What you need to know
As the U.S. Congress debates whether to eliminate the Department of Education, one of the most important questions is whether federal, state, and local education policies foster positive education outcomes. One of the most important tools for measuring student achievement in the United States is the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), often called The Nation’s Report Card. What does this data tell us about educational achievement? In this brief we discuss:
- What do NAEP scores reveal about long-term trends in student achievement?
- How U.S. students compare to peers in other industrialized nations.
- Why recent declines raise questions about national education policy.
What are NAEP assessments?
Administered by the National Center for Education Statistics, NAEP is the largest nationally representative and ongoing assessment of primary and secondary schools. Since 1969, NAEP has measured student performance at grades 4, 8, and 12. The subjects covered have changed over time but include math, reading, science, civics, U.S. history, technology and engineering literacy, geography, the arts, economics, and writing.
Unlike state assessments, which vary by content and standard, NAEP assessments are based on nationally developed frameworks. This consistency allows for comparisons between states and over time. Students participate at regular intervals, but results are only reported in the aggregate, not for individual students or schools.
NAEP results are reported in two ways:
- Average Scale Scores: Numerical scores that reflect the overall performance of a group, with higher scores indicating greater mastery of the tested subject. These scales are specific to each subject.
- Achievement Levels: Students are categorized as performing at Basic (partial mastery), Proficient (solid academic performance), or Advanced (superior performance).
How Have Students' Scores Changed Over Time?
NAEP data from 1990 to 2024 (what is available online) provides a long-term view of national academic performance. While not every subject is tested each year or at all grade levels, math and reading are regularly assessed at grades 4 and 8.
Looking at average scores over the past 25 years, students made meaningful gains in math and reading from the 1990s through the early 2010s. Since about 2015, however, progress has stalled or reversed. This trend is visible in the figure below, where all four scores show downward movement from their respective peaks.
Post-COVID data continues to highlight this downward trend. From 2018 to 2022, math scores for both 4th and 8th graders dropped more than at any point in NAEP history. Only 26% of 8th graders and 35% of 4th graders reached proficiency in math in 2022. Reading outcomes were similarly weak: 33% of 4th graders and 31% of 8th graders scored at or above proficient. In civics, Grade 8 scores have shown little change in two decades and remain well below the Proficient benchmark.
How do U.S. test results compare to other countries?
One international comparison to these data are similar tests administered by the nations of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a group of 35 other industrialized countries. Here, U.S. students are consistently above the average in reading and science, but trail behind in mathematics. In a second comparison, the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment of 15-year-olds in 80 countries, U.S. scores were again near the average, well below countries such as Singapore, China, and South Korea.
These international comparisons are not airtight. The U.S. tests as many students as possible, while other countries may only test a subset of highly qualified students. In addition, tests may not be comparable across countries. Even so, the mid-range results for U.S. students raise questions about the need for educational reform.
The Takeaway
NAEP scores show that after decades of progress, American students are now experiencing a broad academic backslide, particularly in math and reading. International comparisons show that the U.S. is near the average across many nations.
It is important to note that most primary and secondary education funding and policy decisions (including curriculum) are made at the state and local level, with the federal Department of Education exercising minimal oversight.
Even so, these data indicate that recent federal initiatives are not improving overall educational achievement in the U.S. at the national or international level.
Enjoying this content? Support our mission through financial support.
Further reading
National Center for Education Statistics. (2024). The Nation’s Report Card: Results from the 2024 NAEP assessments.. https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/ , accessed 6/1/25,
Sources
NAEP (2025) About NAEP. https://tinyurl.com/5fvhn298, accessed 6/2/25.
NAEP (2024a) The Nation’s Report Card. (2024a). https://tinyurl.com/4ufat5bt, accessed 5/29/25.
Institute of Education Sciences (2024) International comparisons of achievement https://tinyurl.com/27fku38r accessed on: May 20, 2025
NAEP (2024b) Report card: Mathematics. https://tinyurl.com/927dy8r6 , accessed 6/2/25
National Center for Educational Programs (2024c) NAEP Data Explorer. https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/ndecore/xplore/NDE, accessed 6/1/25
NARP (2024d) Student groups and Trend Reports (2024e) Student Groups and Trend Reports.. https://tinyurl.com/4b4nzfsw, accessed 6/3/25.
Contributors
Ralph Fernando (Intern) is an Economics and Mathematics student at Indiana University Bloomington. He will graduate in May 2025 and plans to attend graduate school to pursue a Ph.D. in Economics.
Lindsey Cormack (Content Lead) is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Stevens Institute of Technology and the Director of the Diplomacy Lab. She received her PhD from New York University. Her research explores congressional communication, civic education, and electoral systems. Lindsey is the creator of DCInbox, a comprehensive digital archive of Congress-to-constituent e-newsletters, and the author of How to Raise a Citizen (And Why It’s Up to You to Do It) and Congress and U.S. Veterans: From the GI Bill to the VA Crisis. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Bloomberg Businessweek, Big Think, and more. With a drive for connecting academic insights to real-world challenges, she collaborates with schools, communities, and parent groups to enhance civic participation and understanding.
William Bianco (Research Director) is Professor of Political Science at Indiana University and Founding Director of the Indiana Political Analytics Workshop. He received his PhD from the University of Rochester. His teaching focuses on first-year students and the Introduction to American Government class, emphasizing quantitative literacy. He is the co-author of American Politics Today, an introductory textbook published by W. W. Norton, now in its 8th edition, and authored a second textbook, American Politics: Strategy and Choice. His research program is on American politics, including Trust: Representatives and Constituents and numerous articles. He was also the PI or Co-PI for seven National Science Foundation grants and a current grant from the Russell Sage Foundation on the sources of inequalities in federal COVID assistance programs. His op-eds have been published in The Washington Post, Indianapolis Star, Newsday, and other venues.
