On national exams, US youngsters continue to lag behind in reading and show little progress in arithmetic

The most recent results of the nation's report card exam show that youngsters in America have not improved much in math and have continued to deteriorate in reading skills following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The results represent yet another failure for American schools and are indicative of the numerous issues that have disrupted education, ranging from high rates of chronic absenteeism and a teenage mental health crisis to pandemic school closures. The results of the national exam also reveal a rising disparity: lower-performing students are slipping further behind, while the top-performing pupils have begun to make up lost ground.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress, which is administered to a sample of American children every two years, is regarded as one of the most accurate indicators of the academic development of the American educational system. Students in the fourth and eighth grades were tested on reading and math in the most recent exam, which was given in early 2024 in all states.

Peggy Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, which is in charge of the evaluation, stated, "The news is not good." "We are not making the necessary progress to help our students make up the ground they lost during the pandemic."

An improvement in fourth-grade math, where the average score increased by two points on a scale of 500, was one of the few positive developments. Although some states and districts achieved notable progress, such as Washington, D.C., where the average score rose by 10 points, it is still 3 points below the 2019 pre-pandemic norm.

However, American schools have generally not yet begun to make progression.