The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results revealed that math and reading scores in four of the largest states in the U.S. either continue declining or remain stagnant almost five years after the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic disrupted classroom learning.
NAEP, also called the Nation's Report Card, has provided insights into student academic achievement and learning experiences in math, reading, writing, science, U.S. history, arts and civics since 1969. The assessment, a congressionally mandated program administered by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the Department of Education (DOE), delivers results for the nation, states and 27 urban districts to guide education policy and practice.
According to the NAEP results for the 2023-2024 academic year, the states of New York, California and Florida show a continued decline and minimal improvement in their math and reading scores assessment since 2020. (Related: COVID-related school closures cause DROP in reading, math test scores.)
In the Empire State, data from public schools indicate a two percent drop in English Language Arts (ELA) proficiency among third to eighth grades, now at 46 percent. Math proficiency for the same grade levels increased by two percent from the 2022 to 2023 academic year, reaching 54 percent. The NY DOE defines proficiency as mastery of challenging subject matter.
In the Golden State, NAEP results reveal that 47.04 percent of students in third to eighth grades met or exceeded ELA standards last academic year, and 35.54 percent of students in the same grades met or exceeded math standards. However, the latest results for both subjects still show less than a one percent performance increase in one year and are still below the 2018-2019 scores.
Students in the Sunshine State performed better, with 55.7 percent meeting ELA standards and 57.5 percent reaching proficiency in math. Students in both subjects show year-over-year improvement.
NWEA results also reveal declining reading and math performance compared to pre-pandemic levels
In line with the NAEP results, the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA), a nonprofit dedicated to K-12 assessment and research, has also released a report regarding the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on U.S. public education.
The study, which used data from 7.7 million students across grades three to eight in all 50 states, found that the average U.S. student in grades three to eight would need nearly five additional months of schooling in reading and four months in math to catch up to pre-pandemic achievement levels.
During the 2023-2024 school year, average reading scores dropped by 36 percent, while math scores fell by 18 percent. The decline in math was most pronounced among fifth graders, while middle school ELA results revealed gaps in vocabulary and decoding skills. These results indicate that many students lacked foundational reading abilities by the end of elementary school.
"Throughout the pandemic, we have often believed that we were finished with COVID before it was finished with us, and this is yet another example of that. Pandemic fatigue is real, but accepting a new normal of lower achievement and widened inequities is not an option," the report said.
Karyn Lewis, NWEA vice president of research and policy partnerships, echoed a similar statement. "We never caught up. We have a compounding debt situation."
Visit Pandemic.news for more on the harmful effects of COVID lockdowns on children.
Watch this video that talks about how the COVID-19 pandemic erased 20 years' worth of progress in math and reading in American schools.
This video is from the alltheworldsastage channel on Brighteon.com.
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Test scores plunge despite California school throwing $250,000 on "Woke Kindergarten" program.
America's public education COLLAPSING as 2018 student test scores the worst in history.
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