Commentary
When reading and math scores came out last month and showed an alarming drop in academic achievement, nobody should have been surprised. What else was going to happen when schools locked down, planted kids in a room at home, and attached them to a screen six hours a day? Did anybody but the most fervent technophile really believe that damage wouldn’t be done?
Let’s be clear about the causes. In the 10 years before COVID hit, scores weren’t going up. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results that came out recently showed a decline of four points in reading for 13-year-olds since 2020 (9-year-olds dropped five points). If we compare 2020 numbers to 2012, we find that the average reading score for 13-year-olds went from 263 to 260 (the 2023 average was 256). The decline was already in place—COVID just accelerated it….