Details Details Test Score Drops

Last month, new National Assessment of Academic Development lengthy-term pattern knowledge confirmed profound declines in math and looking through scores among the 9-calendar year-aged American college students about the 1st two a long time of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Average math scores dropped 7 factors, symbolizing the initially statistically substantial drop in scores because the initial this sort of assessment in 1973. A 5-level fall in typical studying scores was the to start with statistically substantial fall in scores considering that a 4-position decrease in between 1980 and 1984, in accordance to NAEP information.

Finally, the data revealed a loss of about two decades of development in student scores.

[ READ MORE: Pandemic Rolls Back Years of Progress in Achievement Test Scores ]

In reporting on the NAEP data, the nonpartisan data center USAFacts noted that the drop in scores in 2022 was seen most strongly among students who were already struggling the most. In both subjects, the scores of students in the lowest percentiles in 2020 dropped the most profoundly.

The data indicates access to resources may have played a role in performance differences between students. Among the 70% of students who said they experienced remote learning during the 2020-2021 school year, a significantly lower share of students who scored below the 25th percentile in either subject had uninterrupted access to a laptop, desktop computer or tablet than those who scored at or above the 75th percentile, officials reported. Disparities also were evident in connection with access to high-speed internet, a quiet space to work, and help with schoolwork from their teacher or someone else.

Among racial and ethnic groups, white, Black, and Hispanic students experienced statistically significant decreases in reading and math, with Black and Hispanic students seeing particularly pronounced drops in math. The score gap between white and Black students in mathematics increased from 25 points in 2020 to more than 32 points in 2022.