REPORT: South Carolina’s 2024 NAEP Scores – A Few Unconventional Conclusions
In January 2025, The Nation’s Report Card released the scores from the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for 4th, 8th, and 12th grade math and reading—though South Carolina has not tested 12th grade math since 2013. Usually administered every other year, NAEP gives us a snapshot of our academic achievement. When paired with a number of survey questions that are administered with the test, NAEP paints a more complete picture of the factors affecting our education system and is a useful data source for those looking to effect positive change.
Nationally, the results were mixed: math scores for 4th grade increased significantly from 2022, 8th grade math scores did not change, but reading scores for both decreased significantly. Twelfth grade math scores fell 3 points from 2019, as did reading. Most concerningly, these reading scores were a full 10 points lower than when first tested in 1992—well before the Science of Reading revolution that is sweeping the nation today.
A number of news outlets and government agencies have already offered commentary on the 2024 NAEP scores since their release in January. The South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) highlighted significant growth in our scores from 2022 as well as a study that, when state scores are adjusted for poverty, puts South Carolina as the 8th best scoring state in the country.
Not looking to offer more of the same commentary, Palmetto Promise Institute utilized the NAEP Data Explorer to dig deeper into the data—resulting in three unconventional, though intuitive, findings that point to the need for additional policy change.
