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.”
