Did SC buck US trend of falling math and reading scores on new national exam? Take a look

Patrick McCreless
Bob Brawdy/Tri-City Herald

South Carolina students have fared better than many other states in math and reading in some ways, but they still have improvements to make, a new national report shows.

Many states saw statistically significant declines from 2019, but South Carolina scores remained steady in grade four reading and math, while measurably declining in grade eight, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress released on Monday. Generally known as the nation’s report card, it has tested a wide sampling of fourth and eighth grades for decades.

The report card is the latest data to show the struggles students and educators have faced following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nationwide, math results were particularly troubling — showing the steepest declines ever recorded by the report card. Meanwhile, more than half of U.S. states reported declines in reading.

“The results we see nationwide were perhaps expected but are no less concerning for educators who anticipated the consequences school closures would have on student achievement,” South Carolina Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman said in a Monday press release. “While our state maintained its performance overall as the nation showed significant decline, these results confirm there is still much work to do.”

A representative sample of South Carolina students participated in the testing during the spring, the press release states. Approximately 3,700 fourth graders and 3,600 eighth graders participated from South Carolina.

Scores on the NAEP reading and mathematics tests are reported on a 500-point scale and as percentages in achievement levels: Below NAEP Basic, NAEP Basic, NAEP Proficient, and NAEP Advanced.

Math

  • South Carolina’s fourth graders had an average score of 234 in 2022 compared to 237 in 2019 and 234 in 2017. The average national score for public schools in 2022 was 235, a 5-point drop from 2019.

  • South Carolina eighth graders’ average score was 269 compared to 276 in 2019 and 275 in 2017. The average national score for public schools in 2022 was 273, an 8-point drop from 2019.

  • Of fourth graders in South Carolina, 74% scored at or above NAEP Basic, a statistically insignificant drop from 77% in 2019 and 75% in 2017. In grade eight, 56% scored at or above NAEP Basic, compared to 64% in 2019 and 62% in 2017.

  • At the national level, 74% of fourth graders and 60% of eighth graders scored at or above NAEP Basic. Of South Carolina’s fourth-graders, 34% scored at or above NAEP Proficient, a statistically insignificant drop from 36% for 2019 and 32% for 2017. In grade eight, the percentage scoring at or above Proficient was 22% in 2022 compared to 29% in 2019 and 26% in 2017. Nationally, 35% of fourth-graders and 26% of eighth-graders scored at or above NAEP Proficient in 2022.

Reading

  • South Carolina’s fourth graders had an average score of 216 in 2022 compared to 216 in 2019 and 213 in 2017. The average national score for public schools in 2022 was 216, a 3-point drop from 2019.

  • South Carolina’s eighth graders had an average score of 254 in 2022 compared to 259 in 2019 and 260 in 2017. The national average for eighth grade showed a 3-point drop from 262 to 259.

  • In South Carolina, 61% of fourth graders scored at or above NAEP Basic, compared to 61% in 2019 and 59% in 2017. For eighth graders, 63% performed at or above NAEP Basic in 2022, compared to 69% in 2019 and 71% in 2017. At the national level, 61% of fourth-graders and 68% of eighth-graders scored at or above NAEP Basic in 2022 compared to 65% and 72% in 2019.

  • For South Carolina’s fourth-grade students, 32% performed at or above NAEP Proficient in 2022 compared to 32% in 2019 and 29% in 2017. And 27% South Carolina’s eighth-graders scored at or above NAEP Proficient compared to 29% in 2019 and 30% in 2017.

  • At the national level, 32% of fourth-graders and 29% of eighth-graders performed at or above NAEP Proficient, while in the South, 31% of fourth-graders and 26% of eighth-graders performed at or above NAEP Proficient.

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