The “Nation’s Report Card” Is Out - Here’s What the Results Tell Us About America’s Schools - Issue Brief - May 2025

Oct 15, 2026

May 2025 issue brief analyzing the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results, which show persistent stagnation or decline in student reading and math performance despite decades of federal education spending and reforms. It summarizes key findings on proficiency levels across grades, contrasts trends under NCLB, Common Core, and ESSA, and highlights variation by districts, charter schools, collective bargaining environments, and high-spending states. Concludes with four evidence-based recommendations focused on restoring accountability and improving achievement.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages18

Reading Time45 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

The “Nation’s Report Card” Is Out: Key Findings

National Trends

NAEP Reading Proficiency Trends, 1992–2024

NAEP Math Proficiency Trends, 1992–2024

State Trends

Issue Brief About Us The Manhattan Institute is a community of scholars, journalists, activists, and civic leaders committed to advancing economic opportunity, individual liberty, and the rule of law in America and its great cities. May 2025 The“Nation’s Report Card”Is Out: Here’s What the Results Tell Us About America’s Schools Jennifer Weber Director of Systems for Learning and Development KIT Educational Consulting Introduction For over 50 years, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the Nation’s Report Card, has measured student achievement in reading and math across the United States.1 The recently released 2024 results confirm a long-term crisis in education, with student performance stagnating or declining despite decades of federal spending and education reform initiatives. Federal interventions such as No Child Left Behind (2002),2 Common Core (2010),3 and Every Student Succeeds Act (2015)4 were designed to improve student academic outcomes. While No Child Left Behind (NCLB) drove improvements in student achievement initially, NAEP scores indicate that progress stalled under Common Core and declined further after Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) weakened accountability measures. More funding has not made a difference. Even as national per-pupil spending has exceeded $17,000 on average per student, reading proficiency has remained unchanged, and math scores are at their lowest in two decades.5 This paper examines the factors contributing to these declines and proposes evidence-based solutions to improve student achievement. The “Nation’s Report Card” Is Out: Here’s What the Results Tell Us About America’s Schools Key findings include: • Student proficiency levels have stagnated or declined since the early 1990s, with fourthand eighth-grade reading proficiency at an average of 30%–31%. Math proficiency for both grades peaked in 2013 (42% for fourth grade and 35% for eighth grade) but has declined to 39%(fourth grade) and 28%(eighth grade) . • Public school performance improved under NCLB (2003–13) but stagnated after Common Core implementation and declined under ESSA. • Urban districts such as New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles have consistently shown low proficiency rates (for example, NYC’s fourth-grade proficiency stands at 28% for reading and 33% for math) . • Between 2013 and 2024, the lowest-performing public school students (25th percentile) lost an average of 12 points, compared with an 8-point decline among charter school students. Among average-performing students (50th percentile), public schools declined by 5 points, while charter schools remained stable. Charter schools provided more stability across all student performance levels. • States with collective bargaining laws for educators saw steeper declines in reading (–3.7% in fourth grade,–4.9% in eighth grade) and math (–2.7% in fourth grade,–4.4% in eighth grade) compared with smaller declines in non-collective bargaining states. While non-collective bargaining states started with lower scores, their rate of decline was smaller, suggesting greater flexibility in adapting instructional practices. • Even with record-high education spending per student in some states, such as New York, student achievement remains low, demonstrating that funding alone does not drive academic success. This paper concludes with four recommendations, informed by these findings and trends, to bring accountability back to American classrooms and sustain reading and math proficiency among American students. The “Nation’s Report Card” Is Out: Here’s What the Results Tell Us About America’s Schools National Trends The 2024 NAEP results released in January confirm a long-term stagnation in literacy, with reading proficiency remaining nearly unchanged since the early 1990s (Figure 1). Reading proficiency improved slightly from 1992 to 2013, peaking in 2013 at 35%(fourth grade) and 36%(eighth grade). However, by

FAQs

What do the 2024 NAEP results indicate about U.S. education performance?

The 2024 results confirm a long-term crisis: student achievement in reading and math has stagnated or declined despite decades of federal spending and reform efforts.

How did student proficiency change over time under major federal interventions?

NAEP scores show initial improvement under No Child Left Behind, followed by stagnation under Common Core and further decline after the Every Student Succeeds Act weakened accountability measures.

What differences does the brief identify between public schools and charter schools?

Between 2013 and 2024, the lowest-performing students in public schools lost more points on average than charter school students, while charter schools were more stable across performance levels.

Oct 15, 2026

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