Nation’s Report Card finds Tennessee students mirroring nationwide decline

Despite promising scores in this year’s Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP), Tennessee students continue to show the same signs of learning loss as their peers across the country in national testing.

Tennessee’s National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores released today mirror a historic national drop in the first testing following the pandemic.  While students in the Volunteer state are roughly at the national average in math proficiency and just under that in reading, proficiency in both subjects dropped to their lowest levels since 2011 with significant drops for students of color, English learners, and students with disabilities.

Source: Tennessee Department of Education

Unlike TCAP, the NAEP test is typically proved every two years to a selected sample of schools that reflect the varying demographics of each state and within each school. Students are chosen at random from the 4^th and 8^th grade and the test, commonly referred to as The Nation’s Report Card, is considered the most comprehensive comparison available for cross-state comparisons of student progress.

Tennessee education leaders, including Department of Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn, point out the national drop illustrates the importance of programs Tennessee passed to support students including the Tennessee Literacy Success Act and the Tennessee Learning Loss Remediation and Student Acceleration Act.

“No one should be surprised at the national decline in student achievement, but everyone should feel an ongoing sense of urgency to address it, matched with a clear and ambitious plan of action. Tennessee will continue to focus on effective implementation of its comprehensive plan which invests in research-backed interventions to help all students recover from the pandemic and accelerate their learning beyond pre-pandemic levels. Importantly, our teachers and students are already seeing improvements as a result of their hard work and focus on early literacy, tutoring, summer programming, and other academic programs that our state has launched in the past year to boost achievement,” said Schwinn. “The challenges of the pandemic will continue to impact students for years to come, and we must continue forward with a relentless commitment to doing what is best for kids – we must double-down on what works, with an unwavering focus on high-quality implementation of strategic initiatives that meets every single student where they are and elevates and accelerates their learning.”

Among the other highlights of Tennessee’s NAEP scores:

• 4^th grade math: 36% of tested students scored as proficient, remaining on pace with the national average and a 4-point drop from 2019 
  • No significant change for male students
  • No significant change for students with disabilities or English learners
  • No significant change for Hispanic students
  • 4-point drop for female students
  • 2-point drop for white students and a 12-point drop for black students

• 8^th grade math: 24% of tested students scored as proficient, remaining on pace with national average and an 8-point drop from 2019 
  • No significant change for students with disabilities
  • 6-point drop for white students, 8-point drop for Hispanic students, 10-point drop for black students.
  • 15-point drop for English learners.
  • 8-point drop for both male and female students.

• 4^th grade reading: 30% of tested students scored as proficient, on pace with the national average and a 5-point drop from 2019 
  • No significant change for students with disabilities or English learners
  • No significant change for Hispanic students
  • No significant change for female students
  • 6-point drop for male students
  • 5-point drop for white students and an 11-point drop for black students

• 8^th grade reading: 28% of tested students scored as proficient, remaining on pace with the national average and a 4-point drop 
  • No significant change for white students, black students, or Hispanic students
  • No significant change for students with disabilities or English learners
  • No significant change for female students
  • 7-point drop for male students

Shelby County Sees Significant Drops  

Perhaps the most concerning scores from Tennessee are coming from Shelby County where students scored significantly lower than the large city average.

Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) received its lowest NAEP scores on record with the largest decline in math of the 26 large cities tested and the district tied with Cleveland for the largest decline in reading.

MSCS ranked 19th of the large cities in reading with 16% of 4^th graders and 13% of 8^th graders testing proficient.  Both are 10 and 13 points respectively below the national large city average.

The district ranked 22nd in math among large city with 13% of 4^th graders and 8% of 8^th graders testing proficient.  Both are 13 points below the national large city average.

The NAEP scores stand in contrast to recent TCAP results where the MSCS  district proficiency rose roughly 6 percentage points and nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels.