Overview

• The 2024 Nation’s Report Card shows 12th-grade math at its worst since 2005 and reading below any point since 1992, with about 35% proficient in reading and 22% in math.
• Achievement gaps widened, with a roughly 27-point spread between the 90th and 10th percentiles since 1992 driven by a 25-point drop at the bottom and a slight rise at the top.
• Reports spotlight Mississippi, Louisiana, Indiana, and Tennessee for multi-year gains linked to strong accountability, phonics-based literacy, third-grade reading checks, and targeted tutoring or summer support.
• A Boston Herald editorial urges expanded school choice and greater state control, quoting Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s pledge to shift authority and funding decisions to states.
• Opinion analysis in The Federalist attributes declines to progressive policies such as DEI-linked grading changes, reduced traditional discipline, and so-called woke math, while acknowledging pre-pandemic score slippage amplified by COVID disruptions.