reading recession – A new national analysis shows U.S. students are still sliding in reading, while select California districts post gains tied to phonics-focused instruction.
A reading recession that began well before the pandemic has left students across the country struggling to return to pre-2019 levels, even as a handful of California districts show faster-than-average progress.
Researchers analyzing education data found that the overall decline in reading skills is not a sudden pandemic-only setback.. Instead, it reflects a long slide in performance that continued during the years schools were trying to recover.. In the latest national comparison—tracking state test results across grades and districts—California’s reading scores declined from 2022 to 2025. and the state ranked near the bottom in academic growth.
Using an Education Scorecard built from state assessments covering third through eighth grade. scholars compared more than 5. 000 school districts across 38 states.. In the period when many systems were still facing the fallout of pandemic-era disruptions. only five states plus the District of Columbia recorded meaningful gains in reading test scores.. Like most states, California did not.
The report’s findings were sobering for reading: students nationally were nearly half a grade level behind pre-pandemic reading scores from 2019. and California’s gap was about a third of a year.. Mathematics looked different.. Most states improved in math from 2022 to 2025, leaving the reading shortfall as the more persistent challenge.
Researchers also translated the learning gap into an instructional measure. noting that a quarter-year of instruction roughly corresponds to about 45 school days. or about nine weeks of the academic year.. The comparison helps clarify what “behind grade level” can mean in practical terms for families and districts—less time translating lessons into measurable gains.
The declines in reading have been visible for years.. The Nation’s Report Card. also known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress. shows reading scores falling for eighth-graders starting in 2013 and for fourth-graders starting in 2015—well before COVID-19.. Harvard professor Thomas Kane. who helped create the Education Scorecard. described the pandemic as the “mudslide” that arrived after years of steady erosion in achievement.
Even so, the report highlights that some districts have found ways to push results upward. Across California, several “bright spots” emerged in the national comparison, including the Modesto, Compton and Los Angeles school districts.
In Los Angeles Unified. students surpassed pre-pandemic state test scores in both reading and math. with improvements spanning multiple groups. including English learners. Black students. Latino students and students with disabilities.. Acting Superintendent Andres Chait attributed the gains to a sustained focus on access to strong literacy instruction. targeted academic support and high-quality learning opportunities. alongside the work of teachers and phonics-based learning.
Los Angeles Unified’s proficiency rates still differ slightly from statewide averages, but the pace of improvement is faster.. In reading, 46.5% of Los Angeles Unified students scored proficient or better on state tests compared with 48.8% for the state.. In math, the figures were 36.8% for Los Angeles Unified and 37.3% for the state.. The report frames those differences as part of a broader story: progress that is accelerating even as gaps remain.
Compton’s results also stood out in the analysis. with students reaching beyond the state’s averages in both English Language Arts and math.. The district reported 51% of students proficient or better in English Language Arts and 41.1% in math.. In the report, Compton is described as having improved more sharply than nearly all other systems nationally.
Compton Superintendent Darin Brawley said the district’s progress did not come from a single initiative or a short-term recovery plan.. Instead. he pointed to a coherent instructional system built around high expectations. continuous improvement. frequent formative assessment and rapid intervention—along with a message that rigor was not lowered during and after the pandemic but strengthened.
Modesto City Elementary School District provides another example of steady movement upward.. The district’s reading and math scores have increased over several years. supported by changes to reading instruction during the pandemic and to math instruction earlier.. The report says Modesto created a new department to support students who are still learning English. while also expanding teacher training.
A key element in Modesto’s approach was paying educators $5,000 to complete an extensive phonics-based “science of reading” program.. At Fairview Elementary, the report described a daily practice focused on reading speed and fluency.. Students learning English were paired with native English speakers. and each child received time reading in turn. as part of the literacy routine.
While the gains are real, the report also stresses that progress has not closed all gaps. For Modesto, test score growth was enough to represent additional learning time—an estimated 18 weeks in math and 13 weeks in reading—but overall scores remain far below grade level.
The report also connects better performance in some places to a wider shift in reading instruction.. Researchers say debate continues over what caused the reading recession in the first place. but one possible factor discussed is the rise of social media and smartphone use. paired with declines in recreational reading.
Researchers also noted policy choices that may have shaped incentives for improvement.. Kane said states backed off strict consequences for schools when students failed to show progress on standardized tests.. That shift could influence how quickly districts escalate interventions for struggling readers.
In comparing the states that improved reading scores, the analysis points to a shared emphasis on phonics-based teaching tied to the “science of reading.” The states named—Louisiana, Maryland, Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana—were described as having ordered schools to teach using this approach.
The report also places those developments in a broader regional context.. Over the last decade, the South has stood out for adopting phonics-based reforms and for pursuing some research-backed math changes.. Louisiana was highlighted as the only state that beat its pre-pandemic reading average. while Louisiana and Alabama were the only states where math scores were higher in 2025 than pre-pandemic.
For years, many schools used reading strategies that de-emphasized phonics, encouraging students to guess words from context clues.. As reading performance declined through the decade. parents. scholars and literacy advocates pushed for instruction that aligns with long-standing research on how children learn to read. often emphasizing students sounding out words.
Alongside changing teaching methods. states—including California—have required systems to screen for learning disabilities such as dyslexia and to hire coaches to strengthen reading instruction.. That combination of identification and instructional support is presented in the report as part of the larger attempt to address reading gaps more systematically.
Still, the report cautions that “science of reading” reforms alone have not guaranteed success.. It points to states that changed portions of their reading instruction—such as Florida. Arizona and Nebraska—yet still saw reading test scores fall.. That suggests implementation quality, consistency, and the broader instructional environment may matter as much as the instructional framework.
Overall. the national picture remains difficult: students are still behind where they were before the pandemic in reading. and the long-term erosion seen in national assessments did not disappear.. But in California. the districts highlighted in the analysis show what can happen when phonics-based approaches are paired with targeted interventions. coaching. and ongoing monitoring of student progress—efforts that may be turning some of the reading recession’s momentum into measurable recovery.
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