NAEP long-term trends in reading and math

By Susan Davis, Johns Hopkins University

The National Center for Education Statistics has released a report highlighting the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) long-term trend reading and math assessment, most recently given to 13-year-olds in October 2022. The long-term trend assessment contrasts students’ scores over time. Compared to the results of the last long-term trend test, given in 2019, this year’s found an average decline of 4 points in reading and 9 points in math. The declines in math for lower-performing students were approximately double that of middle- and higher-performing students. Compared to the long-term trend assessment given ten years ago, students demonstrated an average decline of 7 points in reading and 14 points in math. Data in the report may be broken down by student group, and details of the tests themselves are discussed.