The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) released its report card showing that American fourth-graders and eighth-graders have not recovered the knowledge they lost during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Overall, student achievement has not returned to pre-pandemic performance,” NCES Commissioner Peggy G. Carr said. “Where there are signs of recovery, they are mostly in math and largely driven by higher-performing students. Lower-performing students are struggling, especially in reading.”
The report card says reading comprehension scores have declined two points since 2022. It adds that 40 percent of fourth-graders and 33 percent of eighth-graders scored below the reading assessment of the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
According to NCES, “the 2024 reading assessment included literary and informational texts to assess students’ reading comprehension skills. Students also answered survey questions about their opportunities to learn and their engagement with reading in and outside of school.”
Reading achievement for American students has declined since 2019.
“The continued declines since the pandemic suggest we’re facing complex challenges that cannot be fully explained by the impact of COVID-19,” NCES Associate Commissioner Daniel McGrath said.
Most states and jurisdictions saw no significant change in average reading scores for fourth graders. Five states had declines in this category.
In eighth-grade, 44 states and jurisdictions saw no significant changes in reading scores since 2022, while eight saw declines.
For mathematics, the average scores have risen around 2 points since 2022.
However, the average scores remain lower in both grades compared to 2019’s results.
NCES says “the assessments measured students’ knowledge and skills in mathematics and their ability to solve problems in mathematical and real-world contexts. Students also answered survey questions about their opportunities to learn about and engage in mathematics inside and outside of school.”
Fifteen states and jurisdictions saw fourth-grade mathematics scores go up. Thirty-seven states and jurisdictions did not see a significant change since 2022.
At the eighth-grade level, 49 states and jurisdictions have not seen a significant change in math scores since 2022. Four states saw these numbers decrease.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network. Email tips to Zachery at zschmidt1717@gmail.com. Follow Zachery on Twitter @zacheryschmidt2.
