Reading statistics for students across K-12 classrooms (2025)

Reading is the foundation of learning, the skill that opens every door in a child’s education. But across American K-12 classrooms, that foundation is beginning to crack. Students are reading less, understanding less, and struggling to meet the standards that once defined basic literacy. 

The numbers, at almost all levels, tell a concerning story. 

The latest national reading scores for 4th, 8th, and 12th graders are lower, not only than those of 2022, but than in nearly every major assessment since the early 1990s. The gap between the strongest and weakest readers has stretched to almost 100 points; student absenteeism remains higher than pre-pandemic levels; and five countries sit atop the U.S. in the latest global reading literacy survey.

And that’s but a glimpse of the picture. This report unpacks the latest reading statistics from NAEP, NCES, and PISA to provide a comprehensive view of student performance and what it will take to rebuild our literacy foundation.

Key statistics (Top picks)

• Compared to 2022, the 2024 reading scores were lower for 4th, 8th, and 12th-grade students across multiple percentiles. 
• For decades, over half of nine-year-olds read for fun almost every day. But that number has steadily fallen, from 53% in 2012 to 42% in 2020, and just 39% in 2022.
• Compared to 2022 data, no state or jurisdiction made gains in 4th- or 8th-grade reading. 
• Nearly five years after the COVID-19 pandemic, the nation is below its 2019, or pre-pandemic, scores in both grades and subjects. 
• Compared with the 80 other countries, the U.S. average reading literacy score was higher than the average in 68, lower than the average in 5, and not measurably different from the average in 7.

Sources: NAEP, NAGB, NAEP, NAEP, NCES

Table of contents

Why determine student reading levels?

Determining a student’s reading level helps educators match learners with appropriately challenging texts; texts that are not too easy to be unproductive, and not too difficult to cause frustration.  

Reading is like a workout for the brain. It helps students think more clearly, stay focused, and analyze information better. When they read, their brain has to understand new ideas, remember details, and connect what they are learning, all of which makes their thought process sharper. 

Now, understanding a student’s reading level is like knowing the right weight to lift at the gym. Without it, students might either breeze through materials without truly understanding or struggle so much that their stress levels rise and they lose confidence.

How to determine the reading level of a student? 

The easiest way to determine a student's reading level is with an assessment that evaluates accuracy, fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary. While multiple online platforms can help American adults and children carry out this assessment on an institutional or individual level, NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) stands as the most trusted board.

This is partly because NAEP is mandated and overseen by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). And unlike most other regular or state assessments, which often vary in data size and purpose, NAEP only reports scores at the aggregate level across K-12 classrooms. Plus, its assessment frameworks are accessible to everyone.  

Speaking of NAEP’s assessment framework, NAEP uses literary and informational texts to assess the understanding, interpretation, and critical thinking skills of students in grades 4, 8, and 12.

• Literary texts show how well students can comprehend the structural differences within the texts, e.g., fiction, literary nonfiction, poetry, etc.
• Informational texts are used to identify the purposes for which students read different materials; e.g., exposition, argumentative & persuasive essays, procedural docs, etc.

How NAEP conducts reading assessments across grades

In NAEP’s latest report card, the reading test for grades 4, 8, and 12 contained assessment questions for both literary and informational texts, measuring three core cognitive targets:

• Locate and recall - to find or remember information that’s directly stated in the text or identify specific story elements.
• Integrate and interpret - to connect ideas and draw inferences within or across texts to explain motives, main ideas, or themes.
• Critique and evaluate - to analyze the text critically from multiple viewpoints, judging its quality, impact, or effectiveness.

In 4th grade, students were asked to read and respond to a short poem by Shel Silverstein and a chapter from The Tale of Despereaux. This contained 22% of locate and recall test questions, 63% of integrate and interpret questions, and 16% of critique and evaluate questions. 

