According to 2022 data, most state reading standards are closer to the NAEP Basic level, and 67% of eighth-graders in 2024 met that standard. On May 15, 2025, U.S. Education Secretary Linda ...

According to new data, 33% of eighth graders in the United States have “below basic” reading levels. That’s even below the sub-proficient level, “basic,” at which 37% of eighth graders ...

Reading scores fell, with the lowest performing students struggling acutely. According to the study, a student scoring at “basic” level in fourth-grade reading is able to explain the sequence of a ...

In fourth-grade reading, students who score below the basic level on NAEP cannot sequence events from a story or describe the effects of a character’s actions. In eighth grade, students who ...

Reading skills for eighth-graders hit their lowest level since testing began in 1992. Levels for fourth-graders were also ...

The 67% of eighth-graders who scored at a basic or better reading level in 2024 was the lowest share since testing began in 1992, results from a closely watched federal exam show. Only 60% of ...

More than half of Louisiana children from poor families start kindergarten without basic reading skills — and most fail to catch up by third grade, a critical year for literacy development ...