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West Virginia reading, math scores drop to historic lows on national assessment

West Virginia’s scores on a national education bellwether have plummeted following the many disruptions of the covid-19 pandemic.

Test scores for reading and math were down for fourth and eighth graders across the nation in today’s release of the education assessment known as The Nation’s Report Card.

West Virginia’s results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress were well below the national average and amounted to the state’s lowest performance ever.

Jim Justice

Gov. Jim Justice today said he’s tried to make education the centerpiece of his administration. In a briefing, Justice said there’s more to school than test scores. The governor did say, though, that West Virginia needs to work on educational improvement.

“We’ve done a lot of stuff, and there’s a lot, a lot of really good stuff going on in our schools, a lot of going on in the schools in West Virginia that goes way, way beyond test scores,” Justice said today.

“If you went to these fourth graders and you said to them ‘Who’s your teacher?’ and they would tell you and then you said to the fourth graders, ‘What do you think of your teacher?’ — I would say the overwhelming majority by far, these kids love their teachers.”

Justice said the same admiration for public schools and teachers would be true of most communities in West Virginia. “Most people love their schools and their communities, and it’s so meaningful,” Justice said.

“Now if the kids love their teachers and the community loves the school, we’ve got to have a bunch of good stuff going on there, don’t we? Let’s just be fair. Way, way, way beyond maybe bad test scores. But it doesn’t mean we turn our back on the test scores. We want to do better there. We absolutely have to be better there. Absolutely, our kids deserve that in every way. But I’m telling you there’s a lot of good stuff going on in our schools.”

Nationally, the test was administered to 446,700 students at 10,970 schools in all states at the beginning of the calendar year. It is scored on a scale of 0 to 500.

In mathematics, West Virginia public school fourth graders had an average score of 226. That was lower than the average score of 235 for public school students across the nation. That’s also the lowest score in more than 20 years for West Virginia fourth graders.

In reading, the other big area assessed, West Virginia fourth graders scored an average 205. The national average was 216. The score was the lowest ever recorded for West Virginia public school fourth graders.

West Virginia public school eighth graders scored 260 on average in math. That was lower than the national average of 272 and the lowest average for West Virginia eighth graders in more than 20 years.

The West Virginia eighth graders scored a 249 in reading. That was lower than the average national score of 259. And it was the lowest reading score ever recorded by West Virginia eighth graders.

Debra Sullivan

West Virginia state school board member Debra Sullivan was still processing the results today but was not surprised that scores were down following the pandemic. West Virginia shut down its school system as covid-19 hit in the spring of 2020 and then school systems were frequently disrupted in 2021.

“I know there are historic lows across the nation, and I am not surprised,” Sullivan said today on MetroNews’ “Talkline.” “Missed instruction is impactful, and it has affected our West Virginia students, our United States students, and we must all work hard to ensure our students receive the necessary resources and support.”

She continued, “We can’t use our challenges as an excuse, but it does mean that everyone is going to have to work together — educators, community, business, government, the governor and the Legislature — to address the issue. Our schools reflect the challenges confronting the state, and it’s really a call to action for all of us to work together to do our part.”

Sullivan said she regularly visits the schools and sees great signs of energy and enthusiasm. “We must believe that our children are as capable as children anywhere in the world and make sure that they are being given the opportunities that they deserve,” she said.

Most states saw reading and math scores decline for fourth and eighth graders between 2019 and 2022, according to NAEP, the assessment organization. The national score declines in math were the largest ever for that subject, NAEP said in its release today.

“The results show the profound toll on student learning during the pandemic, as the size and scope of the declines are the largest ever in mathematics,” said Peggy Carr, commissioner of the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics.

“The results also underscore the importance of instruction and the role of schools in both students’ academic growth and their overall wellbeing. It’s clear we all need to come together—policymakers and community leaders at every level—as partners in helping our educators, children, and families succeed.”

The National Center for Education Statistics concluded the higher performance on the standardized test subjects was tied to access to key educational resources during remote learning in the 2020-21 school year.

Those included:

  • Access to a desktop computer, laptop, or tablet all the time;
  • A quiet place to work at least some of the time;
  • Their teacher available to help with schoolwork at least once or twice a week; and
  • For eighth-graders, real-time video lessons with their teacher every day or almost every day.