10 Takeaways from the Newly Released 2024 NAEP Results

The Nation’s Report Card for 2024 is here. We may be eager to put the pandemic behind us, but the reality is that five years out we need to see how students are faring after massive disruptions to learning and historic drops in 2022.

Given all that, here are the top 10 things to know about the 2024 Nation’s Report Card.

Important national takeaways

• As a nation, U.S. students have not recovered from the devastating impact the pandemic had on education. National scores are below pre-pandemic levels (2019) in ALL tested grades and subjects.
• Higher-performing students drove most of the progress made in 2024. Gaps are growing between higher-performing and lower-performing students — a trend we’ve been seeing for more than a decade. Just how big is this gap? On a 500-point scale, the lowest-performing students generally score about 100 points below the highest-performing students in 2024.

Reading in 2024

• Reading scores are down nationally in both 4^th and 8^th grades. No state saw reading gains in either grade, compared to 2022.
• A third (33%) of 8^th graders are not even reading at the NAEP Basic level—a greater percentage than ever before. Which means, a third of 8th graders likely could not identify basic literary elements in a text such as the order of events, character traits, and main idea. (More about achievement levels here.)

Math in 2024

• In 4^th grade, math scores are up nationally by 2 points. While this is promising, middle- and higher-performing students drove the progress. Scores for lower-performing students were flat.
• In 8^th grade, math scores are flat nationally, which is of particular concern given the historic 8-point drop for 8^th graders in 2022. Unfortunately, that overall flatness masks higher-performing students’ gains in 2024 and lower-performing students’ declines. (More about achievement levels here.)

Important 2024 state and urban district findings:

• In 4^th grade math, 13 states, DC, and Puerto Rico, and 14 TUDA districts, saw gains, compared to 2022. 
  

• In 4^th grade reading, of all the participating urban school districts (TUDAs) and states, only Atlanta Public Schools saw significant gains, compared to 2022.

Important patterns among subgroups:

• In 8^th grade across both subjects, Hispanic students saw significant declines, compared to 2022. In reading, Hispanic students are down 5 points; in math 3 points.
• In 4^th grade math, Black students, Hispanic students, and White students all saw average score gains, but this was driven by higher-performing students. Lower performers’ scores were flat.

A bonus takeaway: Surpassing pre-pandemic scores:

• Only one state, Louisiana, surpassed its 2019 (pre-pandemic) 4^th-grade reading score, and only one state, Alabama, surpassed its 2019 (pre-pandemic) 4^th-grade math score.