The national test considered the gold standard of whether schoolchildren are gaining or slipping has delivered alarming news: Kids are backsliding in both math and reading. Thirteen-year-olds assessed in the fall of 2022 scored about the same in reading as those who took the test in 1971, when it was first administered. Math scores were at levels not seen since 1992.
Pile this atop now incontrovertible evidence that COVID was a seismic event that shook the foundations of teaching and learning for young people from coast to coast, as millions struggled to learn remotely and social and psychological problems mounted.
The score slide is more than just a number. It means far fewer of our youngest teenagers can multiply two-digit numbers by three-digit numbers or identify a character’s feelings in a short reading passage. Scores fell for kids at all percentiles — but especially for those already at the bottom. They fell for girls and boys. They fell for white, Black and Latino kids alike.
