A new education assessment report puts South Dakota students at or above the national average in two subjects.
The study is called National Assessment of Educational Progress report — commonly known as the Nation’s Report Card. It assesses reading and math administered to 4th and 8th graders across the country every two years.
The report shows South Dakota reading scores dropped in both grades, but they both remained at or above the national average.
In math, compared to 2022, 8th grade scores are about the same and have improved slightly for 4th graders. Both are above the national average.
“These tests are a good measure of where we are compared to the rest of the nation,” said Secretary of Education Joe Graves. “In that regard, South Dakota students are doing well. But our work in education is never done. That’s one of the reasons we launched our statewide literacy initiative, which focuses on teaching reading using the proven concepts of the Science of Reading. In the long term, we believe this effort will help to boost test scores – but even more importantly – literacy among our next generation.”