U.S. 13-year-old students have experienced significant declines in both reading and mathematics proficiency, according to new long-term trend assessment results from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) shows that average reading scores fell 4 points and mathematics scores dropped 9 points compared to the 2019–20 school year.
The decline is even more pronounced when compared to historical data. Over the last decade, average reading scores have decreased by 7 points, while mathematics scores have plummeted by 14 points.
The assessments, which were administered between October and December of the 2022–23 school year, tracked a nationally representative sample of 8,700 students per subject.
Mathematics declines hit lower-performing students hardest
While reading declines were relatively consistent across different student ability levels, mathematics scores showed a widening gap between high and low achievers.
In the mathematics category, middle- and higher-performing students saw declines ranging from 6 to 8 points since 2020. However, lower-performing students experienced much steeper drops of 12 to 14 points.
Reading scores also fell across all five measured percentiles. For lower-performing students, reading scores dropped between 6 and 7 points, compared to 3 to 4 points for middle- and higher-performing peers.
The NCES report notes that these percentiles are used to show how score changes are distributed across the student population, providing context for the national average.
According to www.nationsreportcard.gov, the reading score declines for lower-performing students were not significantly different from those of their middle- and higher-performing peers.
In contrast, the mathematics data suggests that the downward trend is more severe for students at the lower end of the scale. The report indicates that the declines for lower-performing math students were significantly different from their higher-performing counterparts.
