Dive Brief:
- Promising evidence is emerging that students in grades K-8 are beginning to see “sizable improvements” after years of post-pandemic stagnation — particularly in reading test scores between 2025 and 2026, according to a recent analysis of MAP Growth reading data by NWEA, an assessment and research company.
- Historically underrepresented groups such as Black and Hispanic students, as well as students attending high-poverty schools, accounted for much of those reading gains, NWEA found.
- Math scores also continued to improve, demonstrating signs of steady post-COVID-19 recovery from 2021 through 2026 for students in K-5, NWEA said. Students at the middle school level, however, saw their math scores stagnate between 2025 and 2026 after showing improvement from 2022 through 2025.
Dive Insight:
The latest findings from NWEA’s MAP Growth National Dashboard, particularly in reading, offer signs of hope that schools are making progress in post-pandemic recovery, said Karyn Lewis, vice president of research and policy partnerships at NWEA, in a Tuesday statement.
Still, Lewis said the results should be approached “with caution” and that full pandemic recovery will require continued supports for “students who were furthest from opportunity before and after the pandemic.”
“While this is progress, we can’t lose sight of the full scale of unfinished learning that still needs to be addressed,” Lewis added. “Reading scores in most grades still remain below pre-pandemic levels, and persistent gaps by race/ethnicity and school poverty level are not gone.”
To keep the post-COVID-19 recovery momentum going, NWEA suggests that education leaders examine what’s driving their specific reading gains, such as any practices, policies or investments that could be fueling progress.
NWEA added that leaders should also continue sustaining effective early literacy reforms while bolstering supports for upper elementary and middle school students. That can include assessments, instruction and interventions in addition to professional development for educators.
As positive signs emerge for early learners’ COVID academic recovery, other data over the past year has pointed to persisting concerns for older students’ reading and math progress at the high school level.
Earlier this month, another assessment — the 2025 Programme for International Student Assessment — found that U.S. 15-year-olds’ reading scores plummeted 14 points since 2022. That equates to a seven month learning loss, according to U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon during a Sept. 8 press call. PISA math scores for those students, however, showed no significant change from 2022.
In September 2025, the U.S. Department of Education released 2024 results for the The National Assessment of Educational Progress that revealed 12th graders’ test scores in both math and reading dropped by 3 points compared to 2019.
Meanwhile, as technology use has proliferated in schools alongside the more recent integration of artificial intelligence, researchers are wondering if the trend has led to the significant decreases in reading scores. Those questions are also arising as more schools and districts limit screen time in classrooms and even place temporary bans on AI.
