Washington – American children continue to lose ground on reading skills Kovid -19 epidemic According to the latest results of an exam known as the country's report card, mathematics has been very little improved.
This conclusion is another shock for American schools and reflects innumerable challenges that have enhanced education, a young mental health crisis from the epidemic school to a higher rate of chronic absence. The results of the national examination also show increasing inequality: while the highest performance students have started regaining lost land, less performing students are falling back and forth.
Every two years for a sample of American children, the national evaluation of educational progress is considered one of the best gauges of the educational progress of the American school system. The most recent exam was tested in every state in early 2024, fourth and eighth grade students were tested on mathematics and reading.
“The news is not good,” said Paigi Carr, Commissioner of National Center for Education Statistics. “We are not looking at the progress that we need to regain lost land to our students during the epidemic.”
In some bright places there was an improvement in fourth grade mathematics, where the average score increased by 2 points on a scale of 500. This is still 3 points less than the average pre-mahamari average of 2019, yet some states and districts made significant progresses, including in Washington, DC, where the average score increased by 10 points.
For most parts, however, American schools have not yet began to progress.
The average mathematics score for eighth grade students was unchanged since 2022, while reading scores fell 2 points at both grade levels. One -third of the eighth grade students scored under “basic” in reading, most in the history of evaluation.
Students are considered basic if they are missing original skills. For example, students of class VIII who scored below Basic in reading were usually unable to make a simple guess about the inspiration of a character after reading a short story, and some were unable to recognize it. That the word “hardworking” means “working hard”.
Particularly there was a division between dangerous high and low performing students, which have become more wider than ever. Students with the highest score improved their peers two years ago, losing some land during the epidemic. But the lowest artists are scoring even more, getting back and forth.
This was the most clear in the mathematics of the eighth grade: while the top 10% of the students' scores increased by 3 points, the lowest 10% decreased by 6 points.
Leslie Muldun, Executive Director of the National Assessment Governing Board, said, “We are deeply concerned about our less performing students.” “For a decade, these students have been on fall. They need our immediate attention and our best effort.”
The latest failures follow a historical backslide in 2022. In that year's examination, the student achievement fell from unprecedented levels in some cases, in some cases.
In this round of testing, students were again depicted, whose life was interrupted by epidemic. When Kovid hit in 2020, the fourth grader was in kindergarten, and the eighth grader was in fourth grade.
But Carr said that poor results can no longer be convicted only on epidemic, warning that the country's education system faces “complex challenges”.
A survey with the examination found in 2022 stated that less young students were studying for Anand, which is associated with a low -reading score. And the results of the new survey found that students who are often absent from the classroom – a frequent problem nationwide – the most struggling.
“The data is clear,” Carr said. “Students who do not come to school are not improving.”
Results provide fresh fuel for a national debate on the impact of epidemic school closure, although they are unlikely to add clarity. Some studies have found that prolonged closure led to great academic failures. There were slowly in urban and democratic leadership areas to reopen, while more rural and Republican -led areas were fast.
New results do not show “direct links” on this subject, although he said that students clearly improve when they are in school.
The states watching the scores studying in 2024 are Florida and Arizona, who were the first people to return to the classroom during the epidemic. Meanwhile, some big school systems that were long closed, progressed in fourth grade mathematics, including Los Angeles and New York City.
Success of large urban districts – 14 of which saw a significant improvement in fourth grade mathematics when the nation only saw as a minor benefit – federal epidemic relief can be credited with the efforts of academic recovery funded by federal epidemic relief, Ray Hart The executive director of said. Council of Great City Schools. He said that investing in efforts such as intensive tuitioning programs and courses updates is proven to be really a difference, “he said.
Republican Democrats in the Congress and former President Joe Biden's administration were hurry to blame.
Chairman of House Education and Workforce Committee, R-Pic.
“I am thankful that we have a administration seeking reverse course,” he said in the context of President Trump.
Compared to 2019 results, the eighth grade reading score is now 8 points below. The read score is 5 points below both grades. And in the mathematics of the fourth grade, the score is 3 points below.
Nevertheless, officials say that there is a reason for being optimistic. Carr highlighted the improvement in Louisiana, where the reading of the fourth grade is now above the level of the east-mahamari, and in Alabama, who completed that feat in the fourth grade mathematics.
Carr was particularly praised Louisiana, where a campaign to improve reading proficiency resulted in both higher and low -performing students than the 2019 score.
“I wouldn't say that Hope is lost, and I wouldn't say that we can't rotate it,” Carr said. “It has been displayed that we can.”