'Learning recession': NC students performance in reading, math worst than peers a decade ago

DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- A new national education report suggests students across the country are significantly behind in both reading and math performance.

Researchers behind the Education Scorecard said it's almost as if students in North Carolina have missed 27 weeks of learning in reading and 15 weeks in math.

ABC11 met Elizabeth Black and her 4-year-old daughter Eliana outside the Durham County Main Library. With the library closed and warm weather outside, Black turned the sidewalk into a classroom.

"That's the way I teach them. A lot of activities on the inside. We use number blocks, color sorting," she said.

Black says she brings her daughter to the library regularly for early lessons in reading and math, hoping to prepare her for kindergarten this fall.

The report describes it as a "learning recession." The say students across the country are performing worse than their peers did a decade ago. The study analyzed reading and math scores for students in grades 3 through 8 from 2009 to 2025.

In North Carolina, students are performing better in math than they were in 2022, but still about half a grade level behind pre-pandemic performance in 2019.

In reading, students are performing worse today than before the pandemic.

Between 2022 and 2025, North Carolina ranked 9th in math improvement out of 38 states, but 22nd in reading out of 35 states.

Thomas Kane, a North Carolina native and faculty director at the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, says the trend started before the pandemic.

"It's not just a test score. The test score is a leading indicator-predicting, not perfectly, but a leading indicator of what a child's future opportunities are going to be," Kane said.

He also pointed to broader long-term impacts tied to academic performance.

"We know test scores matter. Test scores are related to future earnings, educational attainment, arrest rates, teen motherhood rates."

Kane added that recovery will not happen automatically.

"We're not going to bounce back naturally. Schools are going to have to emphasize reading more because of the decline in reading outside of school time."

The report outlines several recommendations, including:

• Directing more federal resources to districts still dealing with pandemic-era learning loss
• Reducing student absenteeism
• Increasing research into how social media may be affecting test scores
• Pairing high-performing school districts with struggling ones to share strategies

Researchers also stress that adults must be accountable for student outcomes and emphasize the importance of early childhood learning.

Black says she understands that responsibility firsthand, remembering her own childhood trips to the library.

"That was our place of peace outside of home. We read books. There was so much to do," she said.

Despite the concerning numbers, researchers say there is still time to reverse the trend.

They say consistent focus on reading and math, both in classrooms and at home, can help students recover and get back on track.