Elementary-age students are making academic progress following pandemic-related learning disruptions, but teenagers’ performance on standardized assessments remains concerning, according to new federal testing information released Wednesday.
The data shows 9-year-old students have returned to their pre-pandemic reading performance levels and demonstrated improvement in mathematics, based on results from an assessment administered consistently across the United States since the 1970s. However, 13-year-old students haven’t experienced similar academic recovery, with their average performance in both subject areas still falling short of pre-pandemic benchmarks. The most recent reading results from teenagers tested in 2024 mirror performance levels recorded when the assessment began in 1971.
Educational institutions and state leaders have concentrated their post-pandemic efforts on transforming elementary instruction, particularly through adopting the “science of reading” approach that teaches children to decode words by connecting letters to sounds. However, the new assessment results indicate that educators must also prioritize middle school students and improving academic performance among adolescent learners, according to Lesley Muldoon, executive director of the National Assessment Governing Board.
The 13-year-old students who participated in the national assessment experienced pandemic-related school closures during crucial elementary learning years. Within a few years, these students will complete their education while potentially still facing academic deficits.
“The 13-year-olds who took this assessment last year are headed to high school now or are already enrolled,” she said. “Schools won’t have them much longer. We can’t hesitate or wait if we’re going to turn these trends around.”
The long-term assessment, typically conducted every four years, provides insight into American students’ academic abilities at ages 9 and 13. Approximately 31,000 students from both public and private educational institutions completed the test during the 2024-2025 academic year. Unlike the primary Nation’s Report Card assessment for fourth and eighth graders, which receives regular updates to reflect evolving educational standards, this long-term evaluation has remained relatively unchanged since the 1970s.
Student academic performance in America was already on a downward trajectory before the pandemic began. Assessment scores reached their highest point around 2012 before beginning to decline, explained Matthew Soldner, acting commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics.
“We can clearly see that this isn’t just a pandemic story,” Soldner said.
The assessment results demonstrate that younger students are strengthening basic academic abilities, including locating information in straightforward news stories and grasping fundamental multiplication and division concepts. Seventy-one percent of 9-year-olds achieved the reading benchmark, while 84% met the mathematics standard, representing modest increases from 2022 results.
Adolescent students face evaluation on more complex abilities, including drawing conclusions from written passages and analyzing data from charts and graphs. Just 58% achieved the reading benchmark and 70% met the mathematics standard, showing no meaningful statistical progress since 2023.
Adding to concerns about stagnant reading achievement: Student engagement with recreational reading has reached historic lows.
Survey responses from test-takers revealed that only 14% of 13-year-olds engage in daily recreational reading, a decrease from 27% in 2012 and significantly lower than the 37% peak recorded in 1992. Among 9-year-old students, 37% reported daily recreational reading, marking a substantial drop from 53% in 2012. Educational researchers have connected the reduction in reading time to increased social media usage on mobile devices.
Despite these challenges, younger students have demonstrated “incredibly encouraging” academic recovery in recent years, Soldner noted. “Almost 50 years of progress has been eliminated” for 13-year-olds, he said.
The 13-year-old participants in the latest assessment would have been second or third-grade students during the pandemic’s first year. They returned to classroom instruction in fourth or fifth grade and completed this national evaluation during their final middle school years.
In comparison, the 9-year-old group began kindergarten or first grade as the pandemic’s most severe phase concluded and schools resumed normal operations. Their second and third-grade experiences more closely resembled traditional classroom instruction.
These educational experiences differ significantly, Soldner explained, as the older students missed critical years for developing fundamental reading and mathematical abilities in school settings.
Although recent declines in student performance are concerning, historical assessment data demonstrates that changing children’s academic paths over time remains achievable, said Mark Miller, an eighth grade math teacher and former member of the National Assessment Governing Board.
“We have made progress in the past, from the early ’70s to 2012,” Miller said. “Can it be done again? Absolutely.”
