Despite some improvement, NAEP scores stay below pre-pandemic levels |
On Board Online • February 24, 2025
By Paul Heiser
Senior Research Analyst
The performance of New York's fourth- and eighth-graders on the 2024 national assessments of math and reading has shown some improvement since the tests were last given in 2022 but still lags behind pre-pandemic achievement levels. The same pattern held nationally on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), often referred to as The Nation's Report Card.
In reading, 31% of fourth- and eighth-graders in New York State tested as either proficient or advanced, and the national figures were 31% and 30%, respectively.
In math, 37% of fourth-graders and 26% of eighth-graders in New York were proficient or advanced, compared to 40% and 28%, respectively, nationally.
"Reading and math scores were declining even before the pandemic - especially for the lowest-performing students," Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat and the chair of the National Governors Association, said in a statement. "Our challenge isn't just to get back to normal; it's to reverse decades of deterioration."
The NAEP is a congressionally mandated program that is overseen and administered by the National Center for Education Statistics. It periodically administers identical assessments to students in grades 4, 8 and 12 in every state in several subjects, including civics, economics, geography, mathematics, music and visual arts, reading, science, technology and engineering literacy, U.S. history and writing. The most recent NAEP results reflect a representative sample of students in each state in reading and math.
NYS 4th-grade reading gain not statistically significant
There was improvement on NYS fourth-grade reading assessments from the last administration, but the one-point gain from 2022 to 2024 was not considered statistically significant. However, the average score was five points less than in 2019 (the last time the test was administered prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.) The percentage of students scoring at the proficient level rose by one percentage point from 2022 to 2024 but was three percentage points less than in 2019.
New York's improvement on fourth-grade reading was somewhat better than the nation as a whole, however. Nationally, the average score dipped by two points between 2022 and 2024 and by five points since 2019. The percentage of students scoring at the proficient level decreased by two points between 2022 and 2024 and by four percentage points since 2019.
NYS 8th-grade average reading scores plummet
In eighth grade, the average score of New York students in reading declined by five points in 2024 from both the 2022 and 2019 versions of the test. The percentages of students scoring at the proficient level declined by one percentage point from both the 2022 and 2019 assessments.
New York's performance was similar to the rest of the nation. U.S. average test scores declined by two points from 2022 to 2024 and by five points since 2019. Meanwhile, the percentage of the nation's students scoring at the proficient level stayed the same since 2022 but fell by three percentage points from the 2019 assessment.
NYS one of 13 states with higher scores on fourth-grade math compared with 2022
Average scores on fourth-grade math in New York improved by seven points from 2022 to 2024, and the percentage of students scoring at the "proficient" level was up by nine percentage points.
However, average scores were three points less than they were in 2019, and the percentage of students considered proficient saw no change over that five-year period.
New York was one of only 13 states that had higher scores on fourth-grade math compared with 2022 and one of 18 states that had higher percentages of students scoring proficient in grade four compared with 2022. However, New York was one of 28 states whose fourth-grade math scores were not significantly different than in 2019 and one of 40 states whose percentage of students scoring proficient was not significantly different than five years earlier.
Like most states, NYS 8th-grade math scores stayed flat from 2022 to 2024
Math results for New York's eighth graders were less auspicious. In that grade, average scores and the percentage of students scoring at the proficient level both declined from 2022, although the declines were considered not statistically significant. Declines in eighth-grade math between 2019 and 2024 were significant, however. Average scores decreased by nine percentage points, while the percentage of students deemed proficient fell by eight percentage points.
The vast majority of states found similarly stagnant results in eighth-grade math. New York was one of 46 states in which both average test scores and the percentages of students scoring at the proficient level were not statistically significantly different than in 2022. New York was one of 49 states whose eighth-grade math scores were lower in 2024 than in 2022, and one of 42 states with percentages of eighth graders below proficient compared with 2019.
"It's clear from these test results that student performance in reading and math hasn't fully recovered from the impact on student learning of the COVID-19 shutdowns," said NYSSBA Executive Director Robert Schneider. "However, the incremental improvements seen in some grades and subjects between 2022 and 2024 shows the positive impact of programs and services schools have put in place to help students recoup much of that lost learning."
Editor's note: Administration of the NAEP is congressionally mandated as a part of the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002. If the U.S. Department of Education is eliminated by the Trump administration, the fate of the NAEP is unknown.