US Student Achievement Slides to Historic Lows as Pandemic Effects, Grade Inflation, and AI Take Their Toll

American student performance has reached record lows in reading and mathematics, as test scores reveal the compounding damage from COVID-19 school closures, relaxed grading standards, and growing reliance on artificial intelligence. The 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) showed 12th graders scoring at the lowest levels ever recorded in both subjects, while the 2025 OECD Programme for International Student Assessment found that international reading and math averages have reached their lowest points since tracking began. The trends underscore what education analyst Allysia Finley recently characterized as a multifaceted crisis degrading American education quality.