The math and reading test scores for 13-year-olds fell dramatically during the coronavirus pandemic and there are no ‘green shoots’ of recovery yet, the nation’s educational watchdog has warned.
Average math scores for 13-year-olds fell nine points from the 2019-2020 academic year to the 2022-23 year, according to the Nation’s Report Card, from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
Average reading scores fell four points over the same period, during which the pandemic wrought havoc on the nation’s education system, shuttering classrooms and forcing children to study online.
Peggy Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), warned that test scores had not picked up ‘more than two years after most students returned’ to classrooms after the pandemic.
Average math and reading scores plummeted during the pandemic, according to the Nation’s Report Card, from the National Assessment of Educational Progress
Average math scores for 13-year-olds fell nine points from the 2019-2020 academic year to the 2022-23 year. Pictured: Students sitting a math test
‘The green shoots of academic recovery that we had hoped to see have not materialized,’ Carr said in a statement.
Parents and others took to social media to express alarm about the falling results, many blaming Covid-19 lockdowns, but others saying schools were more focused on ‘social issues’ than ‘teaching the three Rs.’
Average reading scores for 13-year-olds are at their lowest point since 2004 — and in mathematics since 1990.
No ‘green shoots,’ warns education tsar Peggy Carr
But for the worst-performing students, math scores are thrown back to 1978, while reading has dropped to levels not seen since before 1971, the first year these data were collected.
Scores fell among all racial and ethnic groups, and among both boys and girls, and across cities, suburbs and rural areas.
Native American, black, and kids from poor families fared especially badly at math.
Fewer students said they frequently read for fun nowadays, compared to a decade ago.
Carr said this was a problem because reading for leisure is ‘strongly associated with higher achievement.
‘Many of our young people will never discover latent passions or areas of interest without reading broadly on their own time,’ she added.
The latest NAEP results mark the federal government’s last big release of data on pandemic learning loss.
They show that schools, teachers, and students have a mountain to climb just to get back to pre-pandemic levels.
The scores are particularly troubling because the ages of 10-13 are a key period for mastering basic skills that students will need to progress at school and have successful careers.
Students were forced to work at home on laptops in their kitchens in the pandemic
‘The bottom line — these results show that there are troubling gaps in the basic skills of these students,’ said Carr.
‘This is a huge-scale challenge that faces the nation.’
The latest numbers echo previous findings that testing scores plummeted during the pandemic.
Test results earlier this year showed that US history scores had fallen among middle schoolers, while the reading and math scores of elementary school students also tanked.
‘The educational opportunities we give today’s students are crucial for their individual and collective success,’ said Lesley Muldoon, executive director of the National Assessment Governing Board.
‘Leaders from federal, state, and community levels must act with urgency and prepare students to pursue their educational, career and life goals.’
Beth Gaskill, founder of an education company, Big City Readers, says teachers have been trained poorly.
Children are taught to ‘memorize lists of words’ when they should instead ‘sound words out,’ Gaskill said.
