The tests are known as the nation’s report card — the math and reading tests given to fourth and eighth graders across the country.
They were given early this year for the first time since 2019, and the pandemic took a toll. Scores fell throughout the US. In New Jersey they fell too but remained above the national average.
Jessie Gomez covers public schools here for Chalkbeat Newark. She said the drop in math scores nationally was dramatic.
“What we’re really seeing is the largest dips in math scores since 1990, which was one of the first times the National Assessment of Educational Progress exams were given to students,” she said.
She said Newark Superintendent Roger León is hoping to get students back on track with tutoring, even on Saturdays — as well as SAT prep classes and after-school programs.
Gomez said usually the scores move only a few points from year to year so these declines are significant, but New Jersey held its own.
“The good thing in New Jersey is that although students did fall behind in math and also in reading, we still see that students scored higher than the national average despite the pretty dismal results that we saw,” said Gomez.
In New Jersey, eighth grade math scores dropped 11 points between 2019 and 2022, while fourth grade math scores fell 7 points.