Students work in a common space at Utah Valley University in Orem on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022. A new report found test scores for U.S. eighth grade students have dropped in history and civics.
Spenser Heaps, Deseret News
The Nation’s Report Card came in and it revealed that eighth grade scores in history and civics have dropped.
Each year the Nation’s Report Card is released as part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, and this year, the report said results showed the “profound impact the pandemic had on student learning.”
The report showed that “in 2022, the average U.S. history score at eighth grade decreased by five points compared to 2018 and by nine points compared to 2014.”
In the civics assessment it reported that “in 2022, the average civics score at eighth grade decreased by two points compared to 2018.”
Why is this important? CNN reported that “the announcement of the new lower scores come after the assessment reported last fall scores for American 9-year-olds in reading and math fell by a level not seen in decades.”
The results from the report card show that “an increasing number of children lack basic understanding of either subject,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
Time reported that as public schools have returned to hosting class in person, the report also shows that the nation hasn’t worked to reverse the trend of falling scores.
Details: The National Center for Education Statistics reported that “the Nation’s Report Card” is a place where people can see how the U.S.’s K-12 education system is impacting students in the classroom.
The NCES site says, “When students, their parents, teachers, and principals participate in the Nation’s Report Card — the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America’s students know and can do in various subject areas — they are helping to inform decisions about how to improve the education system in our country.”
Quotes to note: “Self-government depends on each generation of students leaving school with a complete understanding of the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship,” commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, Peggy G. Carr, said in a statement.
Carr continued, “But far too many of our students are struggling to understand and explain the importance of civic participation, how American government functions, and the historical significance of events. These results are a national concern.”