by Will Jones, Daily Sceptic:

Schoolchildren in the United States have fallen behind in their learning by almost a year in some subjects due to the impact of school closures and other pandemic measures, according to the latest assessments from the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP). The Dispatch has the story.

The NAEP tests a representative sample of 4th and 8th-grade students on reading and maths skills to determine how their learning compares to past students at that age. Scores were already slipping before the pandemic, but in the latest round – administered this spring – about a third of students didn’t meet the lowest reading benchmark, and maths performance saw its steepest decline since the NAEP’s first tests were administered in 1990. The details of the drops vary by age, ethnicity, and other categories, but virtually every measure shows losses.