As this debate rages, there’s no question that school leaders still have to pay attention to key grade-level assessments and college entrance exams such as the SAT and ACT.

A new analysis of SAT and ACT scores and fourth- and eighth-grade math and English assessments has led Forbes Advisor to rank all 50 states and Washington, D.C., based on the results. Forbes also figured graduate-level MCAT scores into the rankings.

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Before we get to the full list, let’s dig a little deeper into a few states’ standardized test scores. The state with the highest average SAT score, North Dakota, only ranked No. 29 overall due to much lower levels of fourth- and eighth-grade achievement. High levels of proficiency in math and reading, on the other hand, landed New Jersey third on the list.

New Mexico, the state with the lowest average SAT score at 19, came in 50th—which is second to last on the overall rankings. Nevada, the state with the lowest ACT score at 17, placed 46th.

Here are each state’s average SAT and ACT scores, along with where each state ranks:

1. Massachusetts: 1112, 26
2. Utah: 1239, 20
3. New Jersey: 1066, 24
4. New Hampshire: 1035, 25
5. Connecticut: 1007, 26
6. Wisconsin: 1236, 19
7. Virginia: 1113, 25
8. Colorado: 996, 25
9. Nebraska: 1252, 19
10. Vermont: 1099, 24
11. South Dakota: 1208, 21
12. Minnesota: 1201, 21
13. Iowa: 1208, 21
14. Pennsylvania: 1078, 24
15. Washington: 1081, 25
16. Wyoming: 1200, 19
17. Ohio: 1044, 19
18. Indiana: 971, 23
19. Illinois: 970, 25
20. Michigan: 967, 24
21. Rhode Island: 958, 25
22. New York: 1039, 25
23. California: 1083, 26
24. Montana: 1193, 19
25. Maine: 1080, 25
26. Maryland: 1008, 25
27. Idaho: 970, 23
28. North Dakota: 1287, 20
29. Hawaii: 1114, 18
30. Florida: 966, 19
31. Missouri: 1191, 20
32. Kansas: 1245, 19
33. North Carolina: 1127, 19
34. Georgia: 1054, 21
35. Tennessee: 1191, 18
36. Oregon: 1125, 21
37. Kentucky: 1208, 19
38. Arizona: 1183, 18
39. Texas: 978, 19
40. Washington, D.C.: 969, 26
41. South Carolina: 1028, 19
42. Delaware: 958, 25
43. Alaska: 1082, 20
44. Arkansas: 1192, 19
45. Louisiana: 1194, 18
46. Nevada: 1166, 17
47. Mississippi: 1184, 18
48. Alabama: 1161, 18
49. West Virginia: 923, 20
50. New Mexico: 901, 20
51. Oklahoma: 953, 18

Dig into more data, including fourth- and eighth-grade proficiency rankings, on Forbes Advisor’s complete list.

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Administrators will emphasize growth and double down on the most effective interventions, such as tutoring and strengthening student-teacher relationships. The through line is that academic recovery will take on even more urgency in 2024, say thought leaders at NWEA, the testing firm. Here are some of their insights:

Which academic interventions are working best? “While school districts made some progress in reducing pandemic-related achievement gaps in the 2021-22 school year, progress stalled in the 2022-23 school year. Interventions that have strong evidence of efficacy include high-dosage tutoring, summer school programs and double-dose math classes. Districts should adopt these high-impact interventions while continuing to monitor implementation and adapt interventions to local context so that students can have access to meaningful opportunities to catch up on unfinished learning.” —Ayesha K. Hashim, research scientist

Classroom practices that support high-growth learning will be essential. “The cornerstone of elevating educational quality rests upon strengthening the student-teacher relationship. By fostering meaningful and constructive interactions and offering valuable feedback to students, we empower them to take greater ownership of their learning journey. Recent research underscores the efficacy of specific approaches and practices in promoting substantial learning growth, such as allocating time for retrieval practice (where students benefit from multiple opportunities to reinforce new knowledge) and maintaining flexibility in student group dynamics (allowing for effective student movement between learning groups), among others.” —Chase Nordengren, principal research lead, effective instructional strategies

Research-based interventions will be needed to help older students with reading fluency. “National data show that almost 70% of eighth graders are not considered proficient in reading based on 2022 test scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as The Nation’s Report Card. In 2024, districts will be working to find research-based interventions to help older students with reading fluency. Middle and high school teachers will need support to help older students with foundational reading skills to address this problem. Programs that emphasize repeated reading and allowing older readers to choose practice readings on topics they find engaging will help older readers improve fluency.” —Laura Hansen, NWEA director of academic services

