“There’s a misconception that students are done developing reading skills by the end of 3rd grade, after which they read to learn, said Rebecca Kockler, executive director of Reading Reimagined, a flagship R&D program of the Advanced Education Research and Development Fund (AERDF). “That statement has done a lot of harm to our understanding of what kids need,” she said in a recent EdWeek article.
And nowhere is this misconception more apparent than in the results released from the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Commonly referred to as the nation’s report card, NAEP scores show that more students are scoring below its threshold for mastery of “basic” skills in reading as well as science and math.
45% of 12th graders are below NAEP’s threshold for “basic” performance in math, while 32% of students are below the same cutoff in reading. That means less than half of all high school seniors are prepared with the 21st century skills needed for them to lead and succeed in a rapidly changing world.
“Currently, there is an ‘innovation gap’ holding back development of truly research-based solutions that deliver results for students, families and school systems,” AERDF CEO Auditi Chakravarty said in a statement reported by District Administration. “Increasing national investments in education R&D can change that.”
AERDF is one part of the solution, prioritizing the big problems in education and experimenting with different models and approaches for tackling them through each of our R&D programs: EF+Math, Assessment for Good, Reading Reimagined, and AugmentED.
As a purpose-built discovery and invention hub, we drive breakthrough R&D that bridges the gap between discovery and adoption, ensuring that bold ideas are tested, improved, and ultimately implemented at scale.
NAEP scores present us with an important snapshot of where our students are excelling and where we must step up. Yet it will take shared commitment and collaboration across the ecosystem to make sure that we do, that the science and solutions are rooted in the needs of learners and educators, and that they can reach all learners.
Photo by John Rego
