{"id":149093,"date":"2023-06-21T13:52:18","date_gmt":"2023-06-21T17:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/districtadministration.com\/?p=149093"},"modified":"2023-06-21T13:52:18","modified_gmt":"2023-06-21T17:52:18","slug":"math-scores-historic-decline-reading-nations-report-card-naep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/districtadministration.com\/math-scores-historic-decline-reading-nations-report-card-naep\/","title":{"rendered":"Math scores for this one group of students show historic, long-term decline"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are no “green shoots\u2019” of academic recovery emerging, with the Nation’s Report Card showing the largest-ever decline in math scores by 13-year-old students.<\/p>\n

The average math score for 13-year-olds fell 9 points between 2019\u201220 and 2022\u201223 on long-term National Assessment of Educational Progress testing conducted late last year, according to data released Wednesday<\/a>. And with the average reading score slipping by 4 points over the same time period, the testing reveals “signs of risk for a generation of learners,” said Peggy G. Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, which conducts the assessments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe \u2018green shoots\u2019 of academic recovery that we had hoped to see have not materialized, as we continue to see worrisome signs about student achievement and well-being more than two years after most students returned for in-person learning,\u201d Carr said in a statement. “We are observing steep drops in achievement, troubling shifts in reading habits and other factors that affect achievement, and rising mental health challenges alongside alarming changes in school climate.”<\/p>\n

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Math scores for 13-year-olds had been rising substantially and reading scores more modestly until about 2012, when students began a regression that has now lasted more than a decade and accelerated during the COVID pandemic. These assessment results are particularly concerning as the progress students make in middle school can have a lifelong impact, adds Dan McGrath, the Center’s acting associate commissioner.<\/p>\n

The Report Card uncovered some troubling K12 trends beyond the plummeting scores, including a decline in students taking algebra and pre-algebra. A little more than one-third of 13-year-olds were in an algebra class in 2012, compared to 24%in 2023. More students are now taking regular mathematics, the data shows. On the literacy side, about one-third of 13-year-olds said in 2023 that they \u201cnever or hardly ever\u201d read for fun compared to the 22% who reported the same in 2012.<\/p>\n

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Click for more info. (National Center for Education Statistics)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Aside from its academic effects, reading opens the mind and the heart to new ways of seeing and thinking about the world,” Carr pointed out. “Many of our young people will never discover latent passions or areas of interest without reading broadly on their own time.\u201d<\/p>\n

A closer look at reading and math scores<\/h2>\n

The average reading score (256) for 13-year-old students was 4 points lower in 2023 than in 2020 and seven points lower than in 2012 and about the same as in 1971. The average math score (271) for 13-year-old students was 9 points lower in 2023 than in 2020 and 14 points lower than in 2012 but 5 points higher than in 1973.<\/p>\n

Here’s a closer look at the declines between 2020 and 2023:<\/p>\n

Reading
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