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A data-driven revolution in gifted and talented identification. “In 2024, states are poised to revolutionize their approach to gifted and talented education, driving greater equity and inclusion through a dual strategy of data-driven identification and the implementation of state policies mandating access to gifted services. Universal screening, encompassing a multitude of assessment tools, will ensure that no gifted potential remains unnoticed, while continuous monitoring and transparent reporting will guarantee equal access to the selection process. Simultaneously, state policies will require the development of individualized learning plans for gifted students, promoting inclusive enrichment opportunities, differentiated instruction, and robust teacher professional development.” —Scott Peters, senior research scientist

Math will matter even more in 2024

If 2023 was all about the science of reading, state education leaders will turn their attention to providing systemic supports for math education in 2024, says Karen Beerer, Discovery Education’s senior vice president of teaching and learning.

In the wake of COVID learning loss, several states have already passed new laws requiring schools to identify and provide additional math support to students and teachers.

Alabama’s Office of Mathematics Improvement monitors the implementation of screener assessments, diagnostic assessments, and formative assessments for grades K5. Florida now requires students deemed “deficient” in math to receive intervention and monitoring from their district while Louisiana mandates additional professional learning in numeracy for math teachers in grades 4-8.

“While these are just a few examples of state departments of education adding additional support to math education,” Beerer notes, “I believe in 2024 these efforts will accelerate and become the norm nationwide.

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“This process resembles, to a degree, how education administrators and researchers consider school performance,” U.S. News said in revealing its rankings for 2024.

But the rankings—which are based on 2020-2021 assessment results—also give weight to the scores unadjusted for demographics because “parents value environments where most children arrive prepared to learn and teachers can provide a culture of enrichment,” U.S. News stated.

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“Certainly, nonacademic factors also matter in evaluating schools, but in this space we are measuring what can be fairly measured, and the academic performance of their children’s schools is generally of high importance to families,” the publication added.

Some 45,236 elementary schools and 22,053 middle schools were ranked, representing about 77% of public schools with elementary and middle school grades. But unlike its college and high school rankings, U.S. News did not produce a single master list of the top elementary and middle schools in the U.S. Rather, it compares schools only within each state.

• Here are the state-by-state rankings of best elementary schools.
• Here are the state-by-state rankings of best middle schools.

U.S. News notes that it could not update its data for California, Delaware, the District of Columbia, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington, and the rankings reflect 2018-2019 assessment data.

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The average score for the class of 2023 was 19.5, three decimal points below last year. When broken down by individual subjects such as reading, science and math, student scores still fell below the benchmarks the ACT says students must reach to have a high probability of success in first-year college courses.

These findings reflect a recent report from the National Assessment of Educational Progress that shows decades-low scores in math and reading among 13-year-old students. In both instances, education leaders believe students’ transition to remote learning during the pandemic has caused the setback. The class of 2023 experienced the pandemic during the spring semester of their freshman year.

“I didn’t have a hands-on, in-person class, and the information wasn’t really there,” said Virginia-based Diego Fonseca, 19, a computer science major struggling to pass a calculus placement exam, according to AP News. “I really struggled when it came to higher-level algebra because I just didn’t know anything.”

How low student test scores impact higher education

The swell of students falling behind in ACT scores may foreshadow students’ lack of preparation for the rigor of college courses. College students are increasingly placed in pre-college math courses as they find themselves struggling with basic fractions and exponents. One Temple University intermediate algebra class has seen its enrollment nearly double since the pandemic, AP reports.

In June, U.S. Education Department Secretary Miguel Cardona announced that schools have committed 60% of their American Rescue Plan money to recover students’ lost ground during the pandemic.

While standardized test scores may not be as critical for students looking to be admitted to college, ACT CEO Janet Godwin still believes in its value in gauging academic readiness. She believes the U.S. education system needs a deep reevaluation to combat the trend.

“The hard truth is that we are not doing enough to ensure that graduates are truly ready for postsecondary success in college and career,” Godwin said in a press statement. “These systemic problems require sustained action and support at the policy level. This is not up to teachers and principals alone—it is a shared national priority and imperative.”

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A loose coalition of 250 school leaders is experimenting with four of these nontraditional outcomes—deeper learning, social-emotional skills, self-direction, and career readiness—as they and their teams seek new ways to equip students for success after high school graduation. A recent survey found that two-thirds of the school leaders who are participating in the innovation-oriented Canopy project are assessing students for deeper learning and social-emotional skills.

About 40 percent are assessing for career readiness while about one in five are also evaluating how self-directed their students are, say researchers for the Canopy project, which is led by the Center on Reinventing Public Education at Arizona State University and Transcend, an education nonprofit.

