Test scores fell dramatically during pandemic for US nine-year-olds

Federal study on math and reading scores offers an early glimpse of the sheer magnitude of the learning setbacks

Math and reading scores for America's nine-year-olds fell dramatically during the first two years of the Covid pandemic, according to a new federal study - offering an early glimpse of the sheer magnitude of the learning setbacks dealt to children.

Reading scores saw their largest decrease in 30 years, while math scores had their first decrease in the history of the testing regimen behind the study, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the US education department.