Students’ Average Test Scores Are Declining For Grades 3 Through 8 — According To New Report, Here’s What Is Partially To Blame – AfroTech
A new report is shedding light on a “learning recession” in U.S. schools that started in 2013.
The report, titled “From Learning Recession to Learning Recovery: Understanding the Sources of U.S. K-12 Improvement,” was led by researchers at Harvard University, Stanford University, and Dartmouth College.
In 2022, the researchers created the Education Recovery Scorecard, which was designed to “track the pace of post-pandemic recovery in local communities around the country,” per the report. It is a collaboration between the Center for Education Policy Research (CEPR) at Harvard and the Educational Opportunity
Project (EOP) at Stanford. According to ABC News, the Education Scorecard examined reading and math scores for students in grades 3 through 8 from more than 100 school districts between 2009 and 2025.
Findings from the report found that since 2013 there has been a decline in average test scores among students in the U.S. For reading, it was noted that the average annual loss before the pandemic (2017–19) was already dropping and was as significant as during the pandemic (2019–22). Reading scores in the National Assessment of Educational Progress for Grade 8 were at their lowest since 1990.
“The decline in scores doesn’t mean that students aren’t ready. It’s not something to panic about. It’s something to be aware of,” said Elaine Allensworth, executive director of the UChicago Consortium on School Research, who was not involved with the report, per ABC News. “We need to really start asking questions about what we can do to support students so they feel engaged in school and we’re addressing those factors that are leading students to be less engaged and leading to these smaller learning gains.”
The report cited a decline in test-based accountability and increase in social media use as reasons for the deceleration in achievement.
“The ‘learning recession’ started a decade ago, after policymakers switched off the early warning system of test-based accountability and social media took over children’s lives,” Tom Kane, an author of the report and faculty director of the CEPR at Harvard, said, according to ABC News.
The report mentioned an uptick in math achievement between 2022 and 2024, stating that the annual rate of improvement quickly returned to pre-2013 levels. Reading still showed a decline between 2022 and 2024, but in 2025 the report stated that it marked the beginning of a turnaround in reading, credited to early literacy reforms. States that showed improvements in reading included Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, Tennessee, and Washington DC.
Researchers shared several suggestions to improve student outcomes. They recommended that education leaders prioritize reducing student absences and consider ways to reduce phone use in schools and social media use outside of school. At the federal level, it recommends supporting efforts to reduce absenteeism and funding literacy coaches and third-grade retention policies.
It also said that with federal pandemic relief expiring, education leaders should consider achievement losses since 2019 when identifying schools in need of support and improvements.