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Most schools that are measuring these nontraditional outcomes are assessing students’ skills and knowledge through portfolios and projects rather than traditional tests. Moreover, many schools have created their own assessments for these evaluations, particularly when it comes to deeper learning and SEL.

Many of these leaders, however, are still figuring out how to determine or demonstrate the overall impact of assessing these outcomes, the report noted, adding that making sense of the evidence will be the topic of future research.

How nontraditional outcomes can ‘solve for inequities’

That sounds like a mouthful, but part of this evolving approach to student success is designing better ways to support the progress of students of color, students with disabilities and students from low-income backgrounds, the researchers noted. One solution that sounds obvious is intentionally designing courses and climates to meet the needs of marginalized students and multilingual learners.

To gain some insight, Canopy’s researchers tracked differences in practices deployed by schools that are focused on inclusion and those that are not. For instance, schools focused on inclusion were more likely to offer 1-on-1 mentoring and follow Universal Design for Learning concepts. Schools where inclusion was not reported to be a core practice were more likely to focus on community and business partnerships and mastery grading policies, the report explained.

School leaders surveyed also noted how external conditions—such as central office support and political divisions—are impacting their improvement initiatives. Only about 30% of the educators said their schools were part of a system-wide innovation initiative. About the same number attested that local and national political debates were interfering with their schools’ ability to educate students.

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“COVID-19 may no longer be an emergency, but we are very much still dealing with the fallout from the crisis,” said Karyn Lewis, co-author of the study and director of NWEA’s Center for School and Student Progress. “These data reiterate that recovery will not be linear, easy, or quick and we cannot take our foot off the gas pedal.”

The results show that most children need an additional 4.5 months of math instruction and 4.1 months of reading to catch up to the pre-COVID status quo and that Black and Hispanic students remain even further behind. But as most superintendents and their teams know, that level of additional instruction cannot be provided in a single year and the pre-pandemic status quo was already riddled with achievement gaps, NWEA asserted.

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“Scaling interventions takes significant time and resources, and we know the hard work of educators often takes years to show up in test results,” added Lindsay Dworkin, senior vice president of policy and government affairs at NWEA.

NWEA has previously found “modest signs” of academic recovery in grades 3–8 during the 2021–22 school year and into fall 2022. The latest analysis, which covers assessment scores for more than 6.7 million students in about 20,000 public schools, showed that third graders exceeded typical growth by 4% and fourth graders only slipped by 1%. Middle schoolers, however, did not perform nearly as well, falling 16-19% short of expectations in reading and by 6–10% in math, researchers noted.

Widening gap: Below-average gains in 2022-23 resulted in an increase in the gap between current test scores and prepandemic levels. pic.twitter.com/8BzeaukjGH

— Karyn Lewis (@KarynLew) July 11, 2023

The average eighth-grader now needs an extra 9.1 months of math instruction and 7.4 months of reading to recover. “In other words, when these students enter their freshman year of high school, they will need to accomplish almost five years of learning during their four years of high school,” says the report, which also found:

• Black and Hispanic middle schoolers will need more months in math—6.2 and 6.4, respectively—than Asian and white students, who need 4.3 months and 5.3 months.
• In reading, white, Black, and Hispanic students need additional time—4.9 months, 4.9 months, and 6.7 months—than Asian students, who need 1.4 months.
• Seventh graders will need an estimated 5.9 months of school to recover learning losses in math and reading.
• Sixth graders will require 4 additional months in reading and 3.5 months in math.
• Despite the academic growth in 2022–23, third and fourth graders still have “significant levels” of unfinished learning that will require up to 2.5 months of extra instruction to meet pre-pandemic trends.

Taking action on academic growth

NWEA recommends that policymakers and education leaders:

• Use local data to guide recovery. States and districts should work together to expand their capacity to gather data and track the effectiveness of interventions.
• Expand instructional time by providing evidence-based interventions to the students who need additional support. Interventions must be scaled to the size of the challenge, and students in need of additional support may require multiple interventions to fully recover from the pandemic’s impacts.
• Communicate the importance of academic recovery. States, districts and schools should provide families with timely information about their child’s progress and achievement compared to grade-level standards. Educators should also share resources that families can use to support learning recovery at home.

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The average math score for 13-year-olds fell 9 points between 2019‒20 and 2022‒23 on long-term National Assessment of Educational Progress testing conducted late last year, according to data released Wednesday. And with the average reading score slipping by 4 points over the same time period, the testing reveals “signs of risk for a generation of learners,” said Peggy G. Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, which conducts the assessments.

