American students' reading skills drop to record lows
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U.S. students had record-low reading comprehension scores last year in a learning loss trend exacerbated by the pandemic, according to a national education report released Wednesday.
Why it matters: Students across age groups demonstrated continued declines in reading comprehension, despite efforts to reverse the slip. Gaps between high- and low-achieving students have also widened.
- The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), often called the Nation's Report Card, is administered under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Education.
What they're saying: "Not only did most students not recover from pandemic-related learning loss, but those students who were the most behind and needed the most support have fallen even further behind," the U.S. Department of Education said in a statement.
By the numbers: The average reading score for both fourth and eighth graders in 2024 was two points lower than in 2022 and five points lower than 2019.
- In math, fourth graders performed two points higher than 2022 and three points lower than 2019. Eighth graders didn't show a significant difference from 2022 to 2024 results, but they dropped eight points between 2019 and 2024.
- The percentage of eighth graders with reading comprehension scores below the "basic" metric was the largest in the assessment's history. This level measures fundamental knowledge for the grade level.
- The percentage of fourth graders who didn't meet this mark was the largest in 20 years.
State of play: Declines in student performance date back about a decade, but student performance worsened during the nearly two years of remote learning and other COVID disruptions.
- Bipartisan lawmakers across the country have prioritized closing reading gaps over the past several years, including 37 states that passed laws or enacted policies changing how reading is taught.
- Daniel McGrath, associate commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, said in a news release: "NAEP has reported declines in reading achievement consistently since 2019, and the continued declines since the pandemic suggest we're facing complex challenges that cannot be fully explained by the impact of COVID-19."
Threat level: The results show widening gaps since 2022 between higher- and lower-performing eighth graders.
- "Higher performers regained ground lost and their lower-performing peers continued to decline or show no notable progress," the National Center for Education Statistics said in a news release.
The other side: Fourth graders have shown a slight improvement in math, with the average score increasing about two points since 2022. Eighth graders didn't demonstrate significant improvement, and neither grade level exceeded 2019 average scores.
- Student absenteeism declined from 2022 to 2024 but has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. Strong school attendance is critical to an entire classroom's success, experts have said.
Zoom in: Only Louisiana has a fourth grade reading score higher than the pre-pandemic level, and only Alabama demonstrated the same for math.
- At the eighth grade level, scores are either lower or not measurably different across the country.
Go deeper: Study: Parents are in the dark on schools' post-COVID performance
