New test scores suggest Kentucky students are making progress from learning losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The National Assessment of Educational Progress’s “2024 Nation’s Report Card” shows improvement in several areas. Lisa McKinney is the communications director for the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence.
“It seems that we're making some good strides towards recovering from the learning loss that began prior to COVID, but really was exacerbated by COVID, and we really moved up in the rankings compared to other states in a way that I'm not sure we were expecting.”
The NAEP report showed the most progress by fourth graders in reading – from 29th in 2022 to 12th. McKiinney said the results also suggest that overall, Kentucky teachers are doing a good job.
“What I think this really does demonstrate is that Kentucky educators are really making great use of the resources they have, and are doing a lot given a challenging set of circumstances.”
The NAEP report noted that 8th grade math results were below the national average, while 4th-grade math scores showed statistically significant improvement.
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