NAEP, also known as the “Nation’s Report Card,” tests fourth and eighth graders in reading and math every two years.
Oklahoma ranked 47 in fourth grade reading and 48th in eighth grade reading. For math, fourth graders ranked 44th, and eighth graders ranked 45th.
The state’s performance has seen little improvement since the last test in 2022. Only a fifth of Oklahoma eighth graders tested proficient in reading, compared to the 29% national average. Fourth graders scored at a 23% proficiency rate, compared to 30% nationally.
In math, 31% of fourth graders tested proficient, compared to 39% nationally. Seventeen percent of eighth graders tested proficient, compared to 27% nationally.
Only one score went up, both in Oklahoma and across the country: fourth grade math. In Oklahoma, it went up by four points, while nationally, it increased by two points.
“Overall, student achievement has not returned to pre-pandemic performance,” said Peggy G. Carr, National Center for Education Statistics Commissioner, in a press release. “Where there are signs of recovery, they are mostly in math and largely driven by higher-performing students. Lower-performing students are struggling, especially in reading.”
On average, female students in Oklahoma scored higher in reading, and male students scored higher in math. In both grade levels and subjects, economically disadvantaged students scored lower than students who are not economically disadvantaged.
However, Oklahoma remained in the top half nationally for the smallest gaps between economically disadvantaged and not economically disadvantaged, with its widest gap occurring in fourth grading reading.
NAEP scores are different from the state’s report card system, which showed during the 2023-24 school year, 43% of Oklahoma students were proficient in reading, and about a third were proficient in math. Last year, the state department quietly lowered its performance metrics for those tests.
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