Recent findings suggest that the decline in math and reading scores among U.S. students did not originate with the pandemic but instead is part of a decade-long trend. The Education Scorecard, a comprehensive analysis conducted by Stanford University and Harvard University, sheds light on this ongoing issue.
Now in its fourth year, the Scorecard provides critical insights for families, educators, and policymakers at a time when public education is under intense scrutiny for falling student performance. Among the key revelations are improvements in math scores across most states, the positive impact of federal aid in low-income districts, and the influence of legislative changes on reading instruction.
Data for the annual Education Scorecard is sourced from state assessments rather than the Nation’s Report Card. Some states, however, were excluded due to recent changes in assessments or high test opt-out rates.
‘The learning recession’
Between 1990 and 2013, math scores for fourth- and eighth-graders saw a “steady” increase, with 2013 fourth-graders performing math at a level comparable to 1990 sixth-graders, according to Sean Reardon of Stanford University. Reading scores also improved during this period.
Harvard’s Thomas Kane called these gains “one of the most important social policy successes of the last half-century that nobody knows about.” However, by 2013, a downturn began, described by Reardon as a “steady kind of decline” that was evident before the pandemic.
The Scorecard’s trigger theories
Researchers propose two potential catalysts for this decline:
1. The fade-out of test-based accountability: The federal education law No Child Left Behind (NCLB) enforced strict standards that began to wane in 2013. By then, the government had started granting waivers to relieve states from its mandates.
Kane explained that by 2013, districts realized “nobody was looking over their shoulders in terms of student achievement.”
2. Students’ social media use: The uptick in social media use among teens began around 2013. A Pew Research study reported that the number of teens online “almost constantly” rose from 1 in 4 during 2014-15 to nearly half by 2022.
The end of the learning recession?
Data from 2022 to 2025 indicates a turnaround in math scores across most states, with Washington D.C. leading the way. Only five states did not make math gains: Georgia, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Iowa.
Reading scores remain a concern. While some states like D.C. and Louisiana showed improvement, others, including Florida and Arizona, continued to decline. Louisiana is the only state to return to 2019 performance levels in both subjects.
Reardon emphasized the potential for improvement, recalling the gains made from the ’90s through 2013 and the narrowed racial achievement gaps. “We just haven’t been doing it for the last decade. But we could do it again,” he said.
The U-shaped recovery
From 2022 to 2025, both the highest-poverty and lowest-poverty schools made similar academic gains, while middle-income schools improved the least. Federal COVID relief funds likely played a role in aiding high-poverty districts.
“If it hadn’t been for the federal pandemic relief,” Kane noted, “we estimate there would have been no recovery on average for the highest-poverty districts.”
The science of reading effect
Several states have adopted the “science of reading” approach, emphasizing phonics. The Scorecard highlights that states implementing these reforms, such as Baltimore City Public Schools, have seen significant reading gains.
Baltimore embraced this approach under CEO Sonja Brookins Santelises, who prioritized phonics over the whole language approach.
In a Baltimore kindergarten class, teacher Kimberly Lowery’s phonics-based activities resulted in three-quarters of her students reading at or above grade level. “You guys are super-duper what?” she asked her students, to which they responded, “Smart!”
