NAEP releases long-term trend assessment results

CONCORD, NH — Today, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, often known as the Nation’s Report Card, released the 2023 long-term trend results for 13-year-olds. 

Nationwide, the new results provide further evidence that students have lost major academic ground in math and reading since the pandemic, coupled with long-term scores that have been declining since 2012. Now, reading scores are back to the same level as the 1970s, or a half century ago. And, lower-performing students – those at the 10th and 25th percentiles in math – fell by 14 and 12 points, respectively; higher-performing students saw a six-point drop in math, according to the results. 

“The system created with the aspiration of being the ‘great equalizer’ has, in fact, become the great divider,” said Frank Edelblut, education commissioner. “Although the losses were steeper in math than in reading, it is clear that students need significant support in both areas, particularly since reading had been flat or declining since before the pandemic and long-term scores have been falling for about a decade. 

“We know that schools are working hard to support students academically and foster necessary conditions for learning, which means that in order for us to recover and aim higher, this problem will not be solved in an educational silo. While these results might paint a bleak picture, we must act with urgency and leverage the Nation’s Report Card to see where more resources outside of the classroom setting might be needed to accelerate learning and help students be prepared to pursue their educational, career and life goals,” added Edelblut.

This cohort of 13-year-olds was assessed on fundamental skills and knowledge in the fall of 2022, and the newest data reflects nationwide results. The widespread declines in 13-year-old scores in math and reading during the pandemic are parallel to the widespread declines on the Nation’s Report Card previously released for fourth and eighth-graders and long-term trend results for 9-year-olds. Across all assessments, the declines were worse in math than in reading. 

The nationwide results are available at NAEP.