The Condition of Education in the U.S. is Worse Than We Thought

Analysts have sounded the alarm. Average scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), commonly called “The Nation’s Report Card,” are at multi-decade lows across grades and subjects. The U.S. faces a K-12 learning crisis. But that is only part of the story. Did pandemic learning loss happen across the board or just for low- or high-achievers? Have key achievement gaps grown or shrunk? Are these patterns unique to traditional public schools (TPS) or consistent across school types? Do they vary based on student background factors?

Our recent study answers those vital questions. We analyzed over 6 million test scores of students on the NAEP from 2005 to 2024 in 4th and 8th grade, in math and reading, in TPS, public charter schools, Catholic schools, and schools run by the (formerly named) Department of Defense (DoD). We focused on the trends in the scores of students achieving at the 75th and 25th percentiles––high and low achievers–and the gap between their scores. All our comparisons adjust for differences in key student background factors.

We sought evidence that one or more school sectors were substantially boosting achievement for both high- and low-performing students, but delivering greater gains for low-performing students, thus shrinking what we call the 75-25 achievement gap. We found evidence of simultaneous increases in achievement and closing of gaps, primarily in the charter school sector, but only before the pandemic. Comparing 2005 and 2024 scores, none of the four major school sectors in the U.S. simultaneously and meaningfully increased achievement while also improving equality overall or for any of the student subgroups in our study.