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MODESTO, Calif. — <\/span>Before every important test, teacher Nancy Barajas dims the lights, turns on a disco ball and blasts music from her playlist. Her sixth graders dance together as a \u201cpre-celebration\u201d to boost their confidence, then take their exam.<\/p>\n Lately, there\u2019s been a lot to celebrate in elementary schools in Modesto, California. Both reading and math scores have increased consistently over the past several years. <\/p>\n But across the country, results are gloomier. Researchers warn that the U.S. is experiencing a reading recession<\/a> \u2014 a slide predating the pandemic\u2019s disruptions in schooling.<\/p>\n Scholars at Harvard, Stanford and Dartmouth analyzed state test scores from third to eighth grade for over 5,000 school districts in 38 states, allowing comparisons across school districts and states in a national Education Scorecard<\/a>.<\/p>\n What they found was sobering: Only five states plus the District of Columbia had meaningful growth in reading test scores from 2022 to 2025. Nationally, students remain nearly half a grade level behind pre-pandemic reading scores and only slightly better in math.<\/p>\n While schools have focused on catching kids up since the COVID-19 pandemic upended education, reading test scores have been falling since 2013 for eighth graders and 2015 for fourth graders, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress.<\/p>\n \u201cThe pandemic was the mudslide that had followed seven years of steady erosion in achievement,\u201d said Thomas Kane, a Harvard professor who helped create the Education Scorecard.<\/p>\n Still, some states and school districts are making progress \u2014 largely by shifting toward phonics-based instruction and providing extra support for struggling readers.<\/p>\n The picture is also brighter in math. <\/p>\n Almost every state in the analysis saw improvements in math test scores from 2022 to 2025. Student absenteeism also declined in most states. In over 400 U.S. school districts, including Modesto, reading or math growth outpaced demographically similar districts in the same state. <\/p>\n Researchers are still debating the reading recession\u2019s causes. <\/p>\n One possible factor, researchers say, is the rise of social media on smartphones and corresponding declines in kids\u2019 recreational reading<\/a>. States have also backed off on strict consequences for schools whose students fail to make progress on standardized tests, Kane said.<\/p>\n But the states that improved reading scores \u2014 notably Louisiana, Maryland, Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana \u2014 all had one thing in common: They ordered schools to teach with a phonics-based approach known as the \u201c science of reading<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n For years, schools taught reading using approaches that de-emphasized phonics and encouraged strategies such as guessing words based on context clues. As reading scores tumbled over the past decade, parents, scholars and literacy advocates pushed for teaching methods that align with decades of research about how kids learn to read \u2014 largely by sounding out words.<\/p>\n Along with reforming teaching methods, states have also required schools to screen for learning disabilities such as dyslexia<\/a> and hire coaches to help teachers improve their reading instruction.<\/p>\n That said, \u201cscience of reading\u201d reforms did not guarantee success. Some states, including Florida, Arizona and Nebraska, changed parts of their reading instruction but still saw test scores fall.<\/p>\n In Modesto, reading instruction was revamped during the pandemic, and math a couple years earlier. The district created a new department to help students who are still learning English. Schools also ramped up teacher training, paying educators $5,000 to complete an extensive \u201cscience of reading\u201d program called LETRS, or Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling.<\/p>\n Modesto\u2019s test scores grew enough to represent an extra 18 weeks of learning in math and 13 weeks in reading. Nevertheless, the district still has a way to go: Overall scores remain far below grade level.<\/p>\n A focus on reading has also improved scores in Detroit \u2014 but so have efforts to get kids in school more consistently. For years, the large urban district struggled with deplorable school conditions, leading to a 2016 lawsuit in which students argued they\u2019d been denied the \u201cright to read.\u201d <\/p>\n The lawsuit ended in a settlement of over $94 million, money that helped move the needle. While the district is still far below the national average, student test scores have grown faster than in similar urban districts in Michigan. <\/p>\n \u201cIt took a lot to rebuild systems, and now kids are learning at higher levels, but I\u2019m still not satisfied. And I think that\u2019s the next challenge: continuing to motivate, inspire and change things,\u201d said Detroit Superintendent Nikolai Vitti. <\/p>\n The money has helped Munger Elementary-Middle School, located in a largely Latino neighborhood in Detroit, to employ 18 educators who give kids extra support in small groups. An attendance agent also makes calls to the homes of absent students, even showing up at their doors.<\/p>\n Just a few years ago, says first grade teacher Samantha Ciaffone, it was normal for about seven or eight kids to be absent from her class every day. Now it\u2019s usually only one or two. <\/p>\n \u201cIt allows us to be better educators to see kids consistently in the seat instead of once or twice a week,\u201d said Ciaffone. \u201cIt makes such a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n For the last decade, the South has stood out as a region leading the way on education reforms<\/a> \u2014 bucking an established trend of landing at the bottom of education rankings. Southern states were quick to change to research-based teaching methods, and states have paid to train and coach teachers. <\/p>\n It’s paid off. Louisiana and Alabama were the only states where math scores were higher in 2025 than pre-pandemic. Louisiana is also the only state that beat its pre-pandemic average in reading, with 87% of traditional public school students attending a district where scores are higher than in 2019. <\/p>\n Alabama had standout gains in reading following the pandemic, driven by a state law requiring every school to use phonics-based instruction<\/a>. The Legislature modeled math reforms in 2022 off Alabama’s reading successes. The state\u2019s Numeracy Act standardized math instruction, required regular testing and mandated intervention for kids who lacked adequate math skills.<\/p>\n Oxmoor Valley Elementary in Birmingham hired a full-time math specialist this year to help struggling kids. The school, which made the state\u2019s \u201cfailing\u201d list in 2016, has steadily improved math and reading scores, although a majority of kids still test below proficient in both subjects.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can provide all of these supports, but at the same time, hold kids to high expectations,\u201d Birmingham Superintendent Mark Sullivan said.<\/p>\n Researchers stress such progress is possible across the U.S., because it\u2019s been done before. Starting in the 1990s, the country saw decades of growth in test scores and graduation rates, while racial disparities declined. That progress continued until the mid-2010s.<\/p>\n \u201cWe made enormous progress as a country in terms of educational success from over a 30-year period. Test scores went up dramatically,\u201d said Stanford professor Sean Reardon. \u201cAnd so I think that says, as a country, we can improve education and educational opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n At Modesto’s Fairview Elementary, where Barajas teaches, students now practice their reading speed and fluency every day. After a dance break, the class reads a one-page text together in unison for one minute, then students split into pairs to read again. Students learning English are paired with native English speakers, and each child gets a turn reading with Barajas.<\/p>\n \u201cEventually, you get through the word like it\u2019s water,\u201d one boy said. \u201cYou just say it smooth.\u201d<\/p>\n ____<\/p>\n The Associated Press\u2019 education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP\u2019s standards<\/a> for working with philanthropies, a list<\/a> of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n