New NAEP results are out and it’s clear the bottom has fallen out for our lowest performing math students:
The bottom 10% of students performed worse than any cohort of students on the history of the test going all the way back to the 1970s
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Same experience here in tutoring a high school cousin to cope with algebra. He would always grab his calculator and just keep punching things until the coach told him he got it right. First thing I had to do was tell him to put the calculator down. Deep breath. Solution strategy?
Not surprised at all. We tried to stop the madness as teachers. No one listens. Basic facts have to memorized as the foundation of all math.
I think the lack of pencil and paper math work has contributed to this. Plus, students don't memorize numbers anymore including phone numbers and math facts.
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The media could not be played.
I wonder how much of this can be accounted for by parents pulling their kids out of public schools to homeschool them. In many states there are no or little testing requirements for homeschoolers and they are often good student. Their absence could be hurting the averages.
In 1990 or even 2000, I wonder what percentage of kids truly did not give a flying f*** about state mandated testing.
I would bet that the number is MUCH higher now, and I would bet it's a not-insignificant factor in these declining scores.
But they are more equal. Education is no longer a high jump it’s a limbo.
I'd like to see test results from the bottom 10% of the teachers. I'm willing to bet they have a hard time with maff, 
The cause for failures are obvious but no one can discuss that, right.
The cause for failures are obvious but no one can discuss that, right.
Deflections where no datapoint is registered. Who did this chart? If there are deflections they have to occur on a known datapoint for goodness sake.
Have they tried massively increasing the number of students in special education so they can get "extra help"?
What happened around 2012. They got smart phones.
2020 covid lockdowns.
It seems that resourceful parents are learning to adapt.
CALLED IT.
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Marilyn Muller
@1in5advocacy
I think the 2025 results will just deliver more catastrophic failures — everything is inextricably linked to the total lack of federally enforced civil rights compliance in education. x.com/naep_nces/stat…
The media could not be played.
Middle school students never do well on these. It’s no surprise the bottom ten percent are low in the smart phone/instant entertainment age. Math instruction has been brutally bad at adapting, and the worst schools are doing a lot of group assignments so students float. The math
