#  Tom Kane has tracked years of U.S. test scores. Here’s what he’s learned — and still can’t explain. 

 





May 21, 2026

 

 

Just about everyone in education is trying to figure out why student achievement has been declining and how to raise it back up.

If anyone would know the answer it might be Tom Kane, a Harvard University professor who has been poring over data on student learning for the last several years. Kane and several colleagues recently released an extensive database of test scores from most states in the country.

The takeaway: Schools have made some progress recovering from steep learning declines in math, but scores in both math and reading are still far below where they were over a decade ago.

“The U.S. has been in a learning recession since at least around 2013 and that’s especially true in reading,” says Kane. “The challenges we face didn’t start or end with the pandemic.” The implications are alarming. In other work, Kane has found that test scores are linked to a variety of economic outcomes.

The research out of Kane’s center has been so comprehensive that many of its interesting findings have flown under the radar. I wanted to highlight a few of them. And I also wanted to unpack theories to explain poor academic results. What’s striking is that even Kane, a leading expert, doesn’t have clear answers or solutions.

Here are some takeaways from the work of Kane and his colleagues.

**There are hypotheses, but no decisive evidence, for why learning stalled before the pandemic**

Kane offers two theories. “The slowdown in learning coincided with a dismantling of test-based accountability and a rise in social media use,” his study says. The evidence for both is circumstantial, Kane acknowledges. Other countries have also seen test scores deteriorate, which could be consistent with a rise in social media everywhere. Federal accountability helped drive learning gains in the past, according to some research, so easing the pressure may explain recent declines.

Yet both theories have holes. Test scores have dropped even in early grades where social media use is not prevalent (although general screen use has accelerated for young kids). And accountability policies seemed most effective in raising math scores, but the most persistent recent declines have been in reading.

“We don’t have a definitive answer,” Kane says.

**The highest- and lowest-poverty school systems have recovered faster than those in the middle**

Kane calls this a U-shaped recovery. You can see it in the graph below, from his recent study. The dark blue and orange lines show learning trends by district poverty rates between 2022 and 2025. In math, the highest- and lowest-need school systems have seen the most progress. In reading, scores in middle-income districts fell the most.

Kane says policymakers should keep in mind those middle-income districts, which are sometimes overlooked in policy and funding formulas.

Keep reading at [chalkbeat.org.](https://www.chalkbeat.org/2026/05/21/tom-kane-on-test-scores-and-learning-loss-recovery/)



 

 

 



 

 See also:- [ Attendance ](/focus-areas/attendance)
- [ Cell Phones ](/focus-areas/cell-phones)
- [ COVID-19 Impact ](/focus-areas/covid-19-impact)
- [ Math Instruction ](/focus-areas/math-instruction)
- [ Reading Instruction ](/focus-areas/reading-instruction)
- [ In the News ](/cepr-in-the-news)
- [ Education Recovery Scorecard ](/projects/education-recovery-scorecard)
- [ 2026 ](/year/2026)
- [ K12 ](/sector/k12)
 
 

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