Even amid the frenzy of recent state and national elections, the decline in Massachusetts’ performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to a 19-year low made headlines. Conventional wisdom is that the poor performance is due to pandemic learning loss, but data show the problems began much earlier.
NAEP tests 4th and 8th grade students in reading and math. Between 2011 and 2019, before the pandemic, aggregated 4th- and 8th-grade math scores in Massachusetts fell by 5.8 points, more than in all but 17 states. Reading was even worse. The decline of 7.9 points was larger than in all but 14 states.
It’s quite a contrast from the years following passage of the 1993 Education Reform Act, which provided a substantial state funding increase in return for accountability, high standards, and expanded school choice options. In its aftermath, state SAT scores rose for 13 consecutive years. In 2005, the Bay State became the first to have its students score tops in the country in all four categories tested on NAEP. By 2007, Massachusetts eighth graders even tied for first in the world on international science testing.
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