New numbers show Ohio’s students’ math and reading scores have remained largely stagnant over the past quarter century.
While education leaders might fault the pandemic for a lack of student improvement, woke politics played a role in the decline.
The latest National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) results of public school students nationwide, provided by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), paint a dim view of the nation’s education progress in recent years and “show marginal progress” at best.
Ohio students are no exception.
“Overall, these results indicate that far too many Ohio students are struggling to master core math and reading skills,” Cincinnati.com quoted Aaron Churchill, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute’s Ohio research director, as saying.
In 2024, the state’s fourth-grade mathematics average was 239, slightly above the nationwide average of 237. The state’s average score was not significantly different from its 2022 average of 238 but higher than its 2000 average of 230.
The reading average for fourth-grade students was 216, slightly ahead of the nationwide average of 214. The state’s average was down from its 2022 average of 219 and lower than its 2002 average of 222.
At the eighth-grade level, Ohio’s average mathematics score was 279, higher than the nationwide average of 272. While it was higher than the 2022 average of 276, it was lower than the 2000 average of 281.
On the eighth-grade reading front, the 2024 average in Ohio was 260, slightly better than the nationwide average of 257. The Ohio result declined from the 2022 average of 262 and the 2002 average of 268.
“The news is not good,” Cincinnati.com quoted Peggy Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, as saying about the national results. “We are not seeing the progress that we need to regain the ground our students lost during the pandemic.”
A report published by The Columbus Dispatch shows the problem is much larger than the fallout from the pandemic.
It says, “About 38% of fourth-grade students and 31% of eighth-grade students can’t read at that basic level, according to the Nation’s Report Card. That rate has been on the rise for decades, not just since the pandemic shuttered schools.”
Even saying that Buckeye State students outperformed the national average in some areas isn’t much of an accomplishment this year.
Nationally, this year’s scores showed a two-point drop in fourth- and eighth-grade reading scores. While fourth-grade math scores increased by two points, there were no gains at the eighth-grade math level.
The last tests were given in 2022, and all math and reading scores are “down significantly” from 2019, the last tests before the pandemic.
“Overall, student achievement has not returned to pre-pandemic performance,” Cleveland.com quoted Carr as saying. “Where there are signs of recovery, they are mostly in math and largely driven by higher-performing students. Lower-performing students are struggling, especially in reading.”
“When we fail our children, we fail our nation’s future,” U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, chairman of the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee, said in a statement. “Today’s NAEP scores continue the concerning trend of declining performance nationwide. This is clearly a reflection of the education bureaucracy continuing to focus on woke policies rather than helping students learn and grow.”
“I’m thankful we have an administration that is looking to reverse course, and I look forward to helping reform our education system to better serve our youth,” Walberg added. On Wednesday, the congressman from That State Up North announced a Feb. 5 hearing, “The State of American Education.”
Expanding school choice looks to be a hot topic facing state lawmakers, and the latest public school test results will give opponents little ammunition to make their case.
“I have always put a strong emphasis on protecting parents’ rights and responsibility to choose the best education option(s) for their child(ren),” Ohio Rep. Sarah Fowler Arthur, R-Ashtabula, said in a statement. “As we continue to expand school choice and access to education options, we must strive to minimize unnecessary regulation of all schools – public and private.”
Fowler Arthur will chair the House Education (K-12) Committee during the current state legislative session.
