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The latest troubling news on national student achievement shows the need to fiercely focus on improving basic skills.
American kids are generally holding flat or doing worse on national reading and math tests. Recently released National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores document how U.S. students continue to lose ground on reading and show little improvement in math.
NAEP exams, often referred to as the “Nation’s Report Card,” are considered one of the best measures of American student achievement. Administered every two years to a sample of America’s children, the tests provide a valid tool to compare educational progress state-to-state. The most recent exam was administered in early 2024, testing fourth and eighth grade students in math and reading.
While Minnesota student scores are slightly better than the national averages, they remain relatively flat compared to the 2022 results. It’s particularly concerning that 39% of Minnesota fourth-graders scored below basic levels in reading; and the below-basic level of eighth-graders rose slightly to 29% — the highest percentage ever for this grade level since the reading test was first given 27 years ago.
For Minnesota middle-schoolers, those percentages translate into an alarming difficulty deciphering the main idea of a reading passage or trouble understanding key words and phrases. Like many other states, large disparities in reading comprehension remain between white children and Black or Hispanic kids.
And don’t blame it on COVID-19. Educational experts say there is now more to the basic skills slide than pandemic-related learning loss. So, what can and must be done to reverse the trend?