News

What's behind the decade-long 'learning recession' for American students

May 22, 2026

William Brangham: As the school year is coming to a close, a new analysis shines yet another harsh spotlight on what's being called a learning recession for America's students. And it's a problem that started long before the pandemic. That's according to...

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...

Kids' test scores began declining way before COVID. These schools are making gains

May 13, 2026

The pandemic-era backslide in math and reading scores for students across the U.S. was not a sudden catastrophe but the continuation of a brutal, decade-long "learning recession" that began years before COVID-19's arrival. That's according to the latest...

Anatomy of a ‘Learning Recession’: Academic Losses Began in 2013, Report Finds

May 13, 2026

The United States entered a “learning recession” in 2013 that it has struggled mightily — and thus far ineffectively — to escape, according to a report unveiled Wednesday by a group of respected social scientists. A steep drop in student performance was...

Why U.S. Test Scores Are in a ‘Generation-Long Decline’

May 13, 2026

Something troubling is happening in U.S. education. Almost everywhere in America, students are performing worse than their peers were 10 years ago, according to new, district-level test score data released Wednesday by the Educational Opportunity Project...

Kids are in a ‘reading recession’ as test scores continue to decline

May 13, 2026

MODESTO, Calif. – Before every important test, teacher Nancy Barajas dims the lights, turns on a disco ball and blasts music from her playlist. Her sixth graders dance together as a “pre-celebration” to boost their confidence, then take their exam. Lately...

Look Up Your School District’s Test Scores

May 13, 2026

Read more about why that’s happening: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/13/upshot/test-scores-school-districts-… Below, you can look up how test scores for your district have changed since 2015. (Note that some states — New York among them — are...

Want better schools? It’s all up to states.

March 16, 2026

Southern states have historically underperformed in educational achievement. But a recent rise in test scores in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee has led some experts and journalists to describe the “Southern surge” as one of the few bright...

How to help lift slumping American math scores

January 26, 2026

Scholars are frustrated. After decades of effort to bring more challenge and joy to math class, American students have made little net progress. In 2022, the nation’s students ranked 34th in the preeminent international test of mathematics. While the U.S...

Summer School Can Boost Learning Gains—Even When Programs Aren’t Perfect

January 14, 2026

Nearly six years on from the start of the COVID pandemic, many of the academic recovery plans districts put in place haven’t shown big returns and student achievement remains stubbornly low. Several studies of large-scale tutoring programs, for instance...

Summer school boosts math — but not reading — achievement, NWEA finds

December 10, 2025

Many districts across the country expanded summer learning and tutoring opportunities to offset drops in achievement after the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted in-person instruction. NWEA’s recent analysis includes student assessment data from 10 large school...

Vax Rates, ESAs, and Cell Phone Bans: 12 Charts That Defined Education in 2025

December 09, 2025

Le plus ça change… The past year marked the beginning — or re-beginning — of a new, old era in American schools: the Trump administration’s second term, which promised an explosion of school choice programs, further rollbacks on controversial content in...