National Reading Scores Show Limited Recovery From Pre-Pandemic Levels

Scholars at Harvard, Stanford and Dartmouth analyzed state test scores from third to eighth grade for over 5,000 school districts in 38 states. The resulting national Education Scorecard allows comparisons across districts and states. The analysis found that only five states plus the District of Columbia had meaningful growth in reading test scores from 2022 to 2025.

Nationally, students remain nearly half a grade level behind pre-pandemic reading scores and only slightly better in math. Reading test scores have been falling since 2013 for eighth graders and 2015 for fourth graders, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Thomas Kane, a Harvard professor who helped create the Education Scorecard, said the pandemic was the mudslide that had followed seven years of steady erosion in achievement.

Some states and school districts have made progress by shifting toward phonics-based instruction and providing extra support for struggling readers. Almost every state in the analysis saw improvements in math test scores from 2022 to 2025, and student absenteeism declined in most states.

More than 400 school districts, including Modesto, California, showed reading or math growth that outpaced demographically similar districts in the same state. In Modesto, the district revamped reading instruction during the pandemic and math instruction earlier.

It created a new department to help students learning English and paid educators $5,000 to complete the LETRS science-of-reading training program. Modesto’s test scores grew enough to represent an extra 18 weeks of learning in math and 13 weeks in reading.

Overall scores in the district remain far below grade level.

Detroit improved scores through a focus on reading and efforts to increase student attendance. A lawsuit settlement provided more than $94 million that the district used to add support staff and attendance officers. Munger Elementary-Middle School in Detroit employs 18 educators who give students extra support in small groups.

An attendance agent contacts families of absent students, including home visits. First grade teacher Samantha Ciaffone said daily attendance has improved from seven or eight absences to one or two. Detroit Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said the district rebuilt systems so students are learning at higher levels but added that continued improvement remains a challenge.

Alabama were the only states where math scores were higher in 2025 than before the pandemic. Louisiana is the only state that beat its pre-pandemic average in reading, with 87 percent of traditional public school students attending a district where scores are higher than in 2019.

Alabama had standout gains in reading after passing a law requiring every school to use phonics-based instruction. The state modeled its 2022 Numeracy Act for math on those reading reforms, standardizing instruction, requiring regular testing and mandating intervention for students below skill level.

Oxmoor Valley Elementary in Birmingham, which was on the state’s failing list in 2016, has improved scores after hiring a full-time math specialist. Birmingham Superintendent Mark Sullivan said the school provides supports while holding students to high expectations.

Stanford professor Sean Reardon noted that the United States saw decades of rising test scores and declining racial disparities from the 1990s until the mid-2010s. Researchers said such progress is possible nationwide because it has been achieved before.

In Modesto’s Fairview Elementary School, sixth-grade teacher Nancy Barajas uses daily reading fluency practice, paired reading and individual support. Students also take brief dance breaks before tests to build confidence.