Students in Louisiana have been improving in the classroom since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Every two years, the National Assessment of Educational Progress evaluates grade levels throughout America, and last year, in 2024, eighth grade and fourth grade students were tested on math and reading.
The scores were released early January and not many were pleased with the results. On average the test scores in most states were lower than their previous scores pre-COVID-19 that were evaluated in 2019. This led people to wonder what led to that drop in academic achievement.
Ty’Anna Dupree, a freshman majoring in criminal justice, commented, “After Covid, it seems like a lot of people stopped caring about the education of children and most teachers don’t actually educate anymore.”
Many aspects could have contributed to the present day lower test scores. When COVID-19 hit, it forced everyone indoors and many students were forced into online classrooms. Making that transition from online to in-person after the COVID-19 pandemic affected many students and teachers alike.
However, Louisiana was one of the few states that has witnessed scores that are above their pre-COVID-19 counterparts in certain grade levels. For fourth grade math, the score was raised by four points in comparison even though it was two points lower than the national average.
For fourth grade reading, the score was six points higher than pre- COVID-19 results and two points higher than the national average.
Even though there were no significant changes in the numbers, there were still major improvements. Louisiana’s fourth graders jumped 26 spots in the national rankings, placing them in 16th place nationwide.
Their scores have shown the nation how much they’ve grown in the academic field.
When taking into consideration that the majority of states have not reached the point where their test scores are higher than their pre-COVID-19 results, Louisiana reaching that goal is a huge accomplishment.
Not all of Louisiana’s scores were up to par though. For eighth grade students, results in math are lower by five points in comparison to 2019 scores and the current national average.
On the other hand, eighth grade scores in reading have remained the same over the years, with the national average being the only variable changing.
In the past, Louisiana has made changes to their early education systems. For instance, when they installed their first ever K-2 accountability plan, which evaluates school’s performances of their youngest students, and the third grade retention bill, which allows students to be held back if they are not able to read at grade level by third grade.
Those changes could have contributed to this success in fourth grade scores, but there are not any changes being made for the older students which could have contributed to the continued decreased score for eighth graders in math.
If there are laws being passed to ensure the success of younger students then there should be some to ensure the success of older ones.
Portia Davis, a junior majoring in speech pathology, commented, “I feel like there should be laws to help eighth graders excel academically because they are about to enter high school and they need to be ready for that educational shift. So if they have changes to help fourth graders then they should have changes to help eighth graders as well.”
There could be other leading factors that contributed to lower scores for eighth graders. Dupree stated, “I feel like the eighth graders now are more exposed to a lot more than eighth graders were in 2019. Now they have chat GPT, TikTok, and social media and they see all of this stuff that eighth graders in 2019 probably didn’t see. I feel like technology, politics and the government plays a part in the education system for eighth graders in 2025 versus 2019.”
Louisiana is definitely proud of its academic performance at the fourth grade level since it does take time and active effort to boost test scores statewide.
So the laws that have been implemented have been proven to be successful.