Texas will drop the STAAR test. Here’s what families need to know about what will replace it<\/a><\/p>\nNationwide, 9-year-olds show progress in reading and math<\/p>\n
Nationwide, 9-year-old students made gains over the past three years in reading and math, while academic performance among 13-year-olds remained flat, according to federal data released Wednesday. <\/p>\n
The National Assessment of Educational Progress\u2019 Long-Term Trend scorecard shows how cohorts of 9- and 13-year-olds performed on reading and math exams dating back to 1971. The results released Wednesday are based on scores from tests taken during the 2024-25 school year.<\/p>\n
The scores suggest students in school today are still struggling to catch up to performance levels of students before the pandemic. Among 9-year-olds, reading scores were roughly on par with results from 2020, the last round of exams given before the pandemic. Nine-year-olds lagged pre-pandemic scores in math although they fared better than test-takers in 2022. This year\u2019s 13-year-olds were essentially flat in both subjects compared to 2022, and lower than those posted in 2020.<\/p>\n
Matthew Soldner, acting commissioner for the National Center for Education Statistics, said during a call with journalists that the difference in performance between younger students and older ones may be related to how they experienced the pandemic. The 9-year-olds who took the 2025 test were four years old when the pandemic was declared, and most began elementary school in the 2021-22 school year, when most schools reopened for in-person instruction. <\/p>\n
But for the 13-year-olds, the pandemic formed \u201cthe backdrop for their elementary school,\u201d Soldner said. Those students were generally in second or third grade when the pandemic began, meaning they should have been learning foundational literacy and numeracy skills in a classroom. Instead, they got that instruction through online learning. Researchers say the shift to online learning, coupled with the broader mental health issues students experienced as a result of the pandemic, had devastating effects for students academically.<\/p>\n
This story is developing and will be updated.<\/p>\n
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, Judy and Jim Gibbs, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Ron Steinhart, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks, and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab\u2019s journalism.<\/p>\n
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