A nationwide wake-up call: Our students are not all right
The latest results from the nation’s report card, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), are in — and they send a clear signal: our nation’s students urgently need robust support. As a whole, students are making no significant progress or falling further behind in reading and math. Where gains are evident, they are not large enough to pull students back up to pre-pandemic levels.
A deep dive to examine how Latinos and English learners (ELs) are faring academically is critical as these students make up a significant and growing share of the student population. One-fourth of all K-12 public school students are Latino, and 1 in 10 are English learners.
Reading scores decline
On the eighth-grade reading NAEP, the average score for Latino students was 36 points below the proficient level. Notably, this average score plummeted by six points from 2022 to 2024 for Latino students.
Similarly, on the fourth-grade reading NAEP, the average score for Latino students was 35 points below the proficient level. While this score declined by only two points from 2022 to 2024, this decline came on top of a four-point drop from 2019 to 2022. Meaning that, on average, Latino student scores declined by six points compared to the last NAEP before the pandemic.
These NAEP reading scores also continue to expose persistent achievement gaps between Latino students and some of their peers. In eighth-grade reading, for example, Latino students trailed their white and Asian peers by 22 and 37 points, respectively.
Math scores are not encouraging
Like in reading, the average Latino student needs significant support to reach proficiency in math. On the eighth-grade math NAEP, Latino students, on average, scored 41 points below the proficient level. This score fell by three points from 2022 to 2024, leaving Latino students an average of 10 points behind from where they were before the pandemic, and that is not insignificant. In fact, Latino students were the only racial and ethnic student group to see statistically significant declines in their average eighth-grade math score from 2022 to 2024. On this exam, Latino students fall behind their Asian peers by a whopping 50 points, and their white peers by 28 points.
While fourth-grade math scores seemingly offer a bright spot amongst a larger pattern of decline, as the average score for Latino students rose by three points from 2022 to 2024, that’s not the whole story. This slight increase was not enough to return the average Latino fourth-grade math score to its pre-pandemic level. This bright spot is further dimmed considering that the average Latino student score was nonetheless 22 points below the proficient level. While Latino students were one of a few student groups to make gains in fourth-grade math, they still trailed their white and Asian peers by 20 and 32 points, respectively.
English learners disproportionately declining compared to non-EL peers
When analyzing EL student scores, it’s important to not zero-in on proficiency levels alone, as ELs have a dual job of learning a language while reaching the same academic expectations as their peers. It is normal for ELs to initially lag behind their peers as they learn the new language. Interestingly, research shows that when ELs get reclassified, becoming former ELs, they go on to outperform their peers. However, this is only possible if they receive the right support.
While NAEP doesn’t tell us whether ELs are receiving sufficient support, NAEP score trends can provide insight into how the educational system is serving ELs, in whether they are advancing or falling back, compared to the general student population.
In fourth- and eighth-grade reading, average EL scores dropped by five points from 2022 to 2024, whereas the general student population’s reading scores only declined by 2 points on fourth- and eighth-grade exams during the same time frame.
In fourth-grade math, ELs stayed at the same average score from 2022 to 2024, whereas their non-EL peers saw their scores increase by two points on average. In eighth-grade math, ELs saw an average three-point decline from 2022 to 2024, while their non-EL peers remained at their same average from 2022. These results reveal that while all students are hurting academically, EL student scores are disproportionately declining compared to their non-EL peers.
A wake-up call for all
These results come after years of waning performance following the pandemic. After the first post-pandemic NAEP results were released in 2023, UnidosUS published “Accelerating Latino Student Recovery,” outlining policy recommendations for accelerating learning for all students, including Latino students and English learners (ELs) who were falling behind their peers. UnidosUS cautioned that, if unaddressed, the pandemic threatened to erase nearly two decades of educational progress previously made by Latino students.
Shortly thereafter, an analysis by Stanford, Harvard, and Dartmouth researchers found that while, on average, students had recovered a third of their original learning loss in math and a fourth in reading, Latino students showed little to no progress on state standardized tests from 2022-2023.
These 2024 NAEP results underscore the continued need for sustained and robust investments in education. Instead, we’re seeing funding for several education programs come under threat, in addition to the chaos being sown over how the U.S. Department of Education will carry out its critical functions, including that of getting funds to local school districts. To ensure all students, including Latino and EL students, see improvements on the nation’s report card, they need access to the resources needed to thrive — not cuts.