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Students across the country are increasingly struggling to meet proficiency standards in science, math and reading, newly released data shows.
Assessing eighth graders in science and 12th graders in mathematics and reading, the students’ average scores dropped in each subject between 2019 and 2024, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, which released its findings Tuesday in what it calls The Nation’s Report Card.
The center evaluated approximately 23,000 eighth graders in science,19,300 12th graders in mathematics and 24,300 12th graders in reading from January to March 2024.
Among the eighth graders assessed in science, 31% performed at or above proficient, a performance standard established by the National Assessment Governing Board to describe what students should know and be able to do in various subjects and grades. That compares to 35% in 2019 and 30% in 2009, when the assessment started.
Among 12th graders, 22% were at or above proficient in math, compared to 24% in 2019 and 23% in 2005, when the assessment began. And 35% performed at or above proficient in reading, dropping from 37% in 2019 and 40% in 1992.
Declines were seen across multiple student groups in each assessment. Each of the assessments also showed the widest gaps between the lowest- and highest-performing students compared to any previous evaluations.
The 2024 results are the first post-pandemic scores for each assessment, but are indicative of a longer trend, National Center for Education Statistics acting commissioner Matthew Soldner said.
“These results are sobering,” he said in a statement. “The drop in overall scores coincides with significant declines in achievement among our lowest-performing students, continuing a downward trend that began even before the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The National Center for Education Statistics is a federal agency that fulfills a mandate from Congress to collect, analyze and report statistics on American education.
