NAEP results show the achievement gap is growing<_sc3a_dot _xmlns3a_sc="http://www.sitecore.net/sc">

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Sept. 9, 2025) - Today's release of the 2025 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results contains multiple disappointments. First, in a highly irregular development, the National Center for Education Statistics elected not to produce state-by-state performance breakouts, making a granular analysis of student performance and comparison between states difficult, if not impossible. Secondly, the nationwide results that were provided tell a dismal story of modest but continued decline along with the recurring theme of a growing achievement gap.

Average scores on the NAEP, also known as the Nation's Report Card, declined from 2019 to 2024 for eighth graders in science and 12th graders in mathematics and reading. In eighth-grade science, 31 percent performed at or above NAEP Proficient (the scale measures Basic, Proficient and Advanced), 4 percentage points lower than in 2019; 38 percent performed below NAEP Basic, 5 percentage points higher than 2019. According to the NAEP press release, "scores for lower-performing students at the 10th percentile and 25th percentile were lower in 2024 than in all previous assessment years. As a result, the gap between the lowest- and highest-performing students was also larger in 2024 than in any previous assessment."

Although more will be revealed when the state releases its own standardized testing results next month, the national data, along with California's recent trendline, suggest stagnant outcomes should be expected, particularly for the most vulnerable students, such as Black, Latino, low-income and rural students, and students with special needs.

"Year after year, California students continue to struggle in reading and math. The persistent nature of achievement gaps in one of the wealthiest societies in recorded history is a disgrace for California's state leaders and a tragedy for its students," said California School Boards Association (CSBA) CEO & Executive Director Vernon M. Billy. "The state has failed to fully own this crisis. Local school boards carry the burden of trying to triage the situation under political and funding duress, while the state sputters along without a clear, coherent plan that details what the state is going to do differently at its agencies to support the efforts of LEAs to close the achievement gap.

"Such a plan would, among other things, establish benchmarks for state actions, hold state agencies and policymaking bodies accountable for meeting benchmarks while providing a transparent process for keeping the public informed of state progress toward supporting LEAs," Billy continued. "Without such a plan, we consign another generation to mediocrity."

In 2024, the average 12th-grademathematics score was the lowest it has been since the current assessment began in 2005. Scores declined between 2019 and 2024 for all but the highest-performing students at the 90th percentile. With declining scores for lower-performing students at the 10th and 25th percentiles, the achievement gap between the highest- and lowest-performing students continued to widen and was larger in 2024 than in all previous assessments. Additionally, the average grade 12 reading score was lower in 2024 than in all previous assessments. Similar to the findings for grade 12 mathematics, only scores for the highest-performing students at the 90th percentile did not decline from 2019 to 2024, and scores for lower-performing students at the 10th and 25th percentiles continued declines that began before the COVID-19 pandemic.

While California boasts a patchwork of pet projects and freestanding programs aimed at boosting student achievement, it has never adopted a comprehensive, integrated state-level plan to support LEAs in addressing the achievement gap. Instead, the state has relied on local educational agencies to shoulder the responsibility without providing a coherent strategy, sufficient support or holding itself accountable for results. Local governing boards are accountable every day through elections, audits and state interventions, yet who holds the state accountable?