In 8th grade, students were asked to read and respond to a discrete question set that included a fable-like story and a thematically related poem. But they were given fewer locate and recall test questions (17%) than 4th graders, fewer percent of integrate and interpret questions (62%), and more critique and evaluate questions (21%). 

Finally, 12th graders got a greater proportion of informational texts and fewer literary texts. So they were asked more critique and evaluate questions (24%), a similar percentage of integrate and interpret questions (62%) to 8th-graders, and fewer locate and recall questions (14%).

Student reading performance across K-12 classrooms 

As presented earlier, NAEP’s scores are recorded at a national level. So findings are, at first, reported across five selected percentiles and then tagged with certain levels to show the progress made by the best performing to the lowest performing students. There’s the:

• NAEP Basic level - students within the 10th and 25th percentiles. This represents lower-performing students struggling the most and how they are progressing.
• NAEP Proficient level - students within the 50th percentile. This represents the average or middle-performing students and overall national performance.
• NAEP Advanced level - students within the 75th and 90th percentiles. This represents higher-performing students and top achievers.

Reading statistics for 4th-grade students

Out of 117,400 4th graders within 6,100 schools surveyed by NAEP, 

• 12% received full credit for integrate and interpret questions.
• 71% received full credit for locate and recall questions.
• 60% performed at or above the NAEP Basic level. This shows that they can map out sequences or categorize events from a literary text. 
• 31% performed at or above the NAEP Proficient level on the reading assessment, meaning they can provide an opinion using relevant information from a text.
• 8% performed at the NAEP Advanced level, indicating they can distinguish the theme of a text.
• 31% reported missing 3 or more days of school in the month prior to taking the assessment in 2024. Lower compared to 2022 (35%), but higher compared to 2019 (24%).

Reading statistics for 8th-grade students

Among the 114,600 participants across the 5,400 schools evaluated by NAEP: 

• 11% received full credit for critique and evaluate questions.
• 90% received full credit for integrate and interpret questions.
• 67% performed at or above the NAEP Basic level, meaning they can identify basic literary elements such as the order of events, character traits, and main idea.
• 30% performed at or above the NAEP Proficient level. These students can identify one or both sides of an argument in an informational text.
• 4% performed at the NAEP Advanced level, meaning students in this category can use text evidence from multiple sources to substantiate claims made by an author.
• 29% reported missing 3 or more days of school in the month prior to taking the assessment in 2024. Lower compared to 2022 (32%), but higher compared to 2019 (21%)

Reading statistics for 12th-grade students

According to NAEP’s assessment of 24,300 students across 1,500 schools, 

• 32% performed below the NAEP basic level. That means they are less likely to draw general conclusions based on concepts presented in the text.
• 33% performed at or above the NAEP Basic level. These cohorts can critique an author’s use of descriptive or figurative language.
• 35% performed at or above the NAEP Proficient level. Meaning they can connect key details within and across texts and use those details to draw complex inferences about an author's purpose, tone, word choice, and related ideas.
• 31% reported missing three or more days of school in the month prior to taking the assessment in 2024. Higher compared to 2019 (25%).

What demographics reveal about K-12 student reading performance

Reading performance doesn’t decline in isolation; it reflects patterns shaped by gender, age, and geography. This section explores how these factors influence reading achievement across K-12 classrooms, revealing who’s improving, who’s falling behind, and where disparities persist.

Reading statistics by gender

• The 2022 average reading scores for 4th-grade male and female students recorded a 5% decline compared to 2019; however, it’s higher in 2022 than in 1971. 
• The 2022 average reading scores for 8th-grade male and female students recorded a 4% decline compared to 2019.
• Nearly half of female 4th-grade students (46%) said they read almost every day, compared with 38% of male students of the same age.
• Two-in-ten 8th-grade female students reported reading almost every day, while 14% of their male counterparts said they did so.
• In NAEP’s 2024 survey, a lower average reading score for female 12th-graders was reflected in declines at the 25th and 75th percentiles compared to 2019; however, there was no average score decline for male twelfth-graders.

