The pandemic propelled North Carolina students back to the last century in math and reading achievement, according to the Nation’s Report Card.
Nationwide, students who took the National Assessment of Educational Progress last spring, the first since the pandemic began, showed the biggest drop in math performance in 4th and 8th grades since the program began in 1990.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt said the results are the latest evidence of significant learning loss during the pandemic, which forced schools to transition to remote learning through much of the 2020-21 school year.
In North Carolina, 25 percent of fourth grade students scored below the basic level in math, and for 8th graders, 39 percent scored below the basic level in math.
In reading, 39 percent of North Carolina fourth graders fell below the basic level, and the data shows that 34 percent of eighth graders scored below the basic level in reading.
