By Jeremy Anderson, CSBA Principal Research Manager
On June 11, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) released the 2025 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading and mathematics scores for the country’s 9- and 13-year-olds. These scores come from NAEP’s Long-Term Trend (LTT) Assessment, which began in reading in 1971 and in math in 1973.
The NAEP LTT is administered every four years to a nationally representative sample of 9-, 13- and 17-year-old students across the United States (the assessment for 17-year-olds was not funded in 2025 by the Department of Education). LTT results are reported only at the national level on a 0-500 scale. The most recent release showed positive results for 9-year-olds, with stagnant scores in both reading and math for 13-year-olds. These results join a recent national conversation on student outcomes fueled by the latest data and research on student test scores.
Reading and math results for 9-year-olds
Average reading scores for 9-year-olds rose by 3 points, from 215 to 218, from the test administered in 2022. There was a similarly hopeful increase for math, which rose from 234 in 2022 to 238 in 2025.
Both score increases are statistically significant, though the scores still lag slightly behind pre-pandemic levels.
The rise in test scores was mainly driven by increases in scores in the lowest percentiles. While students in the 90th percentile saw a one-point increase, those in the 25th percentile saw a seven-point increase, and those in the 10th percentile saw a nine-point increase.
Among student groups, the largest increases were among male students, students who were identified as economically disadvantaged and students attending public schools. Other student groups with higher scores included students identified with disabilities and students not identified as English learners.
The NAEP LTT also captures certain student experiences that might help to shine light on why their results have changed. These experiences include absenteeism, time spent reading for fun, hours spent on homework, and other school and home-life factors.
Absenteeism significantly decreased among students missing five to 10 and 10 or more days compared to 2022. On average, students who missed no days of school scored the highest in reading and math.
Reading for fun remained virtually unchanged from 2022, but at the highest level of reading for fun — “almost every day” or “once or twice a week” — it remains lower than NAEP exams in 2020 and 2012.
Reading and math results for 13-year-olds
The 2025 average reading and math scores for 13-year-olds were virtually unchanged since the last test in 2023. In reading, 13-year-olds scored 256, the same as in 2023. In math, they scored 270, which is one point lower than in 2023.
There was a one-point increase in the highest and lowest percentiles in reading and a three-point increase in the highest percentile in math, but none of the changes were statistically significant. All scores in math and reading are significantly lower than pre-pandemic levels at every percentile except the highest, the 90th percentile in math and the top two highest percentiles in reading.
When looking at the nearly 55 years of the NAEP LTT data, 13-year-olds’ reading and math scores become even more alarming, particularly among U.S. students who need the most help.
Increases from 1982 to 2012 in math scores for 13-year-olds in the 10th and 25th percentiles (the two lowest) have been virtually erased and are back to 1978 levels. In reading, there is no statistically significant difference between 2025 and 1971 scores, except among the highest-achieving students.
Thirteen-year-olds did not see the significant reductions in absenteeism that 9-year-olds experienced. Like 9-year-olds, 13-year-olds who missed fewer days of school scored better on both the math and reading exams than those who missed more days.
The national discussion
Student test scores and education governance have gained nationwide attention with the release of several reports throughout the spring.
Getting Down to Facts III, a far-ranging review of California’s TK-12 system based on over 50 reports and briefs, has highlighted the need for greater alignment and coherence to support student outcomes, including test scores. A study from Stanford, Harvard and Dartmouth, released in May, demonstrated that student test scores began to decline in 2013, well before the pandemic. They found that, on average, reading scores declined just as much in the years before the pandemic as they did during it.
These results, combined with those from the NAEP LTT, point to the need to critically examine how the education system, particularly at the state level in a time of federal retrenchment, is currently serving students, which is the aim of CSBA’s SOS for Student Achievement campaign. It may be some time before the next NAEP LTT is reported. As a part of cuts to the U.S. Department of Education, the next long-term trend assessment is not scheduled to be released until 2033.
