SALISBURY, Md. - Recent national test scores show students in Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware did not perform well in math and reading. The National Assessment of Educational Process, or NAEP, shows a national downward trend in math and reading scores among 4th and 8th graders in nearly every state. Delaware and Maryland were among the worst.
Some say the pandemic played a big part in these recent test scores, but the downward slide had been going on well before that.
Maryland Superintendent of Schools, Mohammed Choudhury, says this trend began almost a decade ago.
"There's no sugarcoating these results," said Choudhury. "Maryland has been experiencing a downward trend since 2013 and a return to normal is not good enough."
Based on the most recent results from NAEP, the majority of 4th and 8th graders in Maryland are not proficient in math or reading. The biggest drop off is seen in math.
75% of 8th graders and 69% of 4th graders in Maryland scored at or below proficiency in math.
But again, this is not a recent trend. Since 2013, Delaware and Maryland 4th graders saw the biggest drop in math scores among all 50 states, while 8th graders in those states saw the second and third largest drop-off, respectively.
Delaware Secretary of Education Mark Holodick provided WBOC with a statement on the states most recent test scores.
"Today's NAEP results reinforce what we knew: Delaware students were significantly impacted by the pandemic and school closures... but our educators, school leaders and state leaders are committed to providing supports to help students accelerate their learning and make up for lost learning during the pandemic."
The same problem is seen in Virginia.
"We must acknowledge the glaring reality that we face together," said Glenn Youngkin. "Our nation's children have experienced catastrophic learning loss, and Virginia students are among the hardest hit."
4th grade reading scores in Virginia were the worst among all 50 states. 4th grade reading scores plummeted by 10 points from 2019 to 2022, representing the learning loss suffered during the pandemic.
There are still a few bright spots across Delmarva, one of them being Worcester County. Based on assessments given by the county, Denise Shorts, the Chief Academic Officer for grades K-8, says students in her grades have performed relatively well since last fall.
"Obviously it was disappointing but that does not mirror what we're seeing in our district with our local assessments and diagnostics," said Shorts. "We felt our learning loss was much better than we anticipated, so again it saddens me to hear about Maryland, but I'd be interested to see what Worcester results looks like."
Counties are still waiting for results from NAEP that breakdown the scores by county or district.
The link for NAEP results can be found by clicking here.
