Test scores show historic COVID setbacks for kids across US

The COVID-19 epidemic spared no state or area as it produced unprecedented learning losses for America’s children, erasing decades of academic gains and expanding racial inequities, according to the findings of a nationwide test that provides the clearest picture yet of the crisis’ scope.

Math scores across the nation had their greatest declines ever. The reading scores have fallen to 1992 levels. Almost four out of ten eighth graders did not comprehend fundamental math concepts. None of the states witnessed a significant improvement in their average test results, with several just maintaining their position.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress, sometimes known as the “nation’s report card,” assessed hundreds of thousands of fourth and eighth students from throughout the nation this year. It was the first time the exam has been administered since 2019, and it is considered the first nationally representative examination of the impact of the epidemic on learning.

Peggy Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, a division of the Department of Education, stated in an interview, “It is a significant wake-up call for us all.” “According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a 1- or 2-point reduction in a student’s performance has a substantial influence on that student’s accomplishment. We observed an unprecedented 8-point drop in mathematics on this evaluation.”