US high school students lose ground in math and reading, continuing
yearslong decline
[September 09, 2025]
By ANNIE MA and TODD FEATHERS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A decade-long slide in high schoolers' reading and
math performance persisted during the COVID-19 pandemic, with 12th
graders' scores dropping to their lowest level in more than 20 years,
according to results released Tuesday from an exam known as the nation’s
report card.
Eighth-grade students also lost significant ground in science skills,
according to the results from the National Assessment of Education
Progress.
The assessments were the first since the pandemic for eighth graders in
science and 12th graders in reading and math. They reflect a downward
drift across grade levels and subject areas in previous releases from
NAEP, which is considered one of the best gauges of the academic
progress of U.S. schools.
“Scores for our lowest-performing students are at historic lows,” said
Matthew Soldner, the acting commissioner of the National Center for
Education Statistics. “These results should galvanize all of us to take
concerted and focused action to accelerate student learning.”
While the pandemic had an outsize impact on student achievement, experts
said falling scores are part of a longer arc in education that cannot be
attributed solely to COVID-19, school closures and related issues such
as heightened absenteeism. Educators said potential underlying factors
include children's increased screen time, shortened attention spans and
a decline in reading longer-form writing both in and out of school.
The dip in reading scores appeared alongside a shift in how English and
language arts are taught in schools, with an emphasis on short texts and
book excerpts, said Carol Jago, associate director of the California
Reading and Literature Project at UCLA. As a high school English teacher
20 years ago, Jago said it was common for her high school students to
read 20 books over the course of a year. Now, some English classes are
assigning just three books a year.
“To be a good reader, you have to have the stamina to stay on the page,
even when the going gets tough,” Jago said. “You have to build those
muscles, and we’re not building those muscles in kids.”
Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the scores show why the Trump
administration wants to give states more control of education spending.
"Despite spending billions annually on numerous K-12 programs, the
achievement gap is widening, and more high school seniors are performing
below the basic benchmark in math and reading than ever before," McMahon
said.
Fewer students show basic proficiency in math and reading
The test scores show more students are not reaching what would be
considered “basic” achievement across subject areas, said Lesley
Muldoon, executive director of the National Assessment Governing Board.
While NAEP’s definition of “proficient” is a high bar, Muldoon said, it
is not an unreasonable one, and it is based on what researchers believe
students should be able to achieve by the end of high school.
“These students are taking their next steps in life with fewer skills
and less knowledge in core academics than their predecessors a decade
ago," she said. “This is happening at a time when rapid advancements in
technology and society demands more of future workers and citizens, not
less.”
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Students work in a classroom at Benjamin O. Davis Middle School in
Compton, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer,
file)
In reading, the average score in 2024 was the lowest score in the
history of the assessment, which began in 1992. Thirty-two percent
of high school seniors scored below “basic,” meaning they were not
able to find details in a text to help them understand its meaning.
In math, the average score in 2024 was the lowest since 2005, when
the assessment framework changed significantly. On the test, 45% of
high school seniors scored below “basic” achievement, the highest
percentage since 2005. Only 33% of high school seniors were
considered academically prepared for college-level math courses, a
decline from 37% in 2019.
The high school reading and math assessments, and the eighth grade
science test, are given less frequently than the biannual fourth and
eighth grade reading tests, which were last released earlier this
year. The new scores reflect tests taken in schools around the
country between January and March 2024.
Achievement gaps are widening
The gap between the highest- and lowest-performing students was its
widest ever among eighth grade science students, reflecting growing
inequality in the American school system. The achievement gap
widened also in 12th grade math.
The scores also reflect the re-emergence of a gender gap in science,
technology, engineering and math courses. In 2019, boys and girls
scored virtually the same on the NAEP science assessment. But in
2024, girls saw a steeper decline in scores. A similar pattern
occurred in state math assessments, according to an Associated Press
analysis.
Schools had largely closed the gender gap in math and science, but
it widened in the years following the pandemic as special programs
to engage girls lapsed.
On a NAEP survey of students, a shrinking percentage of eighth grade
students said they regularly took part in inquiry-based learning
activities in the classroom. The pandemic disrupted schools' ability
to create those hands-on learning experiences for students, which
are often critical to understanding scientific concepts and
processes, said Christine Cunningham, senior vice president of STEM
learning at the Museum of Science in Boston.
Still, she noted declines across subjects began well before schools
closed in 2020.
“We don't know exactly what the cause of it is, but it would be
incomplete to assume that if we hadn't had COVID, the score would
not have gone down,” Cunningham said. “That's not what the data
showed even before the pandemic.” ___
Feathers reported from New York.
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