Oklahoma students’ scores in reading and math stagnated in 2024 and remained well below the U.S. average, according to national test results released this week.
The data is from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as The Nation’s Report Card, which tests a sample of students every other year in fourth and eighth grades.
Scores plummeted in 2022 across the nation in the first data collection since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The 2024 results show U.S. students have not recovered academically.
In reading, Oklahoma’s scores were not significantly different than in 2022; fourth-grade scores declined one point and eighth-grade scores dropped two.
Forty-six percent of Oklahoma’s fourth graders and 41% of fourth graders scored below basic in reading. Those students can’t, for example, sequence events from a story in fourth grade or determine the main idea of a text in eighth.
Oklahoma fourth graders improved four points in math, while eighth-graders’ scores were the same as in 2022. That mirrors national trends.
Twenty-six percent of Oklahoma fourth graders and 47% of eighth graders scored below basic in math.
Oklahoma ranked near the bottom nationally in both reading and math. Just two states scored significantly lower in fourth grade reading and none did so in eighth grade. Just four jurisdictions scored lower than Oklahoma in fourth-grade math and two did so in eighthgrade math. Oklahoma hasn’t scored above the national average in reading or math in either grade since the late 1990s. The Nation’s Report Card is considered the gold standard for state-by-state comparisons in K-12 schools and participation is federally required.
National average scores were below prepandemic levels in all tested grades and subjects. Only Louisiana exceeded its pre-pandemic fourth-grade reading score and only Alabama exceeded its pre-pandemic fourthgrade math score.
Jennifer Palmer has been a reporter with Oklahoma Watch since 2016 and covers education. Contact her at (405) 7610093 or jpalmer@oklahomawatch.org. Follow her on Twitter @ jpalmerOKC.
