Nation S Report Card Reading Skills Slipping For Many Utah Students

Leo Migdal

-Oct 29, 2025, 4:46 AM

nation s report card reading skills slipping for many utah students

SALT LAKE CITY — Assessing Utah students' overall performance on a recent national test is akin to countless parent-teacher conference reports: doing well overall — but some areas need improvement. Earlier this week, results from The National Assessment of Educational Progress 2024 scores — aka "The Nation's Report Card" — were released, revealing mostly steady performance for Utah fourth- and eighth-grade students who participated... In fact, only three states or jurisdictions outperformed Beehive State students. But the decline in Utah's eighth grade reading scores — reflecting national trends in declining reading performances — caught the attention of the state's education leaders. "More children are falling below the proficient level, underscoring the critical need to double down on effective reading interventions and support for our students," said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Sydnee Dickson in a... If the updated Nation’s Report Card was an individual student’s report card, a “Parent-Teacher Conference Requested” comment would likely be in order.

The National Assessment of Education Progress, or NAEP — aka “the Nation’s Report Card” — is reporting declining scores for the nation’s eighth graders in science and 12th graders in math and reading. The updated 2024 results, released Tuesday by the National Center for Education Statistics, or NCES, are the first post-pandemic NAEP scores for each assessment. “These results are sobering,” NCES acting Commissioner Matthew Soldner said in an NAEP news release. “The drop in overall scores coincides with significant declines in achievement among our lowest-performing students, continuing a downward trend that began even before the COVID-19 pandemic. “Among our nation’s high school seniors, we’re now seeing a larger percentage of students scoring below the NAEP Basic achievement level in mathematics and reading than in any previous assessment.” Written by: Shawn Teigen January 30, 2025

Bad news: Utah was one of eight states where 8th-grade students’ reading scores were lower in 2024 than in 2022. Worse news: No states saw any improvement on the 4th-grade reading or 8th-grade reading or math scores. Better news: Utah’s 4th-grade reading and math scores and Utah’s 8th-grade math scores remained unchanged (in terms of statistically significant differences). Good news: 15 states improved in 4th-grade math. And Utah remains better than the nation on all four tests (though there are caveats to that success). New student performance data is raising alarm bells nationally and Utah is no exception.

Two years ago Utah was heralded as a bright spot in the Nation’s Report Card following the pandemic. The latest numbers now show stagnant scores and a drop in eighth grade reading. “The drop in eighth grade reading scores is part of a broader national trend,” said Sydnee Dickson, the Utah state superintendent of public instruction, in a statement. “More children are falling below the proficient level, underscoring the critical need to double down on effective reading interventions and support for our students.” The National Assessment of Educational Progress is the country’s largest nationally representative test of student performance. Math and reading tests are given every two years to a sample of fourth and eighth grade students.

About 2,000 Utah students took the test in 2024, according to the Utah State Board of Education. Eighth grade reading scores fell by four points compared to 2022. And there were no significant changes in eighth grade math or fourth grade reading and math scores. Overall, the scores were lower than in 2019. Still, Utah students outperformed the national averages in all four areas. That has often been the case over the last couple of decades.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Avery Beeson teaches students at Fox Hollow Elementary School, on Tuesday, Jan 7, 2025. Utah is outpacing the rest of the country in fourth and eighth-grade reading and math comprehension, according to newly released national data, but reading scores remain on the decline. Utah’s fourth and eighth graders are outpacing most of the country in math and reading, according to new national data released Wednesday. However, Utah’s scores have remained relatively unchanged since 2022, when the National Assessment of Educational Progress — also known as the Nation’s Report Card — was last administered. Every two years, the national assessment is provided to a sample of students in fourth and eighth grade, allowing for comparisons across states. It is separate from Utah’s standardized exams.

The latest results also indicate that while Utah students have made some progress, proficiency rates in both grades and subjects have yet to return to pre-pandemic levels. SALT LAKE CITY — The Nation's Report Card shows nationwide declines in both math and reading, with 12th-grade reading scores falling to their lowest level since 1992. "Education is so important, and so hearing about those numbers is alarming," Jessica Garrett, a parent living in Highland, said. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation's Report Card, is the only standardized test that allows comparisons across states. While Utah did not have a large enough sample of 12th graders to report the state's results, the assessment included data for 8th graders. In 2024, Utah’s eighth graders came out ahead of the national average in both math and reading.

They scored 282 in math, which is 10 points higher than the national score, and about the same as two years ago. In reading, Utah students averaged 261, just a bit higher than the national score of 257, down a few points from 2022. Clint Gardner, director of student writing and reading centers at Salt Lake Community College, says he's noticed a trend over the last 10 years. "We're getting more requests for writing and reading than say 15 years ago," Gardner said. "More requests for reading tutoring, and that includes things like helping to understand assignments and understanding what they're supposed to do. A lot of our students are struggling with the more difficult text they encounter in college."

Contact: Stephaan Harris: Stephaan.Harris@ed.gov, (202) 357-7504 The Nation's Report Card Shows Declines in Reading, Some Progress in 4th Grade Math U.S. Students Not Back to Pre-Pandemic Achievement (Jan. 29, 2025 — Washington, D.C.) The Nation's Report Card released today shows continued declines in reading for U.S. students, compounding a decline in the nation’s reading scores that started prior to the pandemic.

In 2024, average reading scores on The Nation’s Report Card declined by 2 points for both 4th and 8th grade students compared to 2022. This steepens the 3-point decline seen in both grades between 2022 from 2019. Students took the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as The Nation's Report Card or NAEP, between January and March 2024. No state saw gains on NAEP Reading in either grade compared to 2022; only one large urban school district that participates in the voluntary Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) program — Atlanta Public Schools... After a decade of low standards, student performance is slipping. The 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress—also known as the “Nation’s Report Card”—is now out.

It shows 12th-graders’ performance slipping to a record low. According to the report, one-third of seniors are reading at a below-basic level, and only 35 percent are proficient or above. In math, 45 percent are below basic, with just 22 percent meeting proficiency. The proportion of students at the 10th and 25th percentiles has fallen to historic lows, widening the gap between the highest-and lowest-achieving students and leaving many unprepared for life after high school. The declines reflect the failures of more than a decade of educational policy—specifically, a retreat from expectations that began under the Common Core Standards and continued under the Every Student Succeeds Act. Declines have not always been so predictable.

Under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, passed in 2002, results were more stable. Reading scores remained 25 percent below-basic and 37 percent proficient, while math scores remained 33 percent below-basic and about 25 percent proficient. As Roberta Rubel Schaefer recently explained for City Journal, NCLB established rigorous, content-rich curriculum standards and tracked schools and students’ performance through regular testing, encouraging a culture of educational excellence. Jun 26, 2023, 1:17 PM | Updated: Jun 27, 2023, 7:39 am SALT LAKE CITY — The latest Nation’s Report Card shows a decline in middle schoolers’ reading and math scores, but does Utah rank better? The National Center for Education Statistics has been tracking 13-year-old students’ scores for years, but the latest report compares the performance trend during the 2022-23 school year to previous years.

The highlights show a decline in both reading and math scores, with the lowest-performing students scoring the lowest since the assessment began in the 1970s. Lindsey Henderson, of the Utah State Board of Education, joined the Dave and Dujanovic program to discuss Utah’s golden lining in this study.

Nation S Report Card Reading Skills Slipping For Many Utah Students

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