The National Assessment of Educational Progress, which is also known as the Nation’s Report Card, recently released its first set of post-COVID test scores. The results weren’t pretty.

The average fourth grader’s reading score dropped 5 points since 2020 — the most significant drop among the age group in over two decades. The math test results were even worse as the average 9-year-old faced a 7-point drop, making it one of the most disappointing results in the test’s history. Moreover, lower-performing and disadvantaged students encountered greater test score losses than their peers, further widening the achievement gap.