Decade-Long Decline , Continues With 8th Grade , History Scores Plunging.
'The New York Times' reports that falling test scores show the alarming impact of the pandemic on student performance across nearly every academic area.
According to recent national test scores, students in the United States showed a sharp decline in knowledge of American history.
The latest test results represent an acceleration of a ten-year downward trend.
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2022 saw approximately 40% of students in the eighth grade score "below basic" in U.S. history.
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In 2014, the number of eighth graders with "below basic" scores was at 29%.
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'NYT' reports that declines across all subjects were typically driven by the lowest-performing students.
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The alarming trend has pushed federal officials to consider rewriting the test to determine what students are missing.
According to 'NYT,' falling reading comprehension levels may have contributed to plunging knowledge of history, as well as a de-emphasis on social studies.
According to Kristin Dutcher Mann, a history professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, students are , "lucky if they get 30 minutes for social studies twice a week.”.
It doesn’t bode well for the future of this country and for the future of democracy if we don’t start doing more instruction in social studies, Kristin Dutcher Mann, history professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, via 'The New York Times'
