Student decline can no longer be blamed on the COVID pandemic.

Data released today by National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) supports that the decline in reading and math that started pre-COVID was compounded by the pandemic, and then continued downward despite the millions of dollars funneled to schools nationwide to address COVID-era learning loss. The data collected by NCES was included in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

According to NCES Associate Commissioner Daniel McGrath, "NAEP has reported decline in reading achievement consistently since 2019, and the continued declines since the pandemic suggest we're facing complex challenges that cannot be fully explained by the impact of COVID-19."

Students who were in Kindergarten and fourth grade when COVID hit the U.S. became the fourth and eighth graders whose data was collected by NCES for NAEP reporting. With the decline in reading starting before 2019 in some states, today's eighth grade reading data comes as no surprise. In states like Virginia, the decline in reading started in 2017, pre-COVID. Student decline was already heading south before COVID closures hit the state.

On a national level, the reporting indicates the following:

• Reading scores dropped in both fourth and eighth grades, continuing the nationwide decline that started in 2019.
• There are widening gaps since 2022 between higher- and lower-performing students. The latter continues to "decline or show no notable progress."
• "In eighth-grade mathematics, the widening gap is most pronounced. Lower-performing students declines, while higher-performing students improved. As a result of this divergence in performance, the average score in 2024 was not significantly different than in 2022."
• "In fourth grade mathematics, the gap also grew as the score of the lowest performing students did not change significantly from 2022, while the highest performing students' scores increased."

Data released is available for public review by state and different populations.