NAEP Long-Term Trend Assessment Results: Reading and Mathematics

Greater score decreases for lower-performing students

NAEP reports scores at five selected percentiles to show the progress made by lower- (10th and 25th percentiles), middle- (50th percentile), and higher- (75th and 90th percentiles) performing students. In 2022, reading and mathematics scores for students at all five selected percentile levels declined compared to 2020. In both subjects, scores for lower-performing age 9 students declined more than scores for higher-performing students compared to 2020.

Score declines across many student groups in reading and mathematics compared to 2020

In 2022, average scores declined in reading and mathematics across many of the selected student groups compared to 2020. In reading, however, the average score for 9-year-old students who attended city schools was about the same compared to 2020, and the score for students who attended schools in the West region was not significantly different. Across long-term trend reading and mathematics, there were no increases in scores for any of the selected student groups compared to 2020. 

The score difference between students attending suburban schools and students attending city schools narrowed in reading between 2020 and 2022. The 8-point decrease in scores for students attending suburban schools compared to the unchanged score for students attending city schools resulted in a narrowing of the score gap between students attending schools from these two locations (from 12 points in 2020 to 4 points in 2022). In mathematics, the 13-point score decrease among Black students compared to the 5-point decrease among White students resulted in a widening of the White−Black score gap from 25 points in 2020 to 33 points in 2022. 

Scores for lower performers decline within most student groups

Exploring student group performance at the lower (25th percentile) and higher (75th percentile) performance levels provides additional insight into the score declines for selected student groups. In 2022, there were no increases compared to 2020 in the scores for any of the selected student groups performing at either the 25th percentile or at the 75th percentile in both long-term trend reading and mathematics. Scores were lower for nearly all selected student groups at the 25th percentile in mathematics. In reading, scores declined for most selected student groups at the 25th percentile compared to 2020, with some exceptions. For example, reading scores for students performing at the 25th percentile declined for those students who attended suburban schools. In addition, reading scores at the 25th percentile declined for those students who attended schools in the South.

There were also fewer declines at the higher performance level (at the 75th percentile) in reading than in mathematics across selected student groups. For example, when looking at the racial/ethnic groups, while scores declined for White, Black, and Hispanic students at the 75th percentile in mathematics compared to 2020, there were no significant score changes across the reported racial/ethnic student groups at this performance level in reading.

Greater access to resources for higher performers learning remotely 

All students who took the long-term trend assessments in 2022 were asked if they ever attended school from home or somewhere else outside of school for any duration during the last school year (2020–21) because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Seventy percent of 9-year-old students recalled learning remotely during the last school year, while 19 percent reported they did not learn remotely, and 11 percent did not remember. Explore additional data on remote learning by select student groups, including region, school location, and race/ethnicity.  

Although comparisons in students’ performance shown below are made based on student, teacher, and school characteristics and educational experiences, these results cannot be used to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between the characteristics or experiences and student achievement. NAEP is not designed to identify the causes of performance differences. There are many factors that may influence average student achievement, including local educational policies and practices, the quality of teachers, and available resources. Such factors may change over time and vary among student groups.

Of the 70 percent of 9-year-olds who learned remotely during the 2020–21 school year, higher performers (those at or above the 75th percentile) had greater access to a desktop computer, laptop, or tablet all the time; a quiet place to work available some of the time; and a teacher available to help them with reading or mathematics schoolwork every day or almost every day compared to lower performers (those below the 25th percentile).

Higher performers overall more confident in their remote learning abilities

All students who took the long-term trend assessments were asked how confident they would be monitoring their own learning process if they hypothetically needed to attend school from home or somewhere else outside of school for their reading or mathematics class. Higher-performing students reported more confidence in their ability to recognize when they don’t understand something they are learning, ask for help when they need it, and find learning resources online to learn more about something they don’t understand compared to their lower-performing peers.

Since the 1970s, the NAEP long-term trend assessments have been administered to monitor the academic performance of students across three age levels (9-, 13-, and 17-year-old students). This report focuses on the comparison of age 9 students (typically in grade 4) between 2020 and 2022. A report summarizing results for 9-year-old students across all administrations back to the early 1970s will be released in the spring of 2023, along with results for 13-year-old students.