The 2024 Nation’s Report Card is out and the news isn’t great. To briefly summarize:

• The disparity between higher achieving students and lower achieving students has increased. Most of the progress in the 2024 results comes from higher achieving students.

• National scores in all subjects are below pre-pandemic levels.

• Math scores in 4th are up by 2 points nationally from 2022.

• Reading scores are down nationally.

 

The US Department of Education released a statement saying, “Today’s NAEP results reveal a heartbreaking reality for American students and confirm our worst fears: not only did most students not recover from pandemic-related learning loss, but those students who were the most behind and needed the most support have fallen even further behind.”

 

President Donald Trump signed an executive order that has the potential to expand school choice. This order is aimed at increasing opportunities for educational choice through discretionary grant programs. President Trump has explained that this looks like the ability to withdraw up to $10,000 per year from 529 funds for K-12 schooling costs.

 

Speaking of executive orders: President Trump signed another one using Title IX to “protect opportunities for women and girls to compete in fair and safe sports.” This looks like enforcing nondiscrimination laws to keep men out of women’s sports and holding schools accountable to preserve a safe female sports category.

President Trump has spoken about dismantling the Department of Education. In the meantime, he has nominated Linda McMahon as the US Secretary of Education.