US lockdowns wipe out decades of maths and reading progress

In Britain, the damage of lockdown was easily covered up by grade inflation: with 45 per cent of A Level students being given A or A*. In the United States, there are large-scale independent studies published today. It’s pretty devastating. Educational performance scores for nine-year-olds have fallen to levels last seen in 1999: so two decades of progress wiped out. It’s the first time on record that performance in maths has fallen at all, and reading ability fell further than it has at any point in the last 30 years. 

The National Assessment of Educational Progress, released today, measures the long term ability of 14,800 nine-year-olds in the US in core reading and maths skills. Average scores fell five points in reading and seven points in maths compared with 2020. The children with the lowest scores experienced the sharpest falls.

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