Gov. Reynolds issues a statement in response to the NAEP 2022 Math and Reading Assessment Scores

Gov. Reynolds released the following statement today in response to the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Mathematics and Reading Assessments of Grades 4 and 8:

“Iowa was the first state in the nation to reopen its schools during the pandemic, bringing students back to the classroom for in-person learning in August 2020 – not to make headlines or for political gain, but because we believed it was the best thing to do for our children’s education, stability, and overall well-being. Now, the first pandemic-era math and reading results reported today by the National Assessment of Educational Progress prove we did the right thing.

“This wouldn’t have been possible without the dedicated school administrators, teachers and staff who showed up every day to keep their students on track. Thank you for the difference you made.

“As anticipated, student performance in both math and reading decreased across all states nationwide between 2019 and 2022, but Iowa’s scores show “no significant change” for fourth grade math and reading, and eighth grade reading. In fact, Iowa ranks 7th overall in 4th grade math, 15th in 4th grade reading, 15th in 8th grade math and 20th in 8th grade reading.

“While we still have work to do to improve educational performance in Iowa, our students are ahead of their peers across the country because we kept our schools open and gave parents the choice of what was best for their children.”