Federal-graded test results show that the COVID-19 pandemic had another shocking effect on America’s children. Reading and math scores for 13-year-olds dropped to their lowest level in decades, with no sign of improvement after the pandemic.
Scores from the National Center for Education Statistics, which puts out the Nation’s Report Card, were released on Wednesday. They show that math scores are at their lowest level since 1990, and reading scores are at their lowest level since 2004. This shows that math and reading scores have decreased since the pandemic started in 2020.
The tested kids got an average score of 256 out of 500 in reading and 271 out of 500 in math. This is down from 260 in reading and 280 in math three years ago.
The New York Times said Wednesday that it had seen the shocking message and that the kids had failed the test that measures “basic skills.”
In a press release from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) on Wednesday, Commissioner Peggy G. Carr said, “The ‘green shoots’ of academic recovery that we had hoped to see have not come to fruition, and we continue to see worrisome signs about student achievement and well-being more than two years after most students went back to in-person learning.”
“The data we are releasing today and have been releasing over the past year show signs of risk for a generation of learners. We are seeing steep drops in achievement, worrying changes in reading habits and other factors that affect success, and an increase in mental health problems along with frightening changes in the school environment. “The drop in math skills for 13-year-olds was the biggest drop we’ve seen in the last 50 years,” she said.
She also said that the worst students did about the same as students did in the 1970s when the data collection started and that the reading score was lower than the data from 1971, the first year of data collection.
According to the news statement, the data looks at numbers from October to December 2022 and shows that the downward trend from the 2019-2020 school year has continued.
Numbers went down for both sexes and racial groups in the study. However, some racial groups went down more than others, especially American Indian/Alaska Native students, whose numbers went down by 20 points, while White numbers went down by only 6.
NCES acting Associate Commissioner Dan McGrath says that the drops in both subjects started in 2012 but were made worse by the significant changes students had to deal with during the COVID pandemic when schools closed and students switched to online education.
“Middle school is a very important time for students because it is when they are growing up academically, socially, and emotionally,” McGrath said in a news statement. “What happens to students in middle school can have a big effect on how they do in high school and in life after that.”
The study also said fewer kids are “reading for fun” and taking math classes.
