Reading And Math Scores Have Dropped Among Students In The U.S. Following The Impacts Of COVID-19

There’s new evidence showing how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted fourth, and eighth-graders reading and math skills as testing scores have dropped.

According to a national educational assessment that lists the ways in which the pandemic has affected children in America, fourth-grade students and eighth-grade students’ skills in reading and math were impacted by COVID-19.

News Channel 3 reports the average math score of 236 for fourth graders dropped by 5 points after 2019, and for eighth graders, it dropped 8 points below the average of 274. In 2019, the average reading score was 217, but it dropped by 3 points. Whereas the reading scores for eighth-graders in 2019 were 260, and that score also saw a decline of 3 points.

These findings are based on the National Assessment of Educational Progress for reading and math exams, which is sometimes referred to as the “Nation’s Report Card.” The evidence was compiled and analyzed by the National Center for Education Statistics, which is a sector of the Education Department, the news outlet reports. The results of the assessment are now pointing to the need to invest more in the country’s education and school curriculum.

“If this is not a wake-up call for us to double down our efforts and improve education, even before it was — before the pandemic, then I don’t know what will,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona told CNN on Monday.

Some of the variables that were noted as impacts were the transition from in-person learning to remote learning, as well as health and COVID-19 related health issues for families and