The latest “Nation’s Report Card” shows that U.S. students are struggling to keep pace academically, with noticeable declines by the time they reach high school. The 2024 report, the first national look at student performance since the COVID-19 pandemic, finds that math, reading and science scores are lagging behind pre-pandemic levels.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the nation’s report card, is administered by the National Center for Education Statistics under a congressional mandate. It provides the largest national measure of student learning in the U.S., offering a look into how students are performing across subjects, grades and regions.
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The data comes from tests administered between January and March 2024. Eighth-grade science scores have stayed relatively steady since 2009, but 12th-grade science performance has dropped to its lowest point in decades.
Among high school seniors, 2024 continues a long-term decline: average math scores are at their lowest since the assessment began in 2005, and reading scores have fallen 10 points below the first 12th-grade reading assessment in 1992.
Matthew Soldner, acting commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, described the results as “sobering.”
“The drop in overall scores coincides with significant declines among our lowest-performing students, continuing a downward trend that began even before the COVID-19 pandemic,” Soldner said. “Among our nation’s high school seniors, we’re now seeing a larger percentage of students scoring below the NAEP Basic achievement level in mathematics and reading than in any previous assessment.”
Attendance rates among high schoolers
The 2024 NAEP results also reveal early signs of post-pandemic absenteeism among 12th-graders. Nearly a third of 12th-graders reported missing three or more days of school in the past month, up from 26% in 2019.
Similar trends appeared in earlier NAEP assessments of younger students, showing that attendance challenges are affecting multiple grade levels.
Science scores across the nation
Students at all performance levels saw declines, with the lowest-performing students scoring lower than in any previous year, widening the gap between top and bottom performers.
In 2024, more than 30% of eighth graders scored at or above the NAEP Proficient level, down from 35% in 2019, while 38% scored below Basic, up from 33%.
Scores dropped across most regions, including the Northeast, Midwest and South, and among several student groups, including Native American/Alaska Native, Hispanic and white students. Boys slightly outscored girls, reversing a trend from 2019.
How are students doing with math?
Among 12th-graders, math scores were the lowest since 2005. Nearly all students saw declines except for the highest-performing group, widening the gap between top and bottom performers.
In 2024, 22% of 12th-graders scored at or above Proficient, down from 24% in 2019, while 45% scored below Basic, up from 40%. Confidence in math also dipped slightly, with 36% of 12th-graders reporting high confidence, down from 38%. Less than a third of 12th-graders were academically prepared for college-level math, down from 37% in 2019.
What about reading levels?
Reading scores for 12th-graders followed a similar pattern. Only the highest-performing students maintained their 2019 scores, while lower-performing students continued to decline.
In 2024, 35% of 12th graders scored at or above Proficient, down from 37% in 2019, and 32% scored below Basic, up from 30%. Students at the Proficient level were able to make connections across texts and infer an author’s purpose, while those at Basic could identify key details for literal comprehension.
