Reading and math gains emerge, but older students lag

New NAEP results show average reading and math gains for 9-year-olds since 2022, while scores for 13-year-olds remain stagnant and below pre-pandemic levels. Advocates point to declining student engagement with reading and warn that adolescent literacy is beco

For Ameer Baraka, the problem started long before anyone gave it a name.

He grew up in poverty in Louisiana and struggled to read, but it wasn’t caught. By third grade, he had already decided he would never amount to anything. By his teenage years, he was incarcerated for the first time. It wasn’t until his second prison sentence. in his early 20s. that an on-site teacher finally screened him and diagnosed him with dyslexia.

Baraka’s story is used today as a reminder of how long reading struggles can stay hidden—and how costly it can be when they aren’t identified early. The U.S. Department of Education has found that more than 70 percent of incarcerated Americans cannot read above a fourth-grade level. underscoring how quickly unaddressed literacy difficulties can narrow life options.

Those stakes are now reflected in NAEP’s recent report tracking the long-term trend of reading and math scores for 9- and 13-year-olds. The new findings continue to confirm a central message educators and families already know: there is work to do.

For 9-year-olds, average reading and math scores increased by four points compared to the previous assessment in 2022. But the report also shows where the momentum stops. For 13-year-olds, average reading and math scores remained stagnant compared to the 2023 assessment and are below pre-pandemic levels.

There are signs of progress within the younger group. Performance among lower-performing students narrowed achievement gaps among 9-year-olds, with gains among students in the 10th and 25th percentiles.

Yet the broader pattern still troubles advocates, especially when it comes to older students. The declines. the report’s discussion says. began long before school buildings ever closed. even if the pandemic accelerated learning challenges. And while the language around “promising gains” for 9-year-olds is framed as a catch-up toward where students stood in 2013. the report notes that scores have been declining across the board ever since.

The lack of progress for 13-year-olds is presented as a system-level warning. “It’s not OK to let them continue to languish in mediocrity,” the piece argues, pushing the issue beyond an “adolescent literacy challenge” and into what it calls an adolescent literacy emergency.

One factor adding pressure is student engagement with reading. The reporting ties declining engagement to a self-perpetuating loop: students don’t engage in what they don’t do well, and the less they read, the less they practice and improve their reading.

At the heart of the push now is how instruction meets students in middle grade years. The argument is that middle-grade instruction. student engagement. and aligned academic support have to be treated as priorities. so secondary students can access increasingly complex grade-level materials. It also stresses the need for evidence-based instruction that strengthens foundational skill gaps and matches the age-appropriate reading demands students face each year.

The pathway suggested is not another swing toward quick fixes or short-term changes. Instead, the piece calls for implementing what science of reading and science of math research says works—and committing to it over time.

For Baraka, the stakes behind those recommendations are personal. At 18, he was incarcerated with no real path out of his dire situation. A compassionate teacher screened him, gave him the knowledge and skills he needed to learn to read, and set him on a different trajectory.

Today, Baraka is an Emmy-nominated actor, author, and national dyslexia advocate. His work is presented as proof that with the right instruction, at the right time, virtually all children can learn to read—and that literacy can change the trajectory of their lives.

The message landing from the NAEP findings is both urgent and specific. Every score in the report represents a child. the piece says. who deserves the chance to become a confident reader. a capable problem-solver. and a lifelong learner. It also points to research linking strong educational outcomes to healthier communities, stronger economies, and greater civic engagement.

In the newsroom view of this latest report, the question isn’t whether educators can identify effective instruction. The question is whether classrooms—especially for students around age 13—will get the high-quality. evidence-based support they need quickly enough. and consistently enough. to reverse stagnation before another generation of older readers is left behind.

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