Students in eighth grade are doing worse in U.S. history and civics than they were in 2018, exacerbating concerns about learning loss, according to data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress released Wednesday.
The latest data from the Nation’s Report Card revealed that civics scores for eighth grade students declined for the first time ever, falling from 153 in 2018 to 150 on a 0-300 scale. The scores matched the assessment score from 1998, the first year that students were assessed in the subject.
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For U.S. history, scores for eighth graders declined from 263 in 2018 to 258, continuing a fall that began in 2014 when scores peaked at 267 on the 0-300 scale. The assessment scores for U.S. history were the worst ever recorded, falling a point lower than the 259 recorded on the subject’s first assessment in 1994.
The declines are sure to exacerbate concerns about the continued fallout of the 2020 pandemic school closures. In October, the Nation’s Report Card recorded the largest-ever drop in math scores and a similarly troubling decline in reading scores for students in fourth and eighth grade.
In a press release, the National Center for Education Statistics said the decline in civics and history education scores was of serious concern due to the implications for civic participation.
“Self-government depends on each generation of students leaving school with a complete understanding of the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship,” NCES Commissioner Peggy Carr said in a statement. “But far too many of our students are struggling to understand and explain the importance of civic participation, how American government functions, and the historical significance of events. These results are a national concern.”
The national scores are based on test scores from 8,000 public and private school students making up a “representative sample” of the United States. Since the test is conducted every four years, Wednesday’s release provides a before and after snapshot of the educational impact of the coronavirus pandemic, which prompted school closures, virtual learning sessions, and masking mandates.
The declines in both subjects were seen in all demographics, but students considered to be the highest performing did not see any decline in their scores. Male students fared slightly better than their female counterparts, with scores for the former declining by 4 points in history and 2 points in civics, while scores for female students dipped by 5 and 3 points, respectively.
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The assessment data also revealed that 40% of students in history and 31% in civics failed to reach the lowest NAEP benchmark of “basic,” while a meager 13% of students in history and 22% in civics scored above the second benchmark of “proficient.”
“Few eighth-graders are reaching higher levels of achievement,” NCES acting Associate Commissioner Dan McGrath said in a statement. “Only 13 percent of eighth-graders were at or above the NAEP Proficient level for U.S. history. That’s the lowest proportion of eighth-grade students reaching that level out of any subject assessed by the NAEP program. And only about a fifth of students were at or above the NAEP Proficient level in civics, which is the second-lowest proportion of students reaching that level in any subject.”
