Math and Reading Scores Nosedive for American Teens After Disastrous COVID Policies

The National Assessment of Educational Progress released “The Nation’s Report Card” Wednesday, and the results are not good. Math and reading scores for American children have plummeted since the COVID pandemic when lockdowns were widespread and “remote learning” became necessary.

The NAEP data shows that math scores for 13-year-olds plunged a whopping nine points between the 2019-2020 and 2022-2023 school years—the largest drop ever recorded. Reading scores, meanwhile, dropped by four points.

The numbers get even worse when you compare them to those of a decade ago: average scores declined 7 points in reading and 14 points in mathematics over that span.

🔎 New from The Nation's Report Card: Math and reading scores for the nation’s 13-year-olds continued to decline in 2022-23, showing the largest drops ever recorded in math. Read on for what you need to know. https://t.co/VisrIy31Pr

1/8 #NAEP #Education #EdChat @USEdGov pic.twitter.com/ifce5x6Ne1

— NAEP, The Nation's Report Card (@NAEP_NCES) June 21, 2023

For those who were considered “lower performing” students, the numbers were even worse. The NAEP issued a press release (PDF link) saying:

The 2023 mathematics scores for age 13 students at all five selected percentile levels declined compared to 2020. The declines ranged from 6 to 8 points for middle- and higher-performing students to 12 to 14 points for lower-performing students, with larger declines for lower performers in comparison to their higher-performing peers.

Among the lowest-performing students, math scores have returned to levels last seen in 1978 and reading scores were actually lower than when the assessment was first conducted in 1971. https://t.co/PIsENfAP0L

2/8 #MathChat #ELAChat @ILAToday pic.twitter.com/whbxtIkmLm

— NAEP, The Nation’s Report Card (@NAEP_NCES) June 21, 2023

“Among the lowest-performing students, math scores have returned to levels last seen in 1978 and reading scores were actually lower than when the assessment was first conducted in 1971,” they write in the above tweet (bolding mine).

Meanwhile, kids don’t read as much anymore:

In addition to steep drops in achievement, the latest results show troubling shifts in reading habits. Fewer students, especially lower-performing students, are reading for fun compared to a decade ago. https://t.co/VxSAJyDesW

5/8 #Reading @ALALibrary pic.twitter.com/9qrGlHa0gI

— NAEP, The Nation’s Report Card (@NAEP_NCES) June 21, 2023

Commissioner Peggy G. Carr of the National Center for Education Statistics, which administers the NAEP, was quoted in the press release saying that hopes of academic recovery have been dashed:

The “green shoots” of academic recovery that we had hoped to see have not materialized, as we continue to see worrisome signs about student achievement and well-being more than two years after most students returned for in-person learning.

There are signs of risk for a generation of learners in the data we are releasing today and have released over the past year…

As a parent, I watched the devastation that lockdowns and remote learning inflicted upon our children. Some did just fine—but some fell off an emotional and educational cliff.

“Throughout the pandemic, families expressed concerns that their children weren’t learning — and were mocked, shamed, and derided for speaking out,” Nicole Neily, founder and president of Parents Defending Education, told the Washington Examiner. “These scores confirm parents’ worst fears and further underscore that families do indeed know their children’s needs — and that traditional education power brokers never had students’ best interests at heart in the first place.”

There are other reasons besides the pandemic why this learning loss has occurred—failing public schools, teachers unions that actually don’t care about teaching, and the emphasis on woke ideology rather than on the three R’s—but the lockdowns, social isolation, and remote learning caused incalculable damage to our youth.

Thanks, Joe Biden, Anthony Fauci, Rochelle Walensky, and all the other zealots who foisted terrible, ineffective policies upon our nation. The kids are paying the price.

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