Numbers released today by the Department of Education show unprecedented declines nationwide in math and reading for American 4th and 8th grade students. The data shows academic setbacks throughout the pandemic, including here in Virginia.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, are reading and math tests given to a sampling of students every two years across the country. The results are known as the Nation’s Report Card. And the nation is not doing well.
Matt Barnum is a reporter for the education website Chalkbeat, and he’s analyzed the latest figures.
“It appears like Virginia students fell at a faster rate than the country as a whole,” Barnum said in an interview Monday. “And the country as a whole fell a lot.”
Although that’s what the figures appear to show, Barnum does caution against reading too closely into state-by-state comparisons because the data is a sampling of students, and the Department of Education doesn’t release the margin of error.
“There is imprecision in these estimates, and so especially at the state level there may be some margin of error,” Barnum explains.
He also warns that while the data tells what is, that there is learning loss for example, it can’t provide an explanation as to why. Federal officials this year did point to the pandemic as a likely leading cause of the sharp decline over the past two years. Although the data also showed a decline beginning in 2017, before the pandemic, as well.
More Info here from the COVID-19 School Data Hub about learning outcomes in Virginia
Regardless of the reason, the picture today isn’t good. It presents a challenge for students, educators and policymakers. Some districts are facing that challenge by investing COVID relief funds in extra school programming and staff – things like after school tutoring and more reading specialists.
“There is some reason for optimism about all of those strategies,” said Barnum. “And some evidence to say ‘Yeah, when kids get more time in school with adults they’re going to do better.’ And that makes a whole lot of sense.”
Barnum adds that it’s important policy makers work to ensure those extra resources are reaching the kids who need them, not just those families who opt in.
NAEP scores spark debate on how Virginia should track student progress
Governor Glenn Youngkin says a new federal report card for 4th grade students and 8th grade students is revealing an honesty gap in Virginia – a gap between the portrait of a school system where most schools are accredited versus test scores for reading and math he says show catastrophic learning loss in Virginia.
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Laura Goren at the Commonwealth Institute says Virginia's accreditation system gives a more complete picture that includes things like attendance and improvement over the previous school year.
"I don't view the accreditation system as covering anything up," Goren says. "What it's doing is providing additional information to families."
James Fedderman at the Virginia Education Association says the real problem isn't test scores for reading and math. It's a lack of resources.
"If the Youngkin administration were to really put their money where their mouth is, they would prioritize using our revenue surplus to invest in competitive pay to stem our staffing shortages," Fedderman says.
For many years, the performance of students in Virginia for reading and math has been well above the national average. Now, these most recent federal scores show performance that aligns right at the national average, a drop that is concerning to people on all sides of the debate about what should come next.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.