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Nation’s Report Card Shows Record-Low 12th-Grade Reading, Deepening Drops in Math and Science

The first post‑pandemic NAEP snapshot points to steep losses concentrated among the lowest-performing students.

education
GOETTINGEN, GERMANY - MAY 12: High school graduates of the 13th grade of the Abendygymnasium (Evening Gymnasium) write their A-levels (Abitur) in mathematics, after they could only prepare themselves for two weeks at school due to the Corona crisis on May 12, 2020 in Goettingen, Germany. Across Germany tenth graders began returning to school two weeks and twelfth graders are returning this week in cautious steps to reopen schools that have been closed since March as authorities lift lockdown measures that had been imposed to stem the spread of the virus. The A-Level examinations in Lower Saxony, which were postponed for 3 weeks due to the corona pandemic, began late and under difficult conditions. (Photo by Christian Ender/Getty Images)
National scores released Tuesday showed 31% of eighth graders were proficient in science in 2024, down four percentage points from 2019. Among 12th graders, 33% were proficient in math and 37% proficient in reading, a drop of two percentage points in each category.
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Overview

  • New NAEP results for 2024 report 12th-grade reading at its lowest average since 1992 and math at its lowest since 2005, with eighth-grade science down to its weakest level since 2009.
  • Performance at the bottom fell sharply: 45% of seniors scored below NAEP basic in math and 32% in reading, while only 22% reached proficient in math, 35% in reading, and 31% of eighth-graders were proficient in science.
  • The assessments, administered nationwide from January to March 2024, are the first post‑pandemic national measures for 12th-grade reading and math and for 8th-grade science.
  • Inequities widened, including the largest recorded gap between top and bottom performers in eighth-grade science, a broader gap in 12th-grade math, and a re-emerging gender gap in science with larger declines for girls.
  • Student absenteeism rose, with 31% of 12th-graders reporting three or more missed days in the prior month, and the results triggered partisan policy arguments as Education Secretary Linda McMahon labeled the trend devastating and urged shifting more control to states.