A new analysis comparing students’ standardized test scores to spending on education shows Texans are failing to get a quality return on their investment, with reading and math scores steadily declining as taxpayer-funded school spending increases.
This week, the National Center for Education Statistics released 2024 scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), known as “The Nation’s Report Card.”
The biennial NAEP testing scored 4th and 8th grade students in reading and math.
Reading scores continued to decline, hitting their lowest levels in decades.
In 2024, the percentage of eighth-graders’ reading below NAEP Basic was the largest in the assessment’s history, and the percentage of fourth-graders who scored below NAEP Basic was the largest in 20 years.
“Where there are signs of recovery, they are mostly in math and largely driven by higher-performing students,” said NCES Commissioner Peggy G. Carr. “Lower-performing students are struggling, especially in reading.”
The report card cites a two-point improvement in 4th grade math scores from 2022 to 2024 as a sign of “progress,” even though the scores have failed to recover from a five-point decline between 2019 and 2022.
But the average 2024 reading score for 4th graders nationwide was two points lower compared to 2022 and five points lower compared to 2019.
In Texas, 4th grade reading scores also dropped two points, from 214 to 212 (on a scale of 0 to 500).
Texas scores were two points below the 2024 national average of 214.
Just 28 percent of Texas 4th grade students scored as “proficient” or better in reading.
Performance trends over time show the percentage of Texas 4th graders who read at or above a “basic” level was the same in 2024 as in 1992: just 57 percent.
During the same time, state spending on education has increased.
The result is a lower return on investment for Texas taxpayers who fund the spending increases, according to a new analysis of the data.
Edunomics Lab analyzed return-on-investment data from 2013-2024—comparing NAEP 4th grade reading and 8th grade math scores alongside per-pupil spending—to see how successful states have been at leveraging dollars to deliver academic improvement.
Analysts found that while education spending in Texas grew 48 percent (with 35 percent inflation) to about $12,300 per pupil, Texas 4th graders’ reading scores fell through the decade and “continue to decline even as spending increased.”
Texas data mirrors the national trend of increasing spending and decreasing scores.
The Texas Education Agency documented similar declines on the state’s standardized tests known as STAAR (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness).
Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath also cited “progress” in 2024 despite declining test scores on STAAR and NAEP.
The agency’s 2024 Annual Report pointed to analysis by the Urban Institute showing that Texas ranked fifth overall on the 2022 NAEP report card when scores were adjusted for demographic differences.
The Urban Institute’s demographically adjusted 2024 NAEP scores show Texas ranked the ninth highest in 4th grade reading, while the unadjusted scores show the state ranked fourteenth lowest.
STAAR results for 2024 showed declining scores in almost every subject and grade, with just 49 percent of Texas 4th grade students reading at or above grade level.
Texas parents and taxpayers say they expect more learning bang for their public education buck.
“Increased funding (taxes from your pocket) does not increase student outcomes. HOW funding is spent is most important,” an Allen mom posted on social media in response to the Edunomics report. “How much more can you afford to pay in taxes for these results?”
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