New research shows that children are increasingly reading below their appropriate level nationwide, in a decline that started during the Covid pandemic. The results come from fourth and eighth graders who were tested early last year.

America’s children have continued to lose ground on reading skills in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and have made little improvement in math, according to the latest results of an exam known as the nation’s report card.

Students’ reading scores fell in Arizona, in line with a national trend, while the state’s math scores held steady, according to national exam results released Wednesday.  The National Assessment of Educational Progress,

The percentage of eighth graders who have “below basic” reading skills according to NAEP was the largest it has been in the exam’s three-decade history — 33%. The percentage of fourth graders at “below basic” was the largest in 20 years,

Maine fourth graders' math and reading skills are among the lowest in the country and have dropped the most since pre-pandemic levels. That's according to new data released Wednesday by the National Center for Education Statistics.