Math, reading scores for high schoolers slide from pre-COVID levels
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Graduating high school seniors are less adept at reading and math than before the pandemic, according to a national education report released Tuesday.
Why it matters: The data is the latest evidence students are still struggling to recover from COVID-era learning loss and comes as the Trump administration wants to dismantle the Education Department.
- These are the first post-pandemic National Assessment of Educational Progress scores for each category. The exams were administered between January and March 2024.
- Declines in academic performance began before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Threat level: About 35% of twelfth graders were academically prepared for college reading in 2024, down from 37% in 2019.
- A similar share of students reported having a high level of confidence in their math knowledge and skills.
- In math, high school seniors were lower in 2024 than in 2005. And in reading, the score was lower in 2024 than 1992.
Behind the scenes: Student absenteeism among twelfth-grade students was higher in 2024 compared to 2019.
- 31% of twelfth graders reported missing three or more days of school in the month before taking the assessment in 2024, compared to 25% in 2019.
Zoom out: Average eighth grade science scores also fell in 2024 for the first time since the assessment started in 2009.
- The gap between the lowest- and highest-performing students was larger in 2024 than in any previous assessment.
What they're saying: "These results are sobering," Matthew Soldner, acting commissioner of the Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics, said in a statement.
- "The drop in overall scores coincides with significant declines in achievement among our lowest-performing students, continuing a downward trend that began even before the COVID-19 pandemic."
Go deeper: Melania on AI in education: "The robots are here"
