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The latest National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), commonly called the “Nation’s Report Card,” revealed that 12th-graders’ scores in math and reading have hit record lows, continuing a years-long decline.
The updated testing data was released Tuesday and reflected results from tests administered between January and March 2024.
As The Washington Post noted, the declines began before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted education nationwide and have continued since. Lawmakers had hoped scores would rebound in 2024, but the results underscored ongoing challenges in the U.S. education system.
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The NAEP showed that nearly 45% of high school seniors scored “below basic” in math, the highest share since the current version of the test was introduced.
Reading scores also fell, with nearly one-third of seniors testing below basic — another record. The lowest-performing students recorded an average score of 224, 25 points lower than their peers in 1992.
“Scores for our lowest-performing students are at historic lows, continuing declines that began more than a decade ago. My predecessor warned of this trend and her predecessor warned of this trend as well, and now I am warning you about this trend,” said Matthew Soldner, acting director of the Institute of Education Sciences, a research arm of the Department of Education. “These results should galvanize all of us to take concerted, focused action to accelerate student learning.”
The report also included eighth-graders’ science scores, which dropped below 2019 levels, erasing gains made since the test began in 2009.
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Following the release of the scores on Tuesday, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said the results “confirm a devastating trend” which has continued “despite spending billions annually on numerous K-12 programs.”
In an appearance Tuesday on “America’s Newsroom,” McMahon agreed with Fox News host Dana Perino wondering if the situation was a “national emergency.” She added that she and President Donald Trump were on a mission to return education funding to the states.
“I do believe it is,” McMahon said. “That is just an incredibly devastating trend to look at in our country. We are spending a ton of money on education. We’ve spent $3 trillion since the Department of Education was established, only to see scores continuing to decline. And that is just a trend we have to stop, and I think the money is not being spent where it needs to be spent, and that’s in the states.”
While the Trump administration has proposed giving states more control over how they allocate federal education dollars, it has also requested that Congress cut overall spending on those programs.
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) — which administers the tests — faced layoffs and canceled contracts earlier this year as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) made cuts at the Department of Education.
Soldner, who works in the Education Department’s research and data branch, told reporters on Monday that the cuts did not hinder the office’s ability to analyze and report on these results, according to the Washington Post.
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