Sources: NAEP, NAEP, NAEP

Reading statistics by age

• The 2019 to 2022 declines in reading activities for 13-year-olds ranged from 3 to 4 points for middle- and higher-performing students to 6 to 7 points for lower-performing students.
• The average reading score for 9-year-old students in 2022 was 7 points higher than in 1971, the first reading assessment. Compared to the 2019 assessment, the average score was 5 points lower.
• Among 9-year-old students, around four-in-ten (42%) said in 2020 that they read almost every day, down from 53% in both 2012 and 1984.
• Among 13-year-olds, 17% said they read almost every day, a smaller percentage than the 27% who said this in 2012 and roughly half the share (35%) who said this in 1984.

Sources: NAEP, NAEP, NAEP

Reading statistics by urban districts and states 

Before we dive in, note that the reading assessment data below contains representative samples of fourth- and eighth-grade students in the nation, states, the District of Columbia, Department of Defense schools, and 26 participating large urban districts. 12th-graders weren’t surveyed at this level. 

• Average 2024 reading scores for 4th-grade students in public schools declined in five states and four urban districts compared to 2022; more declined in comparison to 2019.
• Average reading scores for 8th graders in public schools declined in eight states and seven urban districts compared to 2022; more declined in comparison to 2019.
• Average reading scores were lower in 2024 compared to 2022 for the 4th and 8th graders attending schools in city, suburban, and rural locations. 
• Compared to 2022 data, no state or jurisdiction made gains in 4th or 8th-grade reading. 
• Department of Defense schools, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New Hampshire make up the top four jurisdictions with significantly higher than the national public across 4th and 8th grade.
• In 4th grade, only 11 jurisdictions performed significantly higher than the national public; 30 jurisdictions were not significantly different, while 11 were significantly lower.
• In 8th grade, 16 jurisdictions performed significantly higher than the national public; 24 jurisdictions were not significantly different, while 12 were significantly lower.

Sources: NAEP, NAEP

Student reading statistics over the years 

Since we now have a good understanding of the stories the demographics tell, let's explore how U.S. students’ reading performance and habits have evolved across the last decade, to see if we can reveal the long-term trends behind today’s literacy challenges. From pre-pandemic declines to COVID-era setbacks and shifting reading behaviors, here are the top stats. 

Impact of the pandemic on student reading statistics

• Nearly five years after the COVID-19 pandemic, the nation is below its 2019, or pre-pandemic, scores in both grades and subjects. 
• Assessments in U.S. history and civics for 8th graders, and reading for 9- and 13-year-olds, all showed declines after the pandemic.
• Only two states have surpassed their pre-pandemic scores in a single grade and subject: Louisiana surpassed its 2019 4th-grade reading score, and Alabama surpassed its 2019 4th-grade math score.

Source: NAGB

Comparing 2019, 2022, and 2024 NAEP reading scores 

Before diving in, keep in mind that while NAEP surveyed 4th- and 8th-graders across 2019, 2022, and 2024, 12th-graders were only included in 2019 and 2024 surveys; no record of a 2022 survey. So the data below only spotlights 12th-graders' performance across 2019 and 2024 report cards.

• At the 90th percentile, 4th-graders’ reading scores remained the same from 2019 to 2022, but declined by 1 point between 2022 and 2024. 
• At the 90th percentile, 8th-graders' reading scores declined by 2 points between 2019 and 2022, but remained the same from 2022 to 2024.
• At the 90th percentile, 12th-graders' reading scores declined by 3 points between 2019 and 2024.

• At the 75th percentile, 4th-graders' reading scores declined by 2 points between 2019 and 2022, and they still lost a point from 2022 to 2024. 
• At the 75th percentile, 8th-grade students' reading scores declined by 2 points between 2019 and 2022, and they still lost a point from 2022 to 2024. 
• At the 75th percentile, 12th-graders' reading scores declined by 2 points between 2019 and 2024.

