Test scores show steep declines in math and reading

(NewsNation) — National test scores are showing significant learning loss for kids across the country, in some cases equivalent to a year of learning.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress test is given to 4th- and 8th-graders across the country, and this is the first time the test has been administered since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Every single state showed learning loss with these latest results. Scores dropped for both math and reading, which regressed to 1992 levels, but the decline was steeper for math, which fell the most in the test’s history since 1969.

More than 60 percent of 4th-graders and 70 percent of 8th-graders tested at “basic or below” in math.

In some school districts, scores fell by more than 10 points, which is the equivalent of losing an entire year of learning. The biggest drop came in Cleveland, Ohio where scores for 4th-graders dropped 16 points in reading and 15 points in math.

Similar declines were seen in Baltimore, Maryland and Shelby County, Tennessee, which includes Memphis.

But while distance learning was a controversial issue during the pandemic, researchers say there isn’t a clear link between remote learning and falling test scores.

Scores in California, for example, had similar declines to schools in Texas and Florida, even though California continued remote learning for an extended period of time while schools in Texas and Florida re-opened more quickly.

In an effort to combat learning loss, some school districts have stepped up tutoring and summer school programs or extended learning hours in hopes of bringing performance back up.