Grades are in — and it appears Colorado has taken the adage, “You are your biggest competition,” to heart. While the state performed well in the National Assessment of Educational Progress compared to several other states, Colorado’s scores still lag behind its own pre-pandemic scores.

Referred to as “The Nation’s Report Card,” the National Assessment of Educational Progress is administered every two years by the U.S. Department of Education. The assessment, made up of reading and math tests, is given to fourth and eighth graders in representative sample groups.

The most recent assessment, taken by students in May 2024, is the second time the test has been administered since the pandemic. The previous assessment took place in 2022.

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“May 2024 … show trends since that critical period in our history. The news is mostly not good,” Peggy Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, said in a Wednesday presentation of the results.

Achievement in reading declined for fourth and eighth graders over the last two years nationwide, with both grades falling five points below pre-pandemic levels. Mathematics shows some encouraging signs, though fourth graders are still three points behind pre-pandemic levels while eighth graders are down eight points.

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“Our lowest-performing students are at levels we haven’t seen in 30 years,” Carr said.

The news isn’t all bad for Colorado, as students outperformed several other states in their results — especially in reading proficiency. The state ranked third in fourth and eighth grade reading proficiency nationwide.

Colorado eighth graders recorded higher average scores in both reading and math compared to those from other states. Meanwhile, fourth graders surpassed the national public average in reading and matched the national public average in math.

In addition to scoring higher in individual subjects, a higher percentage of Colorado students met or exceeded the assessment’s Basic and Proficient marks in reading for both grades.

“When the last NAEP scores came out two years ago, we really acted on the inside,” Gov. Jared Polis said in his virtual discussion of the results. “We took actions to boost math achievement in particular, including passing legislation … that we know leads to better outcomes.”

Despite shining on the national stage, Colorado’s performance fell short of its past scores. 

Colorado students scored lower than they did in 2019 — the last time the test was administered before results began to see impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Both fourth and eighth graders kept stable reading scores in 2024 compared with 2022, meaning the state hasn’t seen significant improvement in the last two years since the initial drop in scores during the pandemic.

Scores for the math portion of the assessment also remained relatively consistent with 2022 results for both grade levels. Colorado fourth graders were able to return to pre-pandemic levels and matched the national public average in math, however, eighth graders scored below the state’s 2019 average.

While it is true that the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the national downward trends, Carr said the assessment results had been pointing in this direction before 2020 — which could help to explain why results haven’t “bounced back” to earlier levels.

“The more concerning pattern is what we see in reading in both grade four and grade eight, which is not a leveling out or a catching up, but rather continued decline,” Harvard Graduate School of Education Professor Martin West said during a virtual event on the assessment results. “(One) possibility is that really what we’re seeing is less about the pandemic and more the continuation of a decade-long trend.”

The disheartening results come as Colorado schools face budget cuts and school districts report high absenteeism rates. Carr mentioned that a portion of students who performed poorly on the assessment had been absent for at least five days during the months before or after the assessment.

West, vice chair of the National Assessment of Educational Progress Governing Board, added that the national data for reading scores show a steady decline starting around 2015, meaning performance setbacks — both for Colorado and the rest of the country — pre-date pandemic challenges like staffing shortages and behavioral issues.

“Test scores confirm that across our country, there are many students who are struggling. We also know that’s not the whole story,” Polis said. “Reading and math scores have been declining for a number of years, including prior to the pandemic, especially for the lowest-performing students (and) at-risk students. And our challenge is not to get back to normal — it’s to reverse decades of deterioration.”

Paired with the consistent decline is a growing achievement inequality among different scoring percentiles. For more than a decade, the National Assessment of Educational Progress has seen a combination of decreasing scores for students in the lower percentiles and stagnant scores for those above the 75th percentile.

Nationally, students in the lowest-performing 25th and 10th percentiles showed the steepest declines, with reading scores dropping to the lowest levels recorded since the National Assessment of Educational Progress tracking began in 1992.

“This widening gap between America’s top performing students and struggling students is simply unacceptable in the United States,” Polis said. “This moment, I hope, is a catalyst for innovation … and having the moral fortitude to change what isn’t working.”

It is worth noting that because the results are based on a sample of students, there is a margin of error in the results.

Minority students face nationwide gaps, especially in Colorado

Not unlike trends in Colorado’s enrollment, graduation and dropout rates, the 2024 assessment’s results show a persistent achievement gap for several disadvantaged and minority student groups.

Students eligible for free or reduced lunch, students with disabilities, Black students, Hispanic students and multilingual learners recorded lower average scores than their peers across both grades and subjects assessed by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, according to the Colorado Department of Education.

Similar gaps for the same student groups visible nationwide when comparing assessment results across all 50 states. Many, however, are more pronounced in Colorado.

According to a Colorado Department of Education news release, “Gaps between students with and without disabilities, as well as between multilingual learners and non-multilingual learners, are larger in Colorado compared to the national public average.”

The gap between Hispanic and white students is significantly higher in Colorado for eighth grade reading and fourth grade reading and math, though the gap between white and Black students in eighth grade reading is smaller in Colorado.

The widening gap is not just a numerical trend — it reflects longstanding inequities in access to education that require targeted interventions.

Polis calls for education innovation to tackle declining scores

Polis, in his role as chair of the National Governors Association, commented on nationwide efforts to see more educational returns for state’s investments, since they make up a significant portion of the budget every year.

The association’s initiative — Let’s Get Ready: Educating All Americans for Success — was launched in July 2024 as a yearlong initiative designed to support the nation’s Governors in forming policies that will improve outcomes for learners and prepare them for the workforce.

“We’re one year into our math work that will continue through this school year as well, but we’re glad to see some of the targeted improvements in many areas that governors have focused on,” Polis said. “This new data shows that it’s really all hands on deck for education.”

Free early childhood education, tutoring and afterschool programs and innovative charter schools are all things Polis said should be available to students across the country through his initiative.

“I’m so proud the governors from both sides of the aisle are joining my ‘Let’s Get Ready’ initiative to make real bipartisan progress on this important issue,” he said.