“The ‘green shoots’ of academic recovery that we had hoped to see have not materialized, as we continue to see worrisome signs about student achievement and well-being more than two years after most students returned for in-person learning,” Carr said in a statement. “We are observing steep drops in achievement, troubling shifts in reading habits and other factors that affect achievement, and rising mental health challenges alongside alarming changes in school climate.”

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Math scores for 13-year-olds had been rising substantially and reading scores more modestly until about 2012, when students began a regression that has now lasted more than a decade and accelerated during the COVID pandemic. These assessment results are particularly concerning as the progress students make in middle school can have a lifelong impact, adds Dan McGrath, the Center’s acting associate commissioner.

The Report Card uncovered some troubling K12 trends beyond the plummeting scores, including a decline in students taking algebra and pre-algebra. A little more than one-third of 13-year-olds were in an algebra class in 2012, compared to 24%in 2023. More students are now taking regular mathematics, the data shows. On the literacy side, about one-third of 13-year-olds said in 2023 that they “never or hardly ever” read for fun compared to the 22% who reported the same in 2012.

“Aside from its academic effects, reading opens the mind and the heart to new ways of seeing and thinking about the world,” Carr pointed out. “Many of our young people will never discover latent passions or areas of interest without reading broadly on their own time.”

A closer look at reading and math scores

The average reading score (256) for 13-year-old students was 4 points lower in 2023 than in 2020 and seven points lower than in 2012 and about the same as in 1971. The average math score (271) for 13-year-old students was 9 points lower in 2023 than in 2020 and 14 points lower than in 2012 but 5 points higher than in 1973.

Here’s a closer look at the declines between 2020 and 2023:

Reading

• Scores for Black students declined 7 points; 8 points for students of two or more races, and 4 points for white students. Scores for Hispanic students, American Indian/Alaska Native students, and Asian students were flat.
• Reading scores fell across the board, with declines for students at the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles.
• The reading score for students at the 10th percentile in 2023 (202) was lower than the reading score for students at the 10th percentile in 1971 (208).

Mathematics

• Scores declined by 13 points for Black students (from 256 to 243), 10 points for Hispanic students (from 267 to 257), 20 points for American Indian/Alaska Native students (from 275 to 255), 8 points for students of two or more race (from 285 to 277), and 6 points for white students (from 291 to 285).
• Scores declined for male and female students and for students from all regions of the country.
• Scores fell for students in all percentiles.

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Enabling new forms of interaction between educators and students, and more effectively personalizing learning are among the potential benefits of AI, the agency says in its new report, “Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Teaching and Learning: Insights and Recommendations.” But the risks include a range of safety and privacy concerns and algorithmic bias.

Educators and policymakers should collaborate on the following principles:

1. Emphasize humans-in-the-loop: Educators and students can remain firmly at the center of AI if users treat edtech like an electric bike rather than a robot vacuum. On an electric bike, humans are fully aware and fully in control, and their efforts are multiplied by technological enhancement. Robot vacuums complete their tasks with little human involvement or oversight beyond activating the device.
2. Align AI models to a shared vision for education: The educational needs of students should be at the forefront of AI policies. “We especially call upon leaders to avoid romancing the magic of AI or only focusing on promising applications or outcomes, but instead to interrogate with a critical eye how AI-enabled systems and tools function in the educational environment,” the Department of Education says.
3. Design AI using modern learning principles: The first wave of adaptive edtech incorporated important principles such as sequencing instruction and giving students feedback. However, these systems were often deficit-based, focusing on the student’s weakest areas. “We must harness AI’s ability to sense and build upon learner strengths,” the Department of Education asserts.
4. Prioritize strengthening trust: There are concerns that AI will replace—rather than assist—teachers. Educators, students and their families need to be supported as they build trust in edtech. Otherwise, lingering distrust of AI could distract from innovation in tech-enabled teaching and learning.
5. Inform and involve educators: Another concern is that AI will lead to a loss of respect for educators and their skills just as the nation is experiencing teacher shortages and declining interest in the profession. To convince teachers they are valued, they must be involved in designing, developing, testing, improving, adopting, and managing AI-enabled edtech.
6. Focus R&D on addressing context and enhancing trust and safety: Edtech developers should focus design efforts on “the long tail of learning variability” to ensure large populations of students will benefit from AI’s ability to customize learning.
7. Develop education-specific guidelines and guardrails: Data privacy laws such as the Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act (FERPA), the Children’s Internet Privacy Act (CIPA), and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) should be reviewed and updated in the context of advancing educational technology. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) could also be reevaluated as new accessibility technologies emerge.

