American Kids' Latest Reading Scores Are Dismal

Educators hoping for a test-score turnaround as the pandemic moves further into the rearview got some bad news: The results from 2024's National Assessment of Educational Progress are in, and they "tell a grim tale," per the New York Times. The percentage of fourth- and eighth-graders with "below basic" reading skills hit the highest levels seen in decades, at 40% and 33%, respectively. "Our lowest performing students are reading at historically low levels," said Peggy Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, which administers the NAEP exam. "We need to stay focused in order to right this ship." What it means to be a below-basic reader, per the AP:

• "Students are considered below basic if they are missing fundamental skills. For example, eighth grade students who scored below basic in reading were typically unable to make a simple inference about a character's motivation after reading a short story, and some were unable to identify that the word 'industrious' means 'to be hard working.'"

The exam, which the Times describes as "more challenging than many state-level standardized tests" is given every two years to a sample of America's children, with fourth- and eighth-grade students in every state tested on math and reading. Reading scores overall fell two points on average for both groups, reports Education Week. There was scant progress in math: The average score for fourth-graders inched up two points on a scale of 500; that puts them three points below where they were pre-pandemic. The average score for eighth-graders didn't budge from 2022's number.

The AP calls the growing divide between higher- and lower-performing students "especially alarming." The disparity was worst in eighth-grade math, where the top 10% of students saw their scores increase by three points while the lowest 10% saw scores decrease by 6 points. But there were bright spots, among them Louisiana, where both higher- and lower-performing students saw their reading scores improve over pre-pandemic levels. The state has focused on the science of reading, a research-backed approach that emphasizes phonics; a growing number of states have been adopting the approach as well. (More National Assessment of Education Progress stories.)