Math and reading test scores for elementary students fell dramatically during the first two years of the pandemic, newly-released national standardized testing data shows.
Thursday’s release of the National Assessment of Educational Progress — a standardized test offered annually to students across the country for the past five decades — offers the most comprehensive look yet at the educational impact of the pandemic and subsequent shift to remote learning.
“These are some of the largest declines we have observed in a single assessment cycle in 50 years of the NAEP program,” said Daniel McGrath, the acting associate commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, the organization that gives the exam. “Students in 2022 are performing at a level last seen two decades ago.”
The data released Thursday offers only a snapshot, showing national results for nine-year-olds, but not including test results for eight-graders or breaking the numbers down by state or district. The test was not held in 2021, so the 2022 results are the first since the start of the pandemic.
In math, average scores fell by seven points from 2020 to 2022, with the largest drops coming among the lowest-scoring kids, and larger declines for Black and Hispanic students than white kids.
The drop marks the first time math scores have dipped since the tests were given in 1973.
Reading scores, meanwhile, fell by five points on average since 2020, with the gap growing wider between the highest and lowest-scoring kids. The declines in reading scores were relatively even across racial groups, however.
The pandemic dip represents the biggest drop in reading scores since 1990.
A more complete version of the results, which includes scores from eighth-graders and results broken down by city and state, will come out in October.
Peggy Carr, the commissioner for the National Center for Education Statistics, said the academic outcomes are one piece of a broader challenge for schools still reeling from the impacts of the pandemic.
“School shootings, violence, and classroom disruptions are up, as are teacher and staff vacancies, absenteeism, cyberbullying, and students’ use of mental health services,” she said. “This information provides some important context for the results we’re seeing from the long-term trend assessment.”
