Carr at the National Center for Education Statistics, the research branch of the US Department of Education that administers the test.
“It’s clear that COVID-19 shocked American education and stunted the academic growth of this age group of children,” she added.
The test scores offer a first glimpse at student achievement after in-person school resumed nationwide, compared to before COVID-related school closures.
“These are some of the largest declines we have observed in a single assessment cycle in 50 years of the NAEP program,” said Daniel McGrath, the acting associate commissioner at NCES.
“Students in 2022 are performing at a level last seen two decades ago,” he said.
Average scores in reading for 2022 declined five points last school year, to 215 out of a possible 500, compared to 2020. Those in math dropped seven points, to 234, the data showed.
The lowest performers on the federal test saw average scores drop even more dramatically — by 10 and 12 points in reading and math, respectively.
