Mark your calendars: New student achievement data due out Jan. 29
The nationwide release of fourth- and eighth-grade student performance in reading and math has been set for Jan. 29, 2025, as announced by the National Assessment Governing Board of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
NAEP is the only nationally representative assessment of what students know and can do. The nonpartisan 26-member Governing Board established by Congress in 1988 sets policy for NAEP — what grades and subjects to assess, what the tested content should include, and what the achievement levels are.The NAEP reading and math tests are administered every two years to a sample of fourth- and eighth-grade students who represent the student population of the states and nation as a whole. It is the only objective student learning outcome measure available to compare states’ academic performance, and it can help assess how states are doing with preparing their students academically (i.e., whether state standards are rigorous enough).
The last NAEP results came out in October 2022, and every state along with Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico saw their average scores drop from 2019 in at least one subject area and grade level (the Department of Defense schools were the exception, as they showed any improvement).
Twenty-one states saw declines on all four assessments — fourth-grade math and reading, and eighth-grade math and reading — including North Dakota. And while NAEP assessments differ from states’ standardized testing — NAEP is considered more rigorous than most state tests — these score declines largely mirror student achievement concerns on North Dakota’s math and reading state assessments.
The 2024 NAEP results set to be released on Jan. 29, 2025 will provide key information on student achievement and whether the academic recovery needle has finally started moving in the right direction for a number of states and certain student groups. For example, nationally, fourth- and eighth-grade reading scores have been declining since 2017. While national average NAEP reading scores for higher-performing fourth graders have remained fairly constant since pre-COVID, scores for their lower-performing peers have significantly decreased, widening the average scale score gap between higher-performing and lower-performing students to over a hundred points.
North Dakota’s average fourth-grade NAEP math score has been declining since 2013 and fourth-grade reading since 2015. Among eighth-graders, the average score in reading has been declining since 2011, and math has been declining since 2017.
Stanford economist and former Governing Board member Eric Hanushek estimates NAEP score declines will lead to lifetime income loss for students and reduced economic activity for states. For North Dakota, based on average learning loss, students can expect a five percent loss in future income, Hanushek projects.
Let’s hope the upcoming release of NAEP data will provide some better news for the future of North Dakota academic achievement.
