Nation’s Report Card released:
South Dakota performing well compared to nation

Results of the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) were released last week. Known as the Nation’s Report Card, NAEP is a nationwide assessment of reading and math administered to students in 4th and 8th grades across the United States every two years.

Scores indicate that students in South Dakota outperformed the national average in 8th grade reading and math, as well as in 4th grade math. Fourth grade reading scores in South Dakota were equal to 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.”

Compared to South Dakota’s scores from 2022, math scores have remained the same for 8th graders, and they improved slightly for 4th graders. In reading, scores dropped for both 4th and 8th grade students. Other points of interest for 2024 NAEP scores include:
• The percentage of 4th grade students in South Dakota who performed at or above NAEP Basic in math is 79 percent; 42 percent of students performed at or above NAEP proficient.
• The percentage of 8th grade students in South Dakota who performed at or above NAEP Basic in math is 71 percent; 33 percent of 8th grade students performed at or above NAEP proficient.
• The percentage of 4th grade students who performed at or above NAEP Basic in reading is 60 percent; 28 percent of 4th grade students performed at or above NAEP proficient.
• The percentage of 8th grade students who performed at or above NAEP Basic in reading is 70 percent; 29 percent of 8th grade students performed at or above NAEP proficient.

More information can be found on the NAEP website at nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard.