Washington State’s Eighth Graders Aren’t Proficient in Math and 69 Percent Aren’t Proficient in Reading

 

71 percent of Washington State’s eighth graders aren’t proficient in math and 69 percent aren’t proficient in reading, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress
 (NAEP), also known as the Nation’s Report Card. This is despite record spending.

The assessment is administered every two years and measures national and state student achievement in math and reading in fourth and eighth grades.
According to the latest results released Wednesday, 71 percent of 8th-grade students in the Evergreen State were not proficient in math compared to 58 percent in 2013. 69 percent of Washington’s eighth graders weren’t proficient in reading compared to 58 percent in 2013.
Scores have been declining since 2017, even though school districts and teachers' unions have attempted to put the majority of the blame on the school shutdowns in response to the 2020 COVID pandemic. Ironically those same entities were the ones who insisted on the closures despite the virus posing almost no risk to children.

From 2013 and 2024, the amount of students in Washington performing below the basic NAEP level of proficiency in math spiked by 20 percent, even exceeding the national rate, and the percentage of eighth graders performing at or above the NAEP proficiency level dropped 12 points, while the national rate of decline for this group was 7 points.
The 4th grade average math scores dropped eight points since 2013 as the national average dropped four points during the same time period.

The latest NAEP results also show a decline in literacy at the state and national levels.
According to the results released Wednesday, 69 percent of Washington eighth graders were not proficient in reading compared to 58 percent in 2013. The average reading score for Washington’s fourth-graders dropped 9 points, over the past decade. The national averages dropped 7 points for eighth graders and 9 points for fourth graders.

As scores declined over the past decade, state and federal spending on education continued to skyrocket as spending on the education of Washington students doubled to approximately $20,300 per student, one of the highest per pupil amounts in the US.Yet, Washington’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal, who has been in office during the entire decline, believes the solution is to throw more money at the problem. He said in a statement following the abysmal scores, “This legislative session, I put forward funding proposals to make gains in multiple critical areas. Our schools are doing the best they can to battle the effects of inflation while maintaining high-quality programming and services for students, but we can’t expect them to hold the line year after year with no relief in sight. There is no question that state funding in public education has not kept pace with the real costs of providing services, and my proposals aim to close those gaps.”

Washington has already squandered $3 billion in federal pandemic relief funds sent to Washington for academic recovery with nothing to show for it. Now the Democratic-controlled state legislature is gearing up to blow even more money while not addressing the problem that have led to failing grades and a massive student exodus.

Despite his decade of failure, The Seattle Times endorsed Reykdal
 in his recent re-election campaign. The outlet wrote at the time, “Reykdal’s experience, political acumen, and energy to make the case for increased school funding are strengths that should enable him to turn things around,” despite providing no evidence to make the case. Additionally, the endorsement went on to list his areas of failure, claiming he was “learning from the past and moving forward stronger.”

State Rep Travis Couture said in response to the disastrous results, "NAEP report card on education outcomes came out. WA continues to have some of the most abysmal scores in reading and math in roughly 3 decades. OSPI and Dems are failing our kids. Instead of fixing academics, they/them plan to make it better by erasing parent’s rights tomorrow."