Why U.S. Test Scores Are in a 'Generation-Long Decline'

[Zorro]

The drops go beyond the pandemic and cut across income, geographic and racial divides, new data shows.

Something troubling is happening in U.S. education.

Almost everywhere in America, students are performing worse than their peers were 10 years ago, according to new, district-level test score data released Wednesday by the Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford.

Compared with a decade earlier, reading scores were down last year in 83 percent of school districts where data was available. Math scores were down in 70 percent. The declines have affected both rich and poor districts, and crossed racial and geographic divides.

The new data provides the first national comparison of school districts through 2025, and offers a detailed picture of how individual school districts have performed over time. It underscores that many districts have experienced a long-term slump in student achievement, not just a blip during the pandemic.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/13/upshot/test-scores-school-districts-us.html?smid=url-share

[stopdiggin]

1. because, rightly or wrongly, many of us - including leaders, elite, parents and role models

have de-emphasized the fundamental importance of education. 'Self education' and following your own star - have become perfectly legitimate options in the eyes of many.
Following that, you can move on in to the ongoing political and social attacks targeting our education system(s) .. (You know who you are .. )

And both of these things (along with probably others) have been perfectly transparent - and going on for a lot longer than COVID.

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[jmbar2]

2. Maybe this is why employers want AI to take over?

Ominous trend.

Before retiring, I used to work in curriculum and training for the oil and gas industry. They were concerned way back then about declining skills levels among new entrants to the field. We had to create really basic training for the young folks who would end up running the refineries. Back then, the concern was that the kids had never used tools to fix cars, or build things. They had to train from the ground up - this is a hammer, the difference between bolts and screws, etc.

Today, it's an even scarier proposition if they can't read, or concentrate for longer than 30 seconds. Those refineries are fragile, and if they blow, it will be the equivalent of multiple Hiroshimas wiping out the entire SE US coastal areas.

[harumph]

3. My children are the exception then.

We were an education first family and we took it damn seriously. My kids have now recently entered the workforce and they now see the consequences of lazy parenting reflected in their "peers." I think the difference is that I was a hard ass about performance. Not an asshole mind you - but definitely did not tolerate shortcuts. We had dictionary night every week where I'd open up a big unabridged dictionary and quiz the kids and then talk about the etymology of words and explore idioms and the thought processes that preceded them. We monitored and reasonably restricted their tech use when it threatened to become a problem. We took advantage of low cost or free tutoring when necessary to make sure the kids understood abstract concepts. It may seem unkind, but I loathe parents who do not take their responsibility to provide all the resources they can for their children to excel. I know that for some parents resources are limited - but you have to be creative and frankly spend dollars that otherwise would go to nice-to-have expenditures on tutoring, books, educational videos and most importantly, take the time to talk with their kids. As an aside, I hope the billionaires get AI pushed so far up their asses that their heads explode - really explode. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to see that on the news one day. They're nothing but drug pushers.

[hlthe2b]

4. I've commented on a disturbing lack of knowledge of even recent important history, geography,

civics (obviously), but even more the total loss of ability to write, spell (even with spell-checkers), grammar (even basic), express complex thought, and on the verbal level, to pronounce even basic words and names. To illustrate the later, I overheard an older teen trying to pronounce the last name "MEAD" and it came out "MEE-AWD" or "MEE-Add"... Only when another "stepped in" did "ME-EED" occur to them.

Okay. One person. One issue. But I know from the grad students and others I've tried to mentor in recent years, that there IS a trend (and NOT a good one).

[FakeNoose]

5. It started happening right around the same time kids were given their own cellphones

Hmmmm.....

[msongs]

6. the goerge carlin school of education - obedient workers just smart enuff to run the machines etc

[Brother Buzz]

7. It may have started even earlier

When my son entered 4th grade (2003) we went to that open house thingy. When my son’s teacher learned who we were she started gushing about my son’s state testing thingy and informed us he was reading at the 12th grade level. I had to bite my tongue and not ask her when they stopped teaching reading comprehension in school.