(THE FEDERALIST) – In one sense, the recent press release from the Department of Education featuring the latest results from national achievement tests barely classifies as “news.” But that fact makes the report no less important because it further confirms what other studies in the past several years have revealed: Closing schools for months on end due to Covid scarred children’s learning — quite possibly for life.
This report analyzed outcomes for 13-year-olds on the National Assessment of Educational Progress — the “Nation’s Report Card.” And as with national tests for fourth and eighth graders, the results of which were released last September, students showed a dramatic drop in their aptitude in reading and mathematics.
The recent release reflects scores from this fall’s NAEP long-term trend assessment designed to examine how student performance evolves over time. While working to measure long-term trends, this test also quantified a short-term drop in achievement as test scores plummeted by a statistically significant four points in reading and nine points in math compared to pre-pandemic levels.
