High school seniors score record lows in reading and math on the NAEP test.
In all three exams, students scored on average lower than on the most recent exam in 2019. Reading scores were about 10 points lower than when the exam was first administered in 1992. Declines were bigger among students who were lower performers, causing achievement gaps to grow. One silver lining: Scores at charter schools mostly didn’t fall.
Only about a third of high school seniors are prepared for college in either reading or math, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Colleges are adding introductory courses to teach what students should have learned in high school. Even Harvard teaches basic algebra.
The latest NAEP report tracks with the fourth- and eighth-grade reading scores released in January, which showed test scores have continued to decline since 2022. While schools nationwide have received hundreds of billions of dollars from the feds and states to address pandemic learning loss, a record number of eighth-graders can’t read.
High school seniors tested last year entered high school in 2020 and no doubt were harmed by school shutdowns. But reading and math scores have been sliding since 2013. One problem is the lowering of academic standards for students. Harvard’s Tom Kane tells us one culprit is “reduced accountability.”
