Plummeting reading and math scores are often blamed on COVID-19, but negative trends in U.S. public school performance compared with that of other developed countries predate the pandemic.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reported at least six years of steady decline in reading and math scores on domestic standardized tests leading up to the 2024 results.
Sixty-nine percent of fourth graders scored below grade level in reading last year, and the rate was 70 percent for eighth-grade students.
NAEP’s 2024 math results were equally disappointing: 60 percent of fourth-grade students and 72 percent of eighth graders scored below their respective grade levels.
Martin West, vice chair of the National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees NAEP, said student skills have eroded for more than a decade.
He attributed the downward spiral to two significant events: a softening of public school accountability and a new era of “screen-based childhood,” in which students spend far more time on smartphones and social media than on schoolwork.
“‘Sobering’ would be a good word for it,” West said during a February panel discussion with the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Education policy experts identify three significant barriers to catching up to higher-performing nations in classroom performance: lack of accountability, relaxed standards, and lack of engagement.
On the global stage, the 2023 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study assessment ranked the United States 22nd out of 44 nations.
On average, American eighth graders scored more than 120 points below their peers in Singapore and Taiwan.
I was a teacher during the Obama years and the beginning of all this woke “Dear Colleague” nonsense. In the mandatory meetings I nodded my head like the rest of the sheep, then promptly went on to teach, closing the door and doing what I knew was right. I kept my mouth shut – I didn’t do any of this new age garbage – just old school, which meant hard work.
The end result? The vast majority of the kids I taught were successful in school and life. When I see them in the community, they all remembered me going on about the merits of hard work and (gasp) EARNING grades. Good for Trump taking down the DOE. Makes an old fart like me happy that there is still hope for education and this country.
Thank you 8:05, most were just sheep being led around afraid to do what was right.
Reading, writing, arithmetic, and true history are the back bone of education