On average, American eighth graders scored more than 120 points below their peers in Singapore and Taiwan.
Plummeting reading and math scores are often blamed on COVID-19, but negative trends in U.S. public school performance compared with that of other developed countries predate the pandemic.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reported at least six years of steady decline in reading and math scores on domestic standardized tests leading up to the 2024 results.
Sixty-nine percent of fourth graders scored below grade level in reading last year, and the rate was 70 percent for eighth-grade students.
NAEP’s 2024 math results were equally disappointing: 60 percent of fourth-grade students and 72 percent of eighth graders scored below their respective grade levels.
Martin West, vice chair of the National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees NAEP, said student skills have eroded for more than a decade.
He attributed the downward spiral to two significant events: a softening of public school accountability and a new era of “screen-based childhood,” in which students spend far more time on smartphones and social media than on schoolwork.
“‘Sobering’ would be a good word for it,” West said during a February panel discussion with the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Education policy experts identify three significant barriers to catching up to higher-performing nations in classroom performance: lack of accountability, relaxed standards, and lack of engagement.
On the global stage, the 2023 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study assessment ranked the United States 22nd out of 44 nations.
On average, American eighth graders scored more than 120 points below their peers in Singapore and Taiwan.
The 2022 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which tests 15-year-olds in math, science, and reading proficiency, ranked the United States 18th out of 80 nations.
It finished ninth in reading, 16th in science, and 34th in math. The next PISA exams take place this spring.
David Steiner, director of the Institute for Education Policy at Johns Hopkins University, said U.S. results in the PISA global assessments were respectable but not ideal.
U.S. standardized tests are more difficult for kids raised on social media because they are less visual than the PISA questions and require longer reading passages.
President Donald Trump has already initiated reforms that he says will improve classroom performance and global rankings for the United States’ 50 million K–12 public school students.
