Student test scores drop to historic lows in math and reading, revealing educational challenges.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) if frequently referred to as the nation’s report card. It’s a series of tests of US students which are consistent over several decades and allow for a comparison of how students are doing across time. The latest results out today show new lows in both math and reading.
Scores for 12th-graders in math and reading continued their years-long slide, reaching new lows on national tests, new data released Tuesday shows.
The declines were underway before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, which broadly disrupted education, and scores have continued to fall. Policymakers had hoped there would be signs of recovery by 2024, when these tests were administered. Instead, the results were the latest indication of the pervasive challenges facing American schools and students.
Average scores fell to their lowest levels since the current versions of these tests were first administered in both math and reading, as did scores for the lowest-performing students.
The scores are broken into three categories: proficient, basic and below basic. The number of students scoring below basic has increased.
The test scores show more students are not reaching what would be considered “basic” achievement across subject areas, said Lesley Muldoon, executive director of the National Assessment Governing Board. While NAEP’s definition of “proficient” is a high bar, Muldoon said, it is not an unreasonable one, and it is based on what researchers believe students should be able to achieve by the end of high school.
In reading, the average score in 2024 was the lowest score in the history of the assessment, which began in 1992. Thirty-two percent of high school seniors scored below “basic,” meaning they were not able to find details in a text to help them understand its meaning.
In math, the average score in 2024 was the lowest since 2005, when the assessment framework changed significantly. On the test, 45% of high school seniors scored below “basic” achievement, the highest percentage since 2005. Only 33% of high school seniors were considered academically prepared for college-level math courses, a decline from 37% in 2019.
