Results from the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress show that reading scores continue to decline in Florida schools.
NAEP, or the Nation’s Report Card Assessments, says reading scores have decreased to their lowest levels in two decades, raising concerns for educators and officials about the Sunshine State’s literacy crisis.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress is a test given every two years in different states to provide information about student academic achievement and learning in various subjects.
The latest data from the NAEP website states that the average score of eighth-graders in Florida is 253 while the national average is 257. Though that is only about a 1.57% difference, the 2024 average score of 253 went down from the state’s 2022 average score of 260.
In fourth grade, the 2024 average score was 218, which is higher than the national score of 214. The recent score (218) was lower than the 2022 average of 225, which caused Florida, ranked third in fourth-grade reading in 2022, to move down to tenth in 2024.
Besides reading, eighth-grade math scores have also significantly lowered since the last testing. The state’s math score dropped below the national average, according to Orlandosentinel.com.
When the reports came out, Education Commissioner Manny Diaz questioned the credibility of the test in an op-ed highlighting the progress Florida’s schools system has made.
“…it is evident that the Biden Department of Education’s administration of what was the previously gold standard exam has major flaws in methodology and calls into question the validity of the results as they pertain to the educational landscape in 2024.” he wrote shortly after the scores were released.
Diaz wrote a five-page letter to the U.S. Department of Education to further criticize the assessment, sayng that it “fails to account for Florida’s educational landscape.”
He ended his letter by stating that he is looking forward to working with the department and the Trump administration to “make American education better again.”
With the results showing concern, many say the COVID-19 pandemic is a primary cause of the current education gap in the U.S. Even though it has been five years since the shutting down of the country and online schooling, the effects are still lingering with some children.
Loryn Catrice, a student teacher at Conely Elementary in Tallahassee, says that the pandemic affected all students in some way.
“Most students need frequent brain breaks so that they aren’t overwhelmed or overstimulated,” the senior elementary education student said.
“It also affected their ability to interact with classmates, so partner work and group work has become more difficult for students to participate in.”
Catrice says staying at home made students less adjusted than they should be for school.
Another reason for the declining scores is the lack of reading students do at home, says Selah Jannini, a junior who has clinical experience at Brownsville Preparatory Institute and Sabal Palm Elementary.
“Few children are reading outside of school for leisure, and it definitely shows in the classroom and testing,” she said.
Regarding what she sees in the classroom, “one student’s struggle with reading may not be the same for the next.”
“Based on what I have observed, students are having a hard time with fluency, their ability to decode words and vocabulary,” Jannini said.
While the 2024 results are considered a wake-up call for educators across Florida, Catrice says teachers are working overtime to figure out how to encourage their students to read. As Florida fights this literacy crisis, the issue remains: How will the state stop this continuing decline?