• At the 50th percentile, the average reading score declined by 3 points for 4th-grade students between 2019 and 2022, and they still lost 2 points from 2022 to 2024.
• At the 50th percentile, the average reading score declined by 3 points for 8th-grade students between 2019 and 2022, and they still lost 2 points from 2022 to 2024.
• At the 50th percentile, 12th-graders' reading scores declined by 3 points between 2019 and 2024.

• At the 25th percentile, 4th graders experienced a massive 5-point decline from 2019 to 2022, and an even further 3-point decline from 2022 and 2024.
• At the 25th percentile, 8th graders saw a 4-point decline from 2019 to 2022, and an even further 3-point decline from 2022 and 2024.
• At the 25th percentile, 12th-graders' reading scores declined by 3 points between 2019 and 2024.

• At the 10th percentile, 4th graders experienced a massive 6-point decline from 2019 to 2022, and an even further 5-point decline from 2022 and 2024.
• At the 10th percentile, 8th graders saw a 4-point decline from 2019 to 2022, and have gone further down the road with a 5-point decline from 2022 and 2024.
• At the 10th percentile, 12th-graders' reading scores declined by 4 points between 2019 and 2024.

Source: NAEP, NAEP

Reading habits in the U.S. over the years

• In 2023, 14% of 13-year-old students reported reading for fun almost every day. This percentage was 3 points lower than in 2020 and 13 points lower than in 2012.
• The shares of American 9- and 13-year-olds who say they read for fun on an almost daily basis have dropped from nearly a decade ago and are at the lowest levels since the mid-1980s.
• For decades, more than half of all nine-year-olds reported reading books for fun “almost every day.” In 2012, that figure was 53 percent. In 2020, it dropped to 42 percent, and in 2022, it went further down to 39 percent. 

Sources: NAEP, NAEP, NAEP.

Reading statistics for students in the U.S. vs other countries 

On an international level, the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), coordinated by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), is one of the most trusted organizations for measuring students’ reading performance. Here’s how the U.S. performed according to its 2022 survey, as summarized by the NCES:

• Italy, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and 22 other countries make up the OECD members with a lower reading literacy level than the U.S.
• Ireland, Japan, and the Republic of Korea make up the 3 OECD members with a higher reading literacy level than the U.S.
• Estonia, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom are the 5 countries with literacy skills not significantly different from the U.S.
• Compared with the 80 other education systems in PISA’s survey, the U.S. average reading literacy score was higher than the average in 68 countries; lower than the average in 5 countries; and not measurably different from the average in 7 countries.
• On a scale of 0 to 1,000 (taking into account all education systems involved in the survey), average reading scores in 2022 ranged from a low of 329 in Cambodia to a high of 543 in Singapore.
• The U.S. average reading literacy score (504) was higher than the OECD average score (476).
• On average, in the United States, female students scored 22 points higher than male students on the reading literacy scale, and male students scored 13 points higher than female students on the mathematics literacy scale.

To sum up, the statistics paint a clear picture; 

Nearly five years after the pandemic, we are still struggling to rebuild our reading foundations. American students continue to perform below pre-2019 levels across nearly every grade and percentile, not necessarily on an international scale, but by our standards. 

Persistent absenteeism, uneven access to literacy support, and the long-term drop in students' reading activities, from 53% of nine-year-olds in 2012 to just 39% in 2022, underscore how reading has shifted from a daily habit to an occasional activity.

However, the data also points to actionable opportunities. States like Louisiana, which surpassed its pre-pandemic reading level, show that recovery is possible. But what this means for educators, administrators, and policymakers is that it’s time to:

✔ Reinforce early literacy programs that build fluency and comprehension before gaps widen.

✔ Reignite a culture of reading for pleasure, integrating independent reading time and choice-based reading lists into the school day.

✔ Tackle chronic absenteeism, which affects roughly one-third of students, by improving engagement, support systems, and family-school connections.

✔ Support teachers with effective reading intervention tools, professional development, and equitable funding to sustain long-term literacy growth.