For the first time in over 5 decades, math and reading scores for 13-year-olds on the National Assessment of Educational Progress test dropped! And before we jump to conclusions about the horrible impact of the pandemic, the report is based on results from October to December of 2019!
ReimaginED reports that almost 9,000 13-year-olds from 450 U.S. schools took the test in 2019, between October and December, and math scores dropped an average of 5 points while reading scores were down an average of 3 points. The results. announced Thursday, stunned Peggy Carr, the head of the U.S. Education Department agency that administers the test. “None of these results are impressive,” said Carr. “They’re all concerning. The math results were particularly daunting, in particular for 13-year-olds. I’ve never reported a decline like this.” Results for 9-year-olds were also released, but they showed no significant changes since 2012.
The only significant, nation-wide changes in the past 10 years are the incorporation of common core standards and teacher certification requirements.