Another K-12 Education Disaster

High school seniors score record lows in reading and math on the NAEP test

WSJ editorial. Excerpts:

"In 2024, 45% of twelfth-graders performed “below basic” in math, and 32% in reading. Eighth-grade science scores were hardly better: 38% rated below basic." [National Assessment of Educational Progress or NAEP]

"In all three exams, students scored on average lower than on the most recent exam in 2019. Reading scores were about 10 points lower than when the exam was first administered in 1992."

"Scores at charter schools mostly didn’t fall."

"While schools nationwide have received hundreds of billions of dollars from the feds and states to address pandemic learning loss, a record number of eighth-graders can’t read."

"reading and math scores have been sliding since 2013."

"An emphasis on “equity” has led some school districts to adopt no-grading and no-homework policies in lower grades."

"High-school graduation rates increased by some 14 percentage points from 1991 to 2023, even as students are less prepared for college."