U.S. children's reading skills reach new lows

NEW YORK, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- In the latest release of federal test scores, U.S. educators had hoped to see widespread recovery from the learning loss incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the results from last year's National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) showed a slide in reading skills.

The percentage of eighth graders who have "below basic" reading skills according to NAEP was the largest it has been in the exam's three-decade history: 33 percent. The percentage of fourth graders at "below basic" was the largest in 20 years, at 40 percent.

"There was progress in math, but not enough to offset the losses of the pandemic," noted The New York Times on Thursday in its report about the finding.

"Recent reading declines have cut across lines of race and class," it added. While students at the top end of the academic distribution are performing similarly to students pre-pandemic, the drops remain pronounced for struggling students, despite a robust, bipartisan movement in recent years to improve foundational literacy skills.