Two decades of NAEP reading scores, now in decline
NAEP reading assessment data from 2003 to 2024 shows how state-by-state rankings have shifted over two decades
Source: U.S. Department of Education, NCES, NAEP
Every two years, U.S. students in 4th and 8th grades sit the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in reading comprehension.
As for the results, in 2024 average reading scores declined for students in 4th grade and 8th grade by 2 points nationally, compared to 2022. Even Massachusetts, which topped the chart with the best score, recorded its lowest result so far.
NAEP Reading Scores by State
Average reading scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (0–500 scale)
The heatmap above shows each state's average NAEP reading score in every assessment year from 2003 to 2024. States are sorted from highest to lowest by their most recent score, and darker cells mean higher scores while lighter cells mean lower.
How the NAEP assessment works
Students are given grade-appropriate texts and answer questions about what they've read, giving examiners the broad view of students' reading knowledge, skills, and performance over time.
Based on the results, students can place at Basic, Proficient or Advanced reading levels. Expectations scale with grade level, from organizing basic literary elements like the order of events or character traits up to identifying both sides of an argument or using evidence from multiple sources to substantiate an author's claims.
In 2024, roughly 117,400 Grade 4, 114,600 Grade 8, and 24,300 Grade 12 students participated.
A note on the data
NAEP assessment reading results are reported as average scores on a 0-500 scale. They don't report individual scores, but summary statistics describing scale scores for groups (demographic, gender, race/ethnicity, etc.).