The dismal results from the gold-standard National Assessment of Educational Progress are out and they show that Mayor Adams was right to shift the emphasis on learning in the crucial early years.
Even as ChatGPT and other AI bots can read and write better and better all the time, American kids’ literacy skills are going in the other direction.
The NAEP numbers have lower-performing fourth and eighth graders showing the worst reading scores in three decades. Fully a third of American eighth-grade students registered “below basic” reading skills, the most ever in the exam’s 32-year history of testing the subject. The results were even worse for fourth graders: 40% were reading below basic level.
Blame COVID, when far too many kids were forced into virtual schooling for far longer than they should’ve been.
The results in math were not so abysmal, but students have still lost substantial ground from before the pandemic. In just one state, Alabama, did fourth graders score higher than 2019 in math. And in just one state, Louisiana, did fourth graders score higher than 2019 in reading.
Here in New York City, the story is a little rosier than elsewhere. Math scores are going back up after a steep decline two years ago — but even still, just 33% of fourth graders scored proficient last year. Reading scores among city fourth graders are also up slightly, from 26% to 28% proficient.
Add it up and it makes the case for more intensive education of struggling learners, especially in the early grades, and for strict scrutiny of the way kids are actually learning core subjects.
Fortunately, New York under Adams has recently gone through just such an exercise in reading and come up with an approach to teaching literacy to young students that’s far more rooted in science than the old way. Indeed, Louisiana, the sole standout on the new NAEP results, embraced such strategies years ago, as have Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina — all of which are showing significant gains.
Every mayoral candidate vying to replace Adams should be asked point blank whether they’d keep the reading overhaul or scrap it. Those who say no or mumble through their responses should explain what better answer they have. And no, committing to lower class sizes won’t cut it. It’s already the law.
So too should the lame scores lead more states and school districts to embrace phone-free schools, along the lines proposed by Gov. Hochul here in New York. Having devices on hand at all times is a recipe for student distraction and overreliance on technology. Research isn’t definitive but strongly suggests that when smartphones are in lockers or pouches during class time, learning improves.
Call it a bonus that banning smartphones during school hours also helps kids stay off social media, bolstering their psychological health and their ability to connect with one another.
Crime and education trendlines have a lot in common over the last few years. The pandemic years dealt major setbacks, destabilizing routines and scrambling other systems, like the courts, that millions of Americans rely upon daily. The climb back has been steep and slippery. We’re coming along, but something broke, and it’s got to be fixed.