U.S. History and Civics National Test Scores Plunge to Lowest Levels on Record

Susan Berry, PhD

U.S. Education Department data released on Wednesday finds national eighth-grade test scores in U.S. History and civics dropped to their lowest level on record last year.

Compared to 2018, average test scores on the 2022 Nation’s Report Card (National Assessment of Educational Progress – NAEP) declined in both subjects. Additionally, scores dropped for lower- and middle-performing students in civics, and across five selected percentiles, except the 90th percentile, in U.S. History.

“[F]ar too many of our students are struggling to understand and explain the importance of civic participation, how American government functions, and the historical significance of events,” said National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Commissioner Peggy G. Carr. “These results are a national concern.”

Biden Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona blamed the disastrous scores on the COVID pandemic, and said the test results show that “[b]anning history books and censoring educators from teaching these important subjects does our students a disservice and will move America in the wrong direction.”

In U.S. History, only 13 percent of eighth-graders met proficiency standards which, according to NCES, means they know and understand “major themes, periods, events, people, ideas, and turning points.”

Only students at the 90th percentile – the highest achieving students – showed no decline in U.S. History test scores since 2018.

According to the data, U.S. History scores for eighth-graders dropped 5 points on the 0-500 scale, from 263 in 2018 to 258 in 2022, continuing a decline in achievement in that subject that began in 2014 – six years before the COVID pandemic.

In civics, scores dropped for students at the 10th, 25th, and 50th percentiles – lower- and middle-performing students – and remained unchanged from 2018 for higher achieving students at the 75th and 90th percentiles.

Eighth-graders’ performance in civics, which NCES says measures “students’ knowledge of American government as well as their ability to participate in civic activities,” dropped 2 points on the 0-300 scale, from 153 in 2018 to 150 in 2022 – when only 22 percent of students at this grade level scored at or above the NAEP proficiency level.

NCES Acting Associate Commissioner Dan McGrath explained the dismal results further:

The percentages of students performing below the NAEP Basic level rose in both U.S. history and civics, and four in 10 eighth-graders performed below the NAEP Basic level in U.S. history. Few eighth-graders are reaching higher levels of achievement. Only 13 percent of eighth-graders were at or above the NAEP Proficient level for U.S. history. That’s the lowest proportion of eighth-grade students reaching that level out of any subject assessed by the NAEP program. And only about a fifth of students were at or above the NAEP Proficient level in civics, which is the second-lowest proportion of students reaching that level in any subject.

In response to the test score results, Cardona also said, “[N]ow is not the time for politicians to try to extract double-digit cuts to education funding.”

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Susan Berry, PhD is national education editor at The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]

 

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One Thought to “U.S. History and Civics National Test Scores Plunge to Lowest Levels on Record”

  1. Joe Blow
    May 3, 2023 at 1:11 pm

    The solution is simple. Just lower the standard for these like has been in so many other education related cases.

    Reply

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