Nation’s Students Struggle to Regain Pre-Pandemic Academic Levels
Recent testing data reveals that students across the United States continue to grapple with the learning setbacks brought on by the pandemic. While there is some improvement in math proficiency, reading scores remain largely stagnant, according to a new report by the NWEA.
The findings are based on the Spring 2025 MAP Growth assessment, an extensive suite of tests administered by NWEA—a prominent K-12 testing and research organization—to millions of students nationwide.
Reading Scores: A Persistent Challenge
The latest data indicates that reading achievement for third- through eighth-graders is still lagging. Gains that were observed in 2022 have dissipated, with students performing at levels comparable to the lows experienced during the pandemic. This trend is consistent across different races, ethnicities, and socio-economic backgrounds.
Math Scores: Signs of Recovery
In contrast, math scores show a modest recovery, with several grades improving slightly compared to 2024. This improvement is evident across various demographics, yet no grade level has returned to its 2019 performance.
“Math is crawling back, however modestly, but reading isn’t budging,” stated Karyn Lewis, vice president of research at NWEA. “I know people want this chapter to be over, but these data remind us it isn’t. Looking away won’t make the problem disappear; it means accepting these outcomes are permanent. That is not an option.”
Introducing a New Performance Dashboard
To assist educators and policymakers in tracking student progress, NWEA has launched a new dashboard. Updated three times annually, this tool will provide a more frequent benchmark compared to the Nation’s Report Card, which is published biennially.
Megan Kuhfeld, director of growth modeling and data analytics at NWEA, emphasized the importance of these trends: “Given the unevenness of recovery, even within schools and classrooms, national trends like these are an important first step to understanding where to dig deeper at the local level and ask critical questions about the necessary support and resources.”
Tom Kane from Harvard University’s Center for Education Policy Research highlighted the significance of this initiative by stating, “Two years is too long for American students to go between doctor visits, especially when recovering from a major injury, such as occurred during the pandemic.”
This effort to provide more comprehensive data comes amid reduced funding and resources for the Institute of Education Sciences, the federal body responsible for national education data collection and analysis. For more details, visit NPR.
