As we covered in our January 29th post, the 2024 NAEP data have just been released, showing that students struggled with reading, even more so than math. One of the main takeaways from the 2024 data is that the drops cannot all be attributed to the lingering effects of Covid. Indeed, as we have noted before, the reading declines predate the pandemic, with 2017 being the high point for reading scores and proficiency. Since 2017, fourth grade and eighth grade reading proficiency has declined by 6 (going from 37% at/above proficient to 31% for fourth grade and 36% to 30% in eighth grade).
The next logical question is: what do we do about these results? There has been much written about the promises of high-dosage tutoring, with the Education Lab at the University of Chicago finding that “in-school high dosage tutoring meaningfully increased math learning for students in Chicago Public Schools and Fulton County Schools,” though such interventions are costly. There has also been much written about the promises of the science of reading, and perhaps some hope for “the broader development of better tools and strategies to deliver math instruction,” according to Gates Foundation director of American K-12 education programs Bob Hughes (via The 74). And the effect of screens on students’ reading ability is certainly worth additional study.
In addition to these, there is another area that can be helpful in combatting this score decline: strong accountability. Louisiana emerged as one of the few bright spots in the data as the only state whose fourth grade reading scores were higher than 2019. In his comments to The 74, John White (state superintendent from 2012 to 2020) credited the state’s focus on being “transparent about the results schools achieve.” The President and CEO of the Bipartisan Policy Center (and former Secretary of Education) Margaret Spellings called the scores “a wake-up call for accountability.”
A renewed focus on strong accountability is needed now more than ever to accurately measure, through testing, where students are in their learning using valid, reliable, and comparable data. All three of these characteristics are especially important in the context of grade inflation, which 47% of the electorate called a “widespread problem” as we noted last year. Only 6% said it is “not a problem at all”.
The NAEP results make it clear that urgent action is needed, and has been for some time. The status quo is clearly unacceptable.
