The NAEP (National Assessment of Education Progress) Math and reading scores are in and… it ain’t pretty. The drop in the national change over time is shown below.
On average across the nation, math scores in fourth and eighth grades decreased by -5 and -8 points respectively. In NJ we are leading the nation in failure with a dramatic drop of -7 (fourth grade) and -11 (eighth grade) points.
Everyone wants to blame the pandemic, but you can’t ignore the progressive and constructivist math that has been implemented in New Jersey schools for the the past 10-20 years. The kids who are actually prepared for a STEM are the kids lucky enough to go to a learning center like Kumon, Mathnasium or buy time with a private tutor.
Being unable to help your child at their math homework puts your student at a disadvantage, and this is what these fad constructivist programs were made to do; they were made for equity so that kids with involved parents will be unable to receive help from them. Now everyone gets no help from their parents and only those with tutor money, kids with mom mathematicians or extremely math-talented kids will be successful in math.
Its going to get worse in New Jersey because math has gone woke. Currently the schools in NJ are more concerned about the alphabet curriculum (DEI CRT and SEL) then they are about fixing the failing math scores.
