A new country’s transcript shows a drop in science, mathematics and reading scores

Today, math and reading assessments are given to a large sample of students in grades 4 and 8 every two years. Grade 12 students receive it every four years. NAEP also manages voluntary assessments in other subjects outside Congress authorized.

How to test scores

Compared with the highest-achieving students in 2019, the reading scores of 12-grade students except the highest-achieving students fell, and this was the last time they were tested. Compared to NAEP’s first 12th grade reading assessment in 1992, the average score today is 10 points lower.

“Our lowest performers scored were historical lows – continuing to decline more than a decade ago,” IES Acting Director Matthew Soldner told reporters. “My ex warned the trend, and her ex warned the trend. Now, I warned you about this trend.”

The 2024 assessment tests students’ reading comprehension skills and surveys their opportunities to learn and learn and interact with off-campus reading and interaction.

The math scores in the twelfth grade were the same as the reading score, 3 points lower than in 2005, and this was the first time that the math test was managed.

“These results should enable us all to take coordinated, focused actions to accelerate student learning,” Soldner said.

Among eighth graders, the average science score dropped by 4 points compared to 2019. For students with low performance, all students’ grades have declined.

In addition to measuring students’ academic achievement, NAEP also investigates students’ comfort levels in certain subjects and their attendance. In these surveys, eighth graders in eighth grade showed high confidence in scientific skills compared to eighth graders in 2019.

A month before the assessment was conducted in 2024, nearly one-third of 12-grade students had three days or more time than in 2019.

How changes in the education sector affect student assessments

Legally, the federal government has no power over the knowledge taught in schools. So while Tuesday’s release measures President Biden’s student achievement, experts avoid linking NAEP scores to any particular administration.

“The federal government is uniquely positioned in these test scores to be a scoreboard for American education to tell us what is going on and who for whom.”[That] It does not mean that it has the ability to solve these problems. This is a job for the United States. ”

But behind the scenes, the Federation changed have A senior official at the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which runs NAEP, said it had an impact on how national reporting cards are managed.

The official told reporters anonymous, confirming that only two senior staff were left in the U.S. education department layoffs, assigned to NAEP, and said NCES relied on additional support from colleagues in other departments to release the new release.

NCES confirmed that in order to meet the 2026 and 2028 congressional testing requirements, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon has approved an exemption to add at least eight employee positions by the end of the year.

Marty West is a member of the Massachusetts Board of Basic and Secondary Education and is vice chairman of the National Assessment Board (NAGB), which develops NAEP policies. He said he was confident in the department’s ability to reach the NAEP deadline: “For example, preparations for the tests to be conducted in early 2026, for example, actually started five years ago and reached the distance by spring 2025.”

There will be fewer deadlines. This spring, NAGB cuts about a dozen program assessments – fourth-grade science, U.S. history of 12th grade and writing across fourth-grade, eighth-grade and 12th grade – planned to be managed over the next seven years.

“In terms of the history of the plan, this is not anomaly,” West said of the restructuring assessment timeline. “We feel [it] This is an important step, so we can allow our colleagues to focus on the tests we consider most important. ”This includes tests for mathematics and reading.

NAGB is an independent non-partisan organization composed of state and local representatives.