Middle School Reading Achievement, Grade 8, Change 2022 to 2024

As society becomes ever more dependent on written communication reading is increasingly the fundamental skill for which schools are responsible to teach. In the United States, the reading ability of students in middle school is particularly important, as it is unlikely to improve in later school years and is as well an indicator of the quality of educational opportunities enjoyed by students in earlier grades.? The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), usually published every two years, is considered to be the most reliable and valid measure of student abilities in a number of areas, including reading. Student achievement is divided by NAEP into “Basic,” the level expected; “Proficient,” and “Advanced,” as well as “Below Basic,” that is, unable to read at grade level.

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Unusually, the 2024 NAEP found that average reading scores in most states had declined from those in the previous, 2022, assessment. However, exceptionally, in Mississippi and South Carolina, with 64% of grade 8 students reaching the Basic level, and New Hampshire, with 74% at that level, there was no decline between 2022 and 2024. On the other hand, in Texas, New York and California, with their large populations, declines were 10% in Texas and New York and 13% in California (to 61%, 65% and 63%), respectively. This trend is also notable in New Mexico, Alaska and Nevada, with their relatively small populations, where the declines were 10%, 12% and 12% (to 54%, 57% and 62%), respectively. The average decline of reading scores for all the states ?was 5% to a level of 66%—two thirds—of students in grade 8.? Or, to put that another way, one-third of middle school students in the United States have not been taught to read well enough to fully understand their classroom assignments.

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NAEP also disaggregates its data by what it calls “Race/ethnicity used to report trends, school reported,” among which are “White,” “Black,” “Hispanic,” and “Asian/Pacific Islander.” NAEP found in 2024 that reading achievement of? “White” students in grade 8 declined from the 2022 level by 2% to 77% reading at the “Basic” level or above, while the percentage of “Black” students in grade 8 reading at the “Basic” level or above declined 1% to just over half, 52%; “Hispanic” declined 6% to 55% and “Asian/Pacific Islander” 2% to 83%.? The declines in the percentage of students reading at grade level were relatively trivial for most groups, but that of “Hispanic” students was much larger than the others from a level that was not much over half. This was still slightly greater than the percentage of “Black” students who had been taught to read well enough to understand their classroom assignments. The gap in the percentages of students reading at grade level between “White” and “Asian/Pacific Islander” students, on the one hand, and “Black” and “Hispanic” students, on the other, is an indication of the differing educational opportunities available to those students.

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Michael Holzman

#education #reading #NAEP #equity

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