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Eighth-graders have dropped 2 points on the NAEP civics assessment, which measures students’ knowledge of American government and opportunities to participate in civic activities, the National Center for Education Statistics announced Wednesday in the release of the latest Nation’s Report Card results. The test is based on a 0-300 scale, and eighth-graders’ scores fell from 153 in 2018 to 150 in 2022.

In 2022, only 22% of eighth-graders scored at or above proficiency in civics by demonstrating an understanding of the purpose of government, the separation of powers and “how the ideals expressed in the nation’s core documents may differ from reality,” among other concepts, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

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This first-ever decline, in which the scores were not statistically significantly different from when the current version of the test was first conducted in 1998, raises alarms about students’ grasp of democratic principles and their chances of becoming “full participants in American democracy,” Carr said.

“Self-government depends on each generation of students leaving school with a complete understanding of the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship,” Carr said. “But far too many of our students are struggling to understand and explain the importance of civic participation, how American government functions, and the historical significance of events. These results are a national concern.”

U.S. history slumps along with civics

The 13% of eighth-graders who scored at or above proficiency in U.S. history represent the lowest proficiency level of any subject assessed by the NAEP. In fact, four in 10 eighth-graders performed below the basic level as scores declined in all four of the test’s major themes—democracy, culture, technology and world role—saw declines in scores.

Meanwhile, fewer students reported taking classes mainly focused on U.S. history. Some 68% percent of eighth-graders reported taking a U.S. history class in 2022, compared to 72% in 2018.

NAEP’s U.S. history assessment, which also uses a 300-point scale, “measures students’ knowledge and understanding of U.S. history in all its complexity—its major themes, periods, events, people, ideas, and turning points,” the organization says. The history scores—except for those of the very top-performing students—have been dropping since 2014.

Here are more key findings from the eighth-grade civics and history assessments:

Civics

• Scores declined for both lower-performing and middle-performing students between 2018 and 2022. Scores did not change significantly for higher-performing students.
• There was no significant change in the average score for students in any racial or ethnic group compared to 2018.
• 31% of eighth-graders performed below the NAEP basic level in civics in 2022, compared to 27% in 2018.

History

• Scores were five points lower compared to 2018 and not statistically significantly different from the average score in 1994, when the first U.S. history assessment was given.
• Scores declined for students at the 10th, 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles between 2018 and 2022.
• Average scores for Black, Hispanic and white students declined from 2018 to 2022.

“Now is not the time for politicians to try to extract double-digit cuts to education funding, nor is it the time to limit what students learn in U.S. history and civics classes,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement. “Banning history books and censoring educators from teaching these important subjects does our students a disservice and will move America in the wrong direction.”

This latest report follows the largest-ever drops in math scores for 4th- and 8th-graders recorded by the Nation’s Report Card last fall. Reading scores plummeted since the 2019 assessment, falling to levels not recorded since 1992.

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“The combined organization will harness the collective power of instruction and research-based insights to support educators in their efforts to drive better outcomes for students,” the companies said in a news release.

NWEA CEO Chris Minnich will join HMH’s executive leadership team as president of a new NWEA division, which will maintain its flagship assessment MAP Growth and other platform-agnostic assessment products. The deal will connect NWEA’s assessment insights with HMH’s curriculum products and districts should not experience any HMH or NWEA service disruptions, the companies explained.

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“We are deeply focused on the transformative power of education,” added Jack Lynch, CEO of HMH, which itself was acquired by Veritas Capital in April 2022. “We look forward to diving into our collective work in support of students and teachers.”

Proceeds from the acquisition will fund the creation of a new private foundation that will serve students and educators across the nation. The Oregon-based, yet-to-be-named organization will provide grants to schools, among other initiatives.

Today we celebrated the growth RVMS students made in their NWEA Math scores. Students who made growth were awarded their choice of a certificate for either a taco from Taco Bell or French fries from McDonalds!!WE ARE SO PROUD OF ALL OF YOU! pic.twitter.com/28ZTSgExgH

— River Valley Middle School (@RVMS_Panthers) May 1, 2023

NWEA has released several influential reports on learning loss during the COVID pandemic. Its fall 2022 assessment data—from nearly 7 million 3rd and 8th-grade students—found the education system rebounding from achievement lows reached in spring 2021. Though students were still testing below pre-pandemic norms, math and reading scores continued to improve last fall.

Third-graders, who were in kindergarten at the onset of the pandemic, showed the largest declines in reading and the smallest rebounds. Ultimately, NWEA’s researched warned full academic recovery will take several more years.

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