New Low

High school seniors scored the lowest in decades on national reading and math assessments.

Context

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has tracked US students’ academic performance for decades through standardized tests widely considered the nation’s most reliable measure of educational progress. The assessment, often called “the Nation's Report Card,” tests representative samples of students across the country in core academic subjects. The 12th-grade reading test began in 1992, and the current math assessment started in 2005.

Declining Proficiency

Results released on Tuesday showed that 12th-graders who took the tests in early 2024 achieved the lowest average reading and math scores since the respective tests began in 1992 and 2005.