On January 29, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) finally released the math and reading scores for public-school 4th and 8th graders on the 2024 Nation’s Report Card.
However, results of the 2019 and 2022 exams were announced in October of the same year the tests were given between January and March.
In an August 2024 Newsmax article about the egregious educational failures of Democratic politicians on the 2022 exams, including vice presidential candidate and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, I criticized President Joe Biden's DOE for withholding last year’s results until after the presidential election.
Unsurprisingly, the total score for public school students in 2024 is 980 points, a 3-point drop from 983 points in 2002.
Since President Donald Trump’s total in 2019 is 1,002, American students dropped a humongous 22 points between 2019 and 2024.
Eighth graders declined 9 points in math and 5 points in reading, while 4th graders dropped 5 points in reading and 3 in math.
With 12-points equaling one-year of academic progress, they suffered an unprecedented 1.8 years of educational regression during Biden’s abominable presidency.
Tragically, American students lost almost all the tremendous progress in the 21st century achieved by his three predecessors.
On the tests in the first quarter of 2009, the total score for public school students was 1,003 points, reflecting President George W. Bush’s successful educational leadership between January 2001 and January 2009.
But between 1998 and 2000, during the last three years of Bill Clinton’s presidency, the total score on the Nation’s Report Card was a horrendous 970 points. (Since only the two math tests were administered in 2000, I used his reading scores from 1998.)
Therefore, during President Bush’s tenure, American public school 4th and 8th graders skyrocketed by a spectacular 33 points, or 2.8 years.
Similarly, on the four tests administered in the first quarter of 2017, the total was 1,007 points, demonstrating President Barack Obama’s competent educational leadership between January 2009 and January 2017.
More granularly in 2024, the total score for female 4th and 8th graders is 984 points, a heinous decline of 27 points, or 2.3 years, from the 1,011 in 2019. They lost 15 points in math and 12 in reading.
Male students totaled 976 points last year, an abysmal 18 points, or 1.5 years, fewer than the 994 in 2019. They dropped 10 points in math and 8 in reading.
Two unaddressed national reading failures are that male 4th graders trail their female classmates by 8 points, and male 8th graders lag by 9 points.
Among the four major racial or ethnic groups, Asian American 4th and 8th graders declined by 16 points, or 1.3 years, from 1,099 points in 2019 to 1083 in 2024.
White American students scored 1,040 points in 2019 but 1021 points in 2024, for a significant 19-point loss, or 1.6 years.
Hispanic American students suffered a horrible 26-point loss, from 958 points to 932, or 2.2 years of academic regression.
Black American 4th and 8th graders dropped an odious 18 points, or 1.5 years, from 930 points in 2019 to 912 last year.
Therefore, on the four exams in 2024, Asian public school students led their white classmates by 62 points, or a cumulative 5.2 years.
Asian students outscored Hispanic students by 151 points, or 12.6 years.
And they surpassed Black students by 171 points, or 14.3 years.
In July 2021, my Newsmax article documented that the students attending domestic and overseas schools operated by the Department of Defense Educational Activity (DoDEA) outscored their counterparts in all 50 states and 26 large urban public school districts on the 2019 Nation's Report Card.
However, I warned that President Biden and Pentagon leaders were jeopardizing these fantastic educational successes by introducing nefarious indoctrination about “White Rage” and “Critical Race Theory” among active military personnel and their children.
Fortunately, on the 2022 and 2024 Nation’s Report Cards, students at DoDEA schools retained their coveted position leading the nation’s K-12 public schools: scoring 1,057 points in 2019; 1,059 points in 2022; and 1,058 points in 2024.
Since the national public school average last year was 980 points, the Pentagon’s schools have a 78-point advantage, or 6.5 years.
Additionally, at DoDEA schools, Asian Americans scored 1,080 points; White Americans, 1,074; Hispanic Americans, 1,038; and Black Americans, 1,006.
Very encouragingly, DoDEA Hispanic students’ fabulous 1,038 points in 2024 crushes their public-school contemporaries’ bleak 932 points by 106 points, or 8.8 years of education advancement.
DoDEA Black students’ excellent 1,006 points trounces their public school counterparts’ dismal 912 points by 94 points, or 7.8 years.
And DoDEA white students’ 1074 points are a robust 53 points, or 4.4 years, more than public-school counterparts’ 1021.
DoDEA Asian students’ 1,080 points is statistically equal to their public-school contemporaries’ 1083.
Finally, on January 29, President Trump’s Department of Education released a somber statement deploring the “heartbreaking reality” that most American students did “not recover from pandemic-related learning loss.”
However, the president’s vow to provide “universal access to high-quality education” will be actualized on the 2026 and 2028 Nation’s Report Cards, when public school students will recoup their pernicious losses suffered during Joe Biden’s cataclysmic four years in the White House.
Mark Schulte is a retired New York City schoolteacher and mathematician who has written extensively about science and the history of science. Read Mark Schulte's Reports — More Here.