Soaring levels of non-English speaking students may be driving national reading test scores into ground

Data from the 2024 Nation’s Report Card released by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in January revealed that not only have test scores, particularly in reading, fallen nationwide, but the percentage of English learners in K-12 schools has been rising dramatically in nearly every state. English learners in both 4th and 8th grade underperformed students in every other demographic measured by the NAEP, including low-income students and students with disabilities.