New national test results released Sept. 9 show a sharp drop in academic performance among the nation’s high school seniors, with 12th-grade math and reading scores falling to levels not seen in decades and the gap between the highest- and lowest-performing students widening.
The numbers are another indication of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on educational outcomes for high schoolers.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), often called The Nation’s Report Card, found that the average mathematics score for 12th-graders declined 3 percentage points from 2019 to 2024 — a decline that puts the average at its lowest level since 2005. Roughly 19,300 students took the grade 12 mathematics assessment between January and March 2024, while about 24,300 took the reading assessment, NAEP reported.
NAEP’s grade 12 mathematics framework covers subject areas such as number properties and operations, measurement and geometry, data analysis/statistics/probability, and algebra. The test included about 60 minutes of cognitive testing administered on tablets or Chromebooks, with both selected-response and constructed-response items.
Reading scores showed a similar trend, with average scores declining and only the top-performing students managing to maintain their scores.
The 12th grade results showed a decline in average scores across all percentiles except for the 90th. The drop underlines a broader trend where a smaller percentage of students achieved scores at or above NAEP’s proficient level, while a larger number scored below the NAEP basic threshold. Forty-five percent of 12th-graders scored below basic in mathematics.
NAEP also reported an increase in absenteeism among 12th graders compared to 2019.
The results drew immediate concern from national education leaders. The National Parents Union called the scores a “five-alarm fire for America’s children and their future,” saying “millions of young people are leaving school with fewer skills, less knowledge, and dimmer prospects than the generations before them. It is nothing less than the betrayal of an entire generation.”
US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon issued a statement tying the scores to failures in how federal education dollars are used and calling for greater state control.
“Today’s NAEP results confirm a devastating trend: American students are testing at historic lows across all of K-12,” McMahon said. “The lesson is clear. Success isn’t about how much money we spend, but who controls the money and where that money is invested. That’s why President Trump and I are committed to returning control of education to the states so they can innovate and meet each school and students’ unique needs.” She added that “nearly half of America’s high school seniors are testing at below basic levels in math and reading.”
The federal NAEP findings arrive as North Carolina releases state testing data that show modest recovery from the pandemic-era lows but still lagging pre-COVID highs. Data presented to the State Board of Education in early September showed gains in 12 of 15 statewide math and reading assessments, an uptick in the average ACT composite for 11th-graders to 18.2 in 2024–25, and a four-year graduation rate that climbed to 87.7% — the highest in a decade.