If anything, the one good thing that could be said of the 12th grade NAEP results released early yesterday morning is that they reinforce the importance of a rigorous, national benchmark assessment like NAEP and the information it provides. That may be the sliver of silver lining in what was otherwise a wash of negative news about student achievement.
Overall, the test showed considerable portions of students who graduated in 2024 to not even be meeting the threshold for NAEP Basic in math or reading. In reading, nearly one-third of (32%) seniors who graduated in 2024 were considered below NAEP Basic, meaning they are unlikely to be able make simple inferences about a text, provide or support opinions with text-based evidence, or evaluate the effectiveness of an author’s claim. Thirty-five percent were considered at/above proficient.
In math, 45% of seniors who graduated in 2024 were considered below NAEP Basic, meaning they are likely to be lacking in skills such as using percentages to solve real-world problems. Only 22% were considered at or above proficient. This is a glaring indictment of our K-12 system, especially at a time when math skills are going to be essential for entering the workforce and being able to compete on the international stage.
While the pandemic certainly did not help student achievement, many of our struggles predate 2020. In math, for example, the last time that the share meeting NAEP Basic standards exceeded the share that fell below the Basic threshold was 2013. In 2013, the share reaching the NAEP Basic threshold (39%) exceeded the share that did not meet NAEP Basic (35%) by 4 points. But by 2024, the share falling below the basic threshold (45%) dwarfed the share meeting NAEP Basic (33%) by 12 points, a staggering reversal. 2013 also marks the year that the share considered below NAEP basic in reading started to steadily rise.
The latest 12th grade results join the 2024 results for fourth and eighth grade that were released earlier this year. The headline finding in January: 40% of fourth graders were below NAEP Basic in reading, suggesting they had not yet made the transition from learning to read to reading to learn. Now, 45% of 12th graders are below NAEP Basic in math, pointing to problems with the fundamental knowledge base of our K-12 students.
The latest results have generated the usual handwringing in the media and from education leaders. Acting NCES commissioner Matthew Soldner called the results “a stark decline,” while Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement that they “confirm a devastating trend.”
But we cannot keep bemoaning the NAEP scores, fundamentally make no changes to our education system, and then bemoan the scores again two years later. Our struggles with student achievement will have consequences for our future workforce and economy, and these consequences will appear sooner or later. It was this concern that spurred us to write a policy paper advocating for more data in the form of a more frequent 12th grade NAEP assessment and the addition of a first grade NAEP. The data from this latest round of NAEP results reinforce that we need a fundamental rethink of our K-12 system.
