A new batch of student test scores indicate a slump in college and career readiness, as well as a decline in science knowledge. Both of those could have profound implications for the country’s economic future.
Average reading and math scores among 12th graders fell to their lowest levels on record in 2024, according to the latest results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), often referred to as “the nation’s report card.” Meanwhile, eighth graders’ scores on a science test slipped as well.
Last year marked the first time those three assessments were given since the pandemic, providing a fresh – albeit sobering – look at ongoing learning struggles for U.S. schoolchildren. NAEP results released in January showed troubling declines in reading scores among fourth graders and eighth graders. On all three tests, scores for lower-performing students continued a downward trajectory and hit historic lows.
Why We Wrote This
The latest scores from the test dubbed “the nation’s report card” raise concerns about the state of STEM education and college readiness in the U.S. The outcomes suggest to some where improvements in education need to be focused.
“This means students are taking their next steps in life with fewer skills and less knowledge in core academics than their predecessors a decade ago,” says Lesley Muldoon, executive director of the National Assessment Governing Board. “And this is happening at a time when rapid advancements in technology and society demand more of future workers and citizens, not less.”
The average math score for 12th graders – 147 on a 300-point scale – was the lowest since the assessment began in 2005. Only 22% of 12th graders solved math problems at a level deemed at or above proficiency in 2024. Meanwhile, 45% performed below the test’s most basic achievement level.
That drop was fueled by nearly across-the-board struggles. Scores for 12th graders performing in the 90th percentile – the highest-performing students – remained flat compared with 2019. Students in all other percentiles saw declines, widening the gap between the highest- and lowest-performing learners.
National Center for Education Statistics
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Jacob Turcotte/Staff
Similar trends emerged on the reading assessment. Twelfth graders’ average reading score – 283 on a 500-point scale – was the lowest in more than three decades.
Only 35% of high school seniors in 2024 were reading at or above the test’s proficient level, down from 37% in 2019. Some 32% lacked the reading skills required to perform at a basic level, such as drawing general conclusions from concepts presented explicitly in the text.
The scores suggest an increasing number of students will not be prepared for entry-level college coursework and, instead, might need to take remedial classes that could slow their pathway to a degree.
That could require a change in how education systems work together to best serve student needs, says Michelle Cantú-Wilson, who sits on the board of trustees at San Jacinto College in Texas and is also a member of the National Assessment Governing Board. In Texas, a corequisite model has emerged that blends developmental and on-level instruction in credit-granting college courses.
“When we say students might need remediation or developmental education, that’s of course certainly sobering, right?” Ms. Cantú-Wilson says. “And we need to think about why that’s happening, but in Texas, in particular, we’re also ensuring that the model works for students and their goals.”
On the science front, eighth graders’ scores proved equally troublesome. The science assessment, also taken in 2024, measured students’ knowledge of physical science, life science, and earth and space science.
Eighth graders’ average science score declined four points since 2019 and fell to the same level recorded in 2009. The drop occurred across percentiles, meaning both higher- and lower-performing students are struggling in science.
Only 31% of eighth graders’ science scores placed them at the proficient or higher level. Thirty-eight percent of students, meanwhile, earned science scores below the test’s basic level.
And, after the science gender gap had essentially disappeared in 2019, the latest assessment shows girls falling behind boys once again.
National Center for Education Statistics
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Jacob Turcotte/Staff
“We certainly know that STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] has significant implications for national economic competitiveness and national security, and so we can’t not pay attention to these eighth grade science results,” says Matthew Soldner, acting commissioner for the National Center for Education Statistics, which administers the NAEP tests.
The downward trajectory of science scores could reflect a post-pandemic emphasis on reading and math that cut into time for other content areas, says Christine Cunningham, senior vice president for STEM Learning at the Museum of Science in Boston and a member of the National Assessment Governing Board.
But Dr. Cunningham says student motivation is another concern. A survey given alongside the science assessment found that students’ interest in science has dropped since 2019, as did their participation in classroom activities promoting scientific inquiry.
“If we are serious about helping kids to learn science, we need to carve out the time for it,” she says. “We need to think about what experiences kids have that are motivating and meaningful.”
Students do best, Dr. Cunningham says, when they have an interest in the topic and can find relevance within their own lives or the world around them. That could lead to integration with math and reading. An interesting science topic, for instance, might inspire children to read more about it.
“We’re going to need to think carefully about how to do that going forward